Review – Black Swan Rising (Black Swan Rising, Book 1) by Lee Carroll (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Release Date: August 28, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0765364890
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Black Swan Rising series
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Jeweler Garet James isn’t the same as everyone else. She just doesn’t know it yet. With her fair share of problems―money (lack of), an elderly father, a struggling business―Garet should be just like any other young, feisty, single New Yorker. If only it was that simple….

It begins with the old silver box that had been soldered shut. All Garet has to do is open it. A favor for the frail owner of the antiques shop. Who wouldn’t help?

But once the box is open things start to change. Garet doesn’t notice at first, the shifts barely perceptible. But the city in which she grew up is beginning to reveal a long-hidden side―darker, and altogether more dangerous―a parallel world of chaos, smoke, and blood.

And now it’s out of the box…and it has no intention of going back in.”

I have had this book on my TBR read pile for some time and was excited to read it. This is the first book in the Black Swan Rising trilogy. This book started out as an engaging urban fantasy mystery with a gloomy vibe to it. Initially I really liked the down to earth heroine and was fascinated as she tried to unravel the mysteries about her past.

Things went downhill in the second half of the book when our heroine meets Oberon. Oberon starts dragging Garet around the city to meet other fae who are supposed to train her. Garet is supposed to use her newfound powers to stop an old sorcerer from summoning demons to destroy the city. It sounds pretty neat but it just got really boring and convoluted.

I would say the first third of this book is 4 stars and the last two thirds are 3 stars. I struggled to finish it and ended up skimming the last few chapters.

Overall this is an okay urban fantasy book but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. It starts out with a unique and atmospheric mystery and then ends up very disjointed and flatout boring. I won’t be continuing with the series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge