Urban Shaman

Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy

Walker Papers #1

Joanne Walker has three days to learn to use her shamanic powers and save the world from the unleashed Wild Hunt.

No worries. No pressure. Never mind the lack of sleep, the perplexing new talent for healing herself from fatal wounds, or the cryptic, talking coyote who appears in her dreams.

And if all that's not bad enough, in the three years Joanne's been a cop, she's never seen a dead body—but she's just come across her second in three days.

It's been a bitch of a week.

And it isn't over yet.

Joanne Walker, on her return flight home sees a woman being attacked as the plane descends for landing. Everyone thinks she's crazy, but she immediately rushes to try and help the woman. Long story short, as a result of her aid to this woman, her world as she knows it gets ripped apart. She learns she has immense potential and powers to help "heal" the world. This of course is extremely hard for her to swallow since she doesn't believe in anything mystical at all.

Joanne is a really interesting character. I loved the scene where the entire precinct went nuts when they thought the captain fired her. Its nice to see a character that is truly one of the guys, but is still feminine. I love how fiercely loyal everyone is toward Joanne. I think she deserves it as her morals and ideals are very good. However, I do have one pet peeve. She is so stubbornly adamant about not wanting anything to do with her destiny and spends so much time in denial that she could be learning more about her gift. I understand that it all came as a shock, but at some point she is just going to have to step up and accept it rather than continuing to hide from it. Hopefully future books will show her living up to her potential, but somehow I think her journey towards acceptance will be a very long one.

The male characters in this book are all great characters. The cab driver Gary that quickly became an important part of Joanne's roller coaster ride into the mystical was a very supporting character. I love how he was instantly loyal to her and became someone she could truly count on. The antagonistic relationship between Captain Morrison and Joanne make for some very funny moments. I cannot remember how many times I laughed out loud at something snarky she said to him. However, I have to say my favorite character has to be Billy Holiday, the cross dressing detective that surprisingly has everyone's respect. Any man that can wear dresses and heels yet still be respected deserves my admiration.

I enjoyed this book. It was a little slow at times, typically when Joanne was being overly stubborn about her destiny, but otherwise a very good read. It truly is an urban fantasy, with absolutely no romance, but that didn't detract from it at all.

Rating:

Buy now at Amazon:
Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, Book 1)