3.5I'm stuck between a 3 and a 4 on this one. It's not quite a 4, but it's better than a lot of books I've given 3s to. I think my seesaw-opinion comes from it being a fine book, but grating on my personal nerves. It is well written and well edited; no complaints on that front. I'll definitely be looking for more of Hawk's writing, but Dan and Lief just annoyed the living daylights out of me almost every-time one of them opened their mouth. I did appreciate the twist on the characters, on who's the strong one and who needs the healing. Well, they both need healing, but the bad-boy character isn't usually the one written as fey-like and fragile and it gave the book a bit of something different. And I did like both characters. I also thought the side characters were very well done. Taryn was awesome, Bea was stable and dependable, Virgil gave everything a little friction, even Corey and Marlene added a little something to the mix.However, the book is repetitive. We're told the same information multiple times, very close together. I think if Dan blamed himself for not saving his mother one more time I might have tossed my kindle over the back of the couch. (This also made his sudden repressed memory and the strength he garnered from it at the end unbelievably convenient.) Similarly, Lief's constant 'if he knew the truth' mantra grew old pretty quickly.I was also absolutely sickened by the sex=love and instant endearment laden relationship—you know, the way the characters instantly start calling each-other baby and sweetheart and saying things like 'I'll love you forever.' Especially since Dan simultaneously held onto the 'he's leaving next week.' It was pretty clear that had fallen off the table. Plus, if I'm honest, Lief's ex-prozzie, 'I'm into toys and plugs and everything else' attitude didn't really fit the tone of the rest of the book. Then there was the fact that I was confused about the haints. They're supposed to be ghosts, but lets be real, they're zombies. And I didn't set out to read a zombie book. This wasn't help by the fact that I found the action scenes fairly mild and almost always brief. The whole set up also felt a little wobbly because Runar seemed to discover what he came to Ransom Gap for after he came to Ransom Gap. I can't really explain this without a spoiler, but once he arrived he discovered something he wanted to find and went about searching it out as Dan and Lief tried to stop him (that's the non-romance part of the plot). So, what brought him there in the first place?So, in the end, it was a fine book. It really was. I didn't even dislike it. I liked a lot of it. But there were just so many small annoyances that they started to reach a bit of a critical mass by the end. Jordan L Hawk’s Whyborne and Griffin series was recommended by so many people that I immediately downloaded all 3, but as I had just finished The Magpie Lord (and surreptitiously a Case of Possession) fancied a bit if an era change, and something not serial. I noticed JLH had written a stand alone called Hainted, which found its way directly to my Kindle. I devoured this in just under 2 days.I love Scandi-stuff, I lived in Denmark for a while and if I could would furnish my entire house with blonde wood, so a character called Lief I was predisposed to like. I was not disappointed.Set in modern day America, with good and bad magic existing alongside the everyday normality. The magical element concerns haint’s (ghosts) and those whose role it is to make the haint pass over. The crux of the plot is that Lief is hunting down Runar, a necromancer or raiser of the dead, and his travels take him to Dan’s farm. Dan has been running the farm since the death of his mother six years previously as well as caring for his two younger siblings. Dan is gay and very much in the closet, Lief is out; eyelinered, nail varnished, pierced and tattooed.The world building here is clever, weaving Greek and Norse mythology but very subtly , reinforced by some of the speech patterns, one of my favorites is ‘Hectates bitches’ . It’s also actually scary as well, not something I was expecting but just anther layer floating over the mythology aspect. Running in parallel is the burgeoning romance between Lief and Dan, and how being gay in rural America is dealt with, answer not well at all. The relationship between Dan and his siblings is delicate and fragile, and subtly written adding yet another layer to the plot.The last 70 pages are thrilling, swords, love, honor, myth – if I had one tiny criticism it would be that it happened too quickly !Really looking forward to reading more from JLH as well, its always great when you find an author who has a body of work ready for the devouring.Really good song choice in blog
What do You think about Hainted (2000)?
Why haven't I read anything by this author until now?
—diamondbaba
