Pirate's Alley (Sentinels of New Orleans, #4) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Apr 23, 2014 Christal rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, magic, female-lead, arcs, fae, witches-warlocks-and-mages, ghosts, vampires, weres-and-shifters, lesser-known-creatures

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Oh, that Suzanne Johnson; she's a sly one. By about one-third to halfway through Pirate's Alley, I thought this installment might be in a little bit of a bridge book slump. There was a lot of talking and political maneuvering, but not much action and development. Dare I say I was a little bored? That's when Suzanne got me... "You want action and adventure? A complete upheaval of DJ's world? Well, here you go; take it all!" I'm sorry I dou See this review and others like it at Badass Book Reviews!

Oh, that Suzanne Johnson; she's a sly one. By about one-third to halfway through Pirate's Alley, I thought this installment might be in a little bit of a bridge book slump. There was a lot of talking and political maneuvering, but not much action and development. Dare I say I was a little bored? That's when Suzanne got me... "You want action and adventure? A complete upheaval of DJ's world? Well, here you go; take it all!" I'm sorry I doubted, but at least I can pass the message on to you guys that you just have to stick with this one to get to the good stuff. I promise!

Pirate's Alley picks up a few weeks after the previous book, Elysian Fields , so you definitely need to read these in order to understand everything. There's enough refresher recap for current readers, but I think new readers would be overwhelmed jumping in with this installment. We find DJ in recovery mode (the last book put her through the ringer!), but she doesn't have a lot of downtime because she has to testify about her experiences to the supernatural Interspecies Council. This is the first taste of the betrayal and political backstabbing that runs rampant throughout the book. Everyone seems to have their own play and intentions for the prete world and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. At first, I was a little worried that DJ would charge head first into everything, but she has really grown in these past few books and she showed here that she can throw around the doublespeak and plot with the best of them.

Jean Lafitte had a much larger role in Pirate's Alley and I just love that wily rascal. He and DJ have some pretty deep discussions about what they mean to each other and the nature of their relationship and it was nice to see a male and female pair discuss their situation rationally. Eugenie also has a huge role in this book and she has one whopper of a surprise! I'm very interested to see how her story plays out and I'm intrigued by the interest the fae prince Christof is showing her. Jake and Renee also make appearances here and their presence is always appreciated. We can't forget about Rand, DJ's husband of convenience, either. He drives me bonkers with the way he can go from a pretty decent guy to total douche canoe in 5 seconds and that trait was on full display here. I really want to like Rand, but he just makes it so hard! He can show that he has a sensitive and caring heart in one scene that makes me (and DJ) want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but then he goes and ruins it in the next by being narcissistic, selfish, and just an all-around terrible elf.

DJ and Alex have to face some hard truths about their relationship in Pirate's Alley. I found myself waffling between wanting them to break up because of their fundamental differences and wanting Alex to just get over himself and make a sweeping, grand gesture towards DJ to prove he loves her above everything else. I was happy with the way everything worked out, for now, but I think they still have some important conversations to tackle in the upcoming books. Alex is very much a black-and-white kind of guy while DJ lives her life in shades of gray. I feel like she has been doing most of the bending for the relationship and now it's Alex's turn to put his money where his mouth is. I really do like the two of them together, but I think that the success of their relationship is going to depend on Alex and how much he can trust and believe in DJ, especially where prete politics and his duty to the Council comes into play.

Though it took me a little while to really become immersed in Pirate's Alley, I think it is a solid entry in the series and it really did tear down everything we've come to know and expect. I'm super excited to see where Suzanne takes DJ in the next book and to see what DJ does now that she knows who she can really trust. The cliffhanger of this book is the total chaos we leave New Orleans in, but I trust that Suzanne has a plan to bring everything back around. Right now, things seem pretty dismal for DJ and Co., but I can't wait to see them get to work in the next book!

Thank you to Tor Books for providing a print copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Oct 01, 2014 Jesslyn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cat-urban-fantasy, auto-buy-series, cat-series-ongoing, pre-ordered, cat-series-cliffhanger-ending, z2015-pub-dates, cat-not-on-audio, cat-alt-reality

Warning - Another cliffhanger ending (which will make me think twice about the next one)

I liked the book, but don't feel like much was advanced in the series. Sure we added some characters, but the plot seemed a bit weak and DJ, while funny, seems to jump between acting pretty oblivious or just dumb. This series is a we'll see for me, but unfortunately, is getting removed from the auto-buy list. ...more

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