The Taken (Celestial Blues, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Nov 07, 2013 D.G. marked it as dnf

DNF at 10%

The Taken wasn't going horribly, I just had trouble believing this whole rockabilly business. I can definitely understand somebody liking the style of a different era but it was just too weird for me here. A journalist speaking in the vernacular of another time? How would people understand what you're talking about! And smoking because it was part of the lifestyle! She divorced her husband (which btw, wasn't done in the 50s) so she could deviate from the norm...after all, I'm sure that ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2012 Christal rated it really liked it

Shelves: shady-government-agency, urban-fantasy, multiple-leads, angels, ghosts, pi-detective-cop, death-as-a-character, reapers-and-ghost-whispers

The Taken combined angel mythology with noir-style mystery and the retro rockabilly subculture to create a unique story. I am hooked on this new world and definitely interested to learn more about the characters, especially Grif.

Griffin Shaw is a "busted" angel who finds himself trying to protect Girl Friday and rockabilly enthusiast, Katherine "Kit" Craig from some very influential people. These men don't want their prostitution ring investigated and they will kill Kit to stop her. Grif helps K The Taken combined angel mythology with noir-style mystery and the retro rockabilly subculture to create a unique story. I am hooked on this new world and definitely interested to learn more about the characters, especially Grif.

Griffin Shaw is a "busted" angel who finds himself trying to protect Girl Friday and rockabilly enthusiast, Katherine "Kit" Craig from some very influential people. These men don't want their prostitution ring investigated and they will kill Kit to stop her. Grif helps Kit in her investigation and, in the process, hopes to learn who killed him and his wife back in the 50's.

The world building was very good in this novel. The different classes of angels were well-crafted and explained pretty well. I imagine we will be given more details in the future novels. The rockabilly scene was cool and not something you find in many other novels.

Grif was a great character. He has a murky past filled with mysteries and Vicki Pettersson doesn't give us all the answers here. I can't wait to read the other two books in this trilogy to find out everything about Grif and his wife, Evie. Kit wasn't fleshed out as well as Grif for me, but I am still okay with her character. I hope she is given a little more depth in the next novel because she has a tragic past that could make for an interesting psychology.

The beginning of the book was a little slow. Ms. Pettersson had a lot of setup to do with the angel world and introducing Grif and Kit to each other and the audience. I don't think this should be a problem in the next books. Once the story got moving, about 1/3 of the way in, I didn't want to put this book down. The villain was pretty easy to identify once he was introduced, but I was sucked into the ride and couldn't wait to see him brought to justice. The romance between Grif and Kit was a slow burn but it adds a dimension to both characters that elevates their story.

I've sampled Ms. Pettersson's Signs of the Zodiac series in the past, but I have to say this novel captured my attention in a way that series never did. The Celestial Blues trilogy has the potential to be something unique and different in the urban fantasy/paranormal romance landscape and I can't wait to be taken along for the ride! ...more

3 likes · Like · see review