Firewalker (Stormwalker #2) by Allyson James

Released: November 2, 2010
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 329
Publisher: Berkeley Sensation
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-23782-3

As promised in the last post, I jumped straight into Janet Begay’s second adventure, Firewalker. Firewalker picks up not long after Janet’s adventures in Stormwalker and is directly related to events that took place in the first novel of the series.

Janet Begay’s Crossroads Hotel has attracted the supernatural ever since it opened. But a new, dark power is rising, this time inside Janet herself. Her boyfriend Mick, a sexy dragon shapeshifter the Navajo call a Firewalker, knows what terrifying magic is threatening to overwhelm Janet and her Stormwalker powers. He watches over her, ready to fight for her, to do anything to keep her safe.

But then a mysterious corpse is found near the Crossroads Hotel-and Janet becomes the main suspect. Now Janet and Mick must uncover what really happened, and their investigation leads to the most perilous decision of their lives…

Firewalker was just as good as its predecessor and I devoured it almost as quickly. Janet and Mick’s relationship remains steamy and tumultuous, even though Janet now knows more about Mick’s past. He remains mysterious about some things, though, and it creates a lot of tension, especially since some of these secrets are of the life-and-death variety. Janet’s reactions to events seem credible and I really felt connected to her struggles and worries. I also really enjoyed the new characters that Allyson James introduces into the book. Cassandra’s a fun addition, as is Colby.

A large component of the novel involves dragon culture and so the reader gets to learn a lot more about Mick’s people and their ways. Information is introduced in a really organic way, often via the new sexy dragon dude in town, and it was really fun to find out more about the series mythology. We learned about Beneath in the first one, and we get more information about Janet’s powers and what it means for her to to have magics from two different realms inside her.

One thing I wasn’t super fussy on was the cover art. It’s absolutely gorgeous but I found it a bit misleading. The cover made me think that Janet was going to be acquiring fire-based magic and that’s not really what happens…A small complaint but there you have it.