She Reads Too Much

It's hard to believe I've been reading this saga for 9 years! I read [b:Urban Shaman|297929|Urban Shaman (Walker Papers, #1)|C.E. Murphy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390664906s/297929.jpg|289053] when it first came out in 2005 and have been utterly captivated by this world, by these characters and their journey ever since. This book, the last book, tied up most everything and left me feeling hopeful and satisfied. At the same time find myself so sad that it's done. I don't want to leave these people. They are my family. They are strong, fragile, vulnerable, weak, imperfect, brave, determined and loyal.

While these books were written over the course of 9 years, they span a time period of 15 or so months. In those 15 months Joanne has shown an amazing amount of growth while, at her heart, remaining the same. She has a very strong voice that pulls you immediately into the story, into her heart and mind. And God, has Murphy taken us on a wild freeking ride with the Walker Papers series.

From Seattle to Ireland, from past to present to possible futures and from the Middle to both the Lower and the Upper worlds. The pace of these books is almost frenetic. Action being hurled at you non-stop. As Joanne has no time to breathe or gather her thoughts, neither do you. It can be somewhat exhausting and while reading these books I do find I have to put it down and walk away sometimes. Sometimes it seems a bit too wordy, like Murphy took 20 words to say something that could have been expressed in 10. However the writing is lush and vivid and because of that the excess verbosity can be overlooked.

I highly, highly recommend this book to lovers of urban fantasy. It's a commitment, there are a lot of books and each book contains a lot of words but it's an amazingly well crafted journey that you should enjoy.