Title: The Taken Series: Celestial Blues #1
Author: Vicki Pettersson
Published: June 12, 2012
Genre(s): Urban Fantasy
Page Count: 417
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Griffin Shaw was a PI when alive. Fifty years later, he’s a celestial Centurion assisting the recently and violently dead. But being an angel doesn’t mean he’s a saint. One small mistake altered fate, and dumped him back on the mortal mudflat to collect another soul – Katherine “Kit” Craig, a journalist whose latest investigation may get her clipped.
Bucking heavenly orders, Grif refuses to let this sable-haired siren with hairpin curves come to harm. He also wants the truth about his killer and revenge for his wife Evie's death. Amid an evil conspiracy, a ruthless killer stalks the new partners. Grif's attraction to Kit could cost their lives -- and his answer to who killed him.
Though the first few chapters were less than inspiring, I’m quite impressed with The Taken by Vicki Pettersson. It’s probably the darkest urban fantasy novel I’ve read, and the seriousness of the topic grasped my attention and held it through until the end. I would have liked to see more in terms of world-building, but I was satisfied with what I got, and I plan on continuing the series.
At first, I wasn’t sold on the protagonists. Griffin Shaw is an angel (sort of) who was murdered in the 60’s, and Kit Craig is a devoted follower of the rockabilly lifestyle. To me, that pairing seemed a little gimmicky, but once Petterrson started going deeper with the storyline, I was able to recognize that Grif and Kit had aspects to them besides the style of their clothing and speech. They’re not, honestly, the most well-rounded characters, but they had enough depth for me to become invested in their issues.
The story (content and plot), however, was what really made The Taken a good read for me. In the opening scenes of the book, Kit’s best friend is murdered on an undercover job in an illegal brothel, and after that, our protagonists join forces to uncover a sex trafficking ring lead by Las Vegas’s high and mighty. I was honestly surprised by how explicit and honest the author got with such a touchy subject, and I liked it a lot. Rather than focusing so much on the angels and mythology, Pettersson grounded The Taken with a very human issue, which made things far more interesting for me as a reader.
Of course, since the book’s primary focus is uncovering the protagonists’ earthly mystery, we missed out on some explanation of the heavenly situation. I have pretty basic grasp of what’s going on, world-building wise, but I definitely would have liked to see more expansion and detail throughout.
In any case, though, The Taken is a well-written, gritty urban fantasy novel that doesn’t sugar-coat humanity’s darker side. The incorporation of angels in the mystery investigation was smooth enough that I believed in it’s realism, and had no major issues suspending my disbelief. I look forward to seeing what future installments will bring.
