The Scent of Shadows - Book Review

The Scent of Shadows (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 1) by Vicki Pettersson

What is it about:
When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert.
By rights, she should be dead.
Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset—a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow—seeking answers to whom or what she really is . . . and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure.
But the nightmare is just beginning—for the demons are hunting Joanna, and the powerful shadows want her for their own . . .

What did I think of it:
To be honest.... I didn't like it.
But why that was is hard to explain. I mean: it is well written, it has a good, intriguing plot and a nice dark mood. Maybe a bit too dark though: The story felt really frustrating at times as one crappy thing after another came flying at Joanna. And another thing I didn't like was how Joanna reacted to things. One moment she was agonising over something supposedly 'evil' she had done and which was in my opinion not exactly nice, but certainly not evil. The next moment she does something that in my opinion was really, truely evil and she doesn't even bat an eye, worse even: not only she doesn't think it's evil, the other good guys don't even seem to think so. Well, there's a few raised eyebrows, but that's it.
Now it can be argued that it's part of who and what Joanna is, but to be honest: in that case she isn't a person I want to read about.
So all in all I think I won't be reading anymore of the books in this series.

Voodoo Bride wants to add that she was disappointed by the (lack of) romance in this book. It does set up a possible love triangle for future books though.

Why should you read it:
It is well written and has an original plot.