Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Aisling McConaughey is a shamaness; she has the ability to slip in the ghostlands, the spirit world, to help people and spirits. When she is taken from her secluded farm to Oakland, in order to help a wealthy man locate his mistress, Aisling fears that she will never see her family again. She soon learns that she has much greater things to fear when she calls upon the Djinn Zurael for assistance.

Long before Aisling was born the world was torn apart by war and plague. In the time since, creatures of legend and nightmare have risen, including vampires and werewolves, making the nighttime streets unsafe. "Gifted" humans find themselves respected in some places, hunted in others. In the cities, distinguishing between friend and foe is a difficult process.

Aisling is thrust into this political and very divided world when she is brought to Oakland. As she navigates the real world and the ghostlands she must also come to terms with Zurael and his continued presence. Though he planned to kill her for summoning him, Zurael finds himself drawn to the delicate shamaness. He knows that a union between human and Djinn is forbidden but he can't help himself. When the leaders of the Djinn clans assign him to stay with Aisling in order to locate an ancient tablet Zurael agrees, though he knows that he will be unable to commit their last directive: to kill her once the tablet has been retrieved.

The plot is actually a very good one. I like the idea of a post-apocalyptic world that is still ostensibly functional but changed in very dramatic and far-reaching ways. The mysteries of Aisling's background and the coming of angels and the one god to Earth was well-played, very carefully though-out.

The problem is the love scenes. Yes, the love scenes. They're just so absurdly porny it was hard to take them seriously. I'm not a newcomer to this genre. I've read more then my share of love scenes over there years and quite enjoyed some of them but really. They absolutely distracted me from all the good of the rest of the story. If the reader can get past the sopping-wet passages of description though, they'll find a story that is quite worth reading.
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Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade; 1 edition (April 7, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425226069
ISBN-13: 978-0425226063