River Road by Suzanne Johnson is the fun, fast-paced second book in the Sentinels of New Orleans, a series of urban fantasy novels filled with wizards, mermen and pirates. These novels are perfect for readers of paranormal fiction and “fans of Charlaine Harris and Cat Adams” (Booklist) and RT Bookreviews agrees that “for readers missing Sookie Stackhouse, this series may be right up your alley.” … be right up your alley.”
Hurricane Katrina is long gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New Orleans. New species from the Beyond moved into Louisiana after the hurricane destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the preternaturals peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is brewing between two clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish, and down in the swamp, DJ learns, there’s more stirring than angry mermen and the threat of a were-gator.
Wizards are dying, and something–or someone–from the Beyond is poisoning the waters of the mighty Mississippi, threatening the humans who live and work along the river. DJ and Alex must figure out what unearthly source is contaminating the water and who–or what–is killing the wizards. Is it a malcontented merman, the naughty nymph, or some other critter altogether? After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate Jean Lafitte, knows his way around a body or two.
It’s anything but smooth sailing on the bayou as the Sentinels of New Orleans series continues.
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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When I finished Royal Street , book one in the Sentinels of New Orleans series, I had to move right on to River Road. I was excited to see what was going to happen in this world that Ms Johnson created… and I wasn’t disappointed.
In Ms Johnson’s New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina lowered the barrier between our world and the Beyond, which is a supernatural dimension. Our heroine, DJ, is a wizard and her job as a sentinel is to watch the border and keeping the peace between the various paranormal species. In this tale, we’re introduce to mermen and nymphs when the waters around New Orleans starts making folks ill and DJ is called in to investigate.
River Road was a wild ride. Much time is spent in the swamps of Plaquermines Parish. Ms Johnson’s descriptions made me feel like I was right alongside DJ as she meets the mermen for the first time, stomps around the swamp, and finally solves the mystery. DJ pulls some interesting tricks out of her magic bag to help her along the way. I have to say, as a “green congress wizard”, she has to be pretty ingenious since she doesn’t have physical magic (ie shooting fire from her fingers). She came up with an odd assortment of potions and rituals that just let me wondering what was going to come next.
Add in the supporting cast… Alex, Jake and Jean are all back and vying for DJ’s affections. It kept DJ on her toes and had me laughing out loud at their antics. Throw in DJ’s human neighbor, Eugenie, a couple mermen (Rene and Robert) and Libby the nymph to complete the cast. With such a diverse group of people, I was ready for just about anything to happen… and it did.
In the end, I really enjoyed this book. It kept my interest and had me turning the pages. I loved DJ’s growth. In book one, she wasn’t ready for the job and sort of bungled her way through. But since this book takes place a couple years later, she’s learned and grown a little and it shows. She’s still not an expert at the job, and part of that has to do with her magical limitation, but she’s doing better. I am also excited to see where the whole Elven half of her heritage is going to go as that was explored briefly in this installment.
All in all, I do recommend this series to urban fantasy fans. And I can’t wait to see what comes next.
My review originally posted at Romancing the Book.
After reviewing Royal Street, I don’t have too much more to say about River Road. Many of the things I loved about Royal Street applied here as well. Same writing style, had me laughing within the first few pages and kept me going on a regular basis right to the end.
I really like Jean Lafitte, who we got more of a glimpse of in this book. He’s sneaky and devious and you really can’t trust him as far as you can throw him, but he has his own sense of morals (no one else understands) which he stands by. He’s a terrible flirt and, while he believes that a deal is a deal and in exchanging a favor for a favor, he also doesn’t ask for more than a person can give.
Her relationship with Alex is so weird. They don’t have any sort of intimate relationship, yet he seems jealous and territorial over her. This is getting hilarious but I can’t figure him out. I do in the end, but I spend most of the book trying to puzzle out what he really wants from her.
I thought in the first book she said they wouldn’t turn up weird on blood tests. I could be wrong. It’s hard to search a PDF for what I was looking for to check back but I thought wizards were one of the few that didn’t show up in blood work. Then I got my nose all out of joint when they discussed doing cultures for E. coli. You don’t incubate E. coli in a fridge! It grows best in an incubator at 37 degrees (which, admittedly, can look a lot like a fridge). It’s a mesophyle. It can’t grow (i.e. will die) at 4 degrees celsius (that’s refrigerator temperature) as it generally only grows at either body temperature (it lives in our guts) or about room temperature (waiting to infect others, but that isn’t ideal temperature and slows or stops growth). Also, it takes about a day, depending on desired culture density, to culture E. coli at 37 degrees. And that’s my rant for the day…
Again, I just loved the ending. Definitive, with just enough of a tease. Had me giggling like mad. And totally wanting the next book.