After ruling genre fiction for more than a decade, paranormal fantasy is still going strong in 2011 – ever evolving and expanding – but there have been far fewer “break-out” debut novels this year than in years past. Last year, Skyler White exploded onto the scene with her masterpiece of a first novel entitled and Falling, Fly and Sonya Bateman released the stellar Master of None. 2009 produced a bumper crop of future superstar paranormal fantasy novelists – Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary and Rue, Jaye Wells’ Red-Headed Stepchild, Nicole Peeler’s Tempest Rising, Kelly Meding’s Three Days to Dead, and Staked by J.F. Lewis.
And although 2011 has produced some noteworthy debuts – Hounded by Kevin Hearne, A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang, Robyn Bachar’s Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, etc. – none have “wowed” me like the aforementioned titles.
Until now.
Initially the narrative style of Jenn Bennett’s first novel Kindling the Moon didn’t exactly impress me. That immersion that I look for in a read just wasn’t there. But as the story – which revolves around bar owner/magician Arcadia Bell – progressed, Bennett’s adeptness at character development and realm building slowly burgeoned and what I thought would be a conventional, relatively formulaic read became a unique and engrossing reading experience.
A bartender at the establishment she co-owns, the demon friendly Tambuku Tiki Lounge, Arcadia is harboring a dark secret. Her allegedly dead parents are actually infamous occultists and notorious serial killers who have been on the run from the law for seven years. When they’re spotted in Dallas, their images are all over the news – Arcadia is forced to either prove their innocence or surrender herself to an occult organization as retribution for the deaths her parents allegedly caused.
Arcadia finds help in the form of an enigmatic man named Lon Butler and his impudent 13-year old son Jupiter. Throw in a “slutty road warrior” assassin, ritualistic sex, an albino demon, and a hedgehog sidekick, and you’ve got yourself an entertaining and enthralling read.
While Kindling the Moon didn’t blow me away like some recent debuts, it did remind me very much of other commendable first novels, particularly Jeaniene Frost’s Halfway to the Grave and Jaye Wells’ Red-Headed Stepchild. Like Frost and Wells, what Bennett has done in Kindling the Moon is lay the foundation for a saga just loaded with potential. She has created a cast of deeply developed and endearing characters as well as a realm with an original and fascinating backstory:
“That’s why there are so many Earthbounds [demons] running around the States these days. Some idiot magician working for queen Elizabeth summoned a group of lower-echelon Aethyric demons and trapped them in human bodies, thinking they’d make pliable subjects when America was being colonized. However, the newly invoked Earthbounds lost their ticket home when the magician died of smallpox before he could send them back. A few hundred years of breeding, and here we are.”
I love Arcadia Bell. She’s smart, tough, independent, and downright cool. When I read that she was wearing an old Iron Maiden concert t-shirt from 1982 while bartending – a t-shirt that I actually owned and wore until it rotted off my body – I knew I was hooked.
Bottom line: Paranormal fantasy fans should seek out and read Jenn Bennett’s Kindling the Moon – a solid first novel and beginning to what could be a fantastic series.
Paul Goat Allen has been a full-time book reviewer specializing in genre fiction for the last two decades and has written thousands of reviews for companies like Publishers Weekly, The Chicago Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, and BarnesandNoble.com. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
Keep up with all of my blogs – as well as all of Barnes & Noble’s exclusive reviews, authors interviews, videos, promotions, and more – by following @BNBuzz on Twitter!
Why couldn't your blog about this book come a day sooner? Now I'll have to make a special trip to my local B&N. After your blog review of Kindling the Moon, I'd be crazy to pass up this book! 
