A bit weird out of context

Having finally gotten my shipment of books from Barnes & Noble, yesterday I surrendered my entire day to reading one of those books: RAVEN CALLS by C.E. Murphy.

RAVEN CALLS is the seventh book of The Walker Papers, a series detailing the trials and adventures of Joanne Walker, a half-Cherokee half-Irish newly-minted shaman, her spirit guide Coyote, and her best friend/role model Gary Muldoon, a 74-years-young cab driver who accompanied her on her first adventure because she was the most interesting thing that had happened to him since his wife died.

Full disclosure, The Walker Papers is one of my favorite series. I've given these books as Giftmas/birthday presents to more than one friend. One of the things I love best about these books is that Joanne shows character growth and progress that is consistent and reasonable throughout every book, and yet the books don't read like extended therapy sessions where she rehashes her issues each time. I chose to describe the series as "the adventures of" Joanne Walker very deliberately: each book sets up either a mystery to be solved or a problem to be dealt with, and then Joanne solves the mystery or deals with the problem without any of the detours into sex, angst, or lengthy introspection that plague a lot of other urban fantasy first-person heroines (Anita Blake, I'm staring hard at you). This frequently involves travel, either through Seattle or, more frequently in later books, foreign locales. (Seattle, as the backdrop of most of the series, is almost a character in and of itself, especially when viewed with the Sight.) Another thing I love is that Joanne reacts in a very believable way to discovering her new skill sets and the difficulties of integrating them into her life as a formerly devout skeptic and cynic who gave a lot of people a lot of shit for their belief in the paranormal. (I've used these books as a sort of spiritual meditation before, because Ms. Murphy handles those issues that well.) Finally, the best thing about the series as a whole and Joanne in particular is that, unlike most Strong Female Characters (TM), Jo has real bonds of friendship that don't disappear when her friends aren't getting page time (example: Billy Holliday, one of Joanie's best friends, isn't involved in the action of this book at all, but just like our friendships in real life, he's in Joanne's thoughts while she does what needs to be done).

Now to talk about the book itself.

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

( Previously, in The Walker Papers... )

More than anything else, this is a book about connections: between people, between cultures, between past, present, and future, and between family. It's about reconciliation and acceptance, and righting the wrongs in the world that are in your power to correct.

On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, I give it a 4--there were some shaky patches, and a few details that threw me out of the story, but overall a very solid, enjoyable read that nicely sets the stage for the impending end of the series.

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