Second time Charm

Last weekend, I finished reading Thunderbird Falls, which is the sequel to Urban Shaman.

It was great.

I think that C. E. Murphy has done a great job of creating a believable character in Joanne Walker. I am not sure whether to call this series plot driven or character driven. Joanne Walker's weaknesses drive the plot in an almost tragedy-like fashion. During parts of the book I found myself suffering from that same pressure to scream "stop! you're going the wrong way" much in the same way I would want to shout at Othello or Lear. So I guess that would put it in the character driven box?

The best news I got this evening is that the next book in the series has been picked up by the publisher this month and I might have to break my "no buying new books" rule to pick that up in May. [Eliel held off on posting about it while waiting for Barnes & Noble's Affiliate.Net site to correct a bug that kept him from getting that lovely book cover graphic and link to the "buy the book" page--Ed.]

It's also good to finally find her official website. One somewhat puzzling bit of information is that apparently Ms. Murphy's books are categorized in the Romance genre. Per her website:

URBAN SHAMAN was also nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice for best modern fantasy. I'm told if I haven't heard from RT by now, I didn't win, but I'm genuinely delighted to have been nominated.

Go figure!

Technorati Tags: CE Murphy, Books I like, Urban Shaman