Review: Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict

Sins and Shadows (Amazon USA - UK - Canada)
by Lyn Benedict (this domain name is the victim of nasty domain squatter; don't visit)
Also known as Lane Robins (safe to visit)
Publisher: Ace
Special Feature
Paperback - 7.99


Sylvie Lightner is no ordinary P.I. She specializes in cases involving the unusual, in a world where magic is real—and where death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you.

But when an employee is murdered in front of her, Sylvie has had enough. After years of confounding the dark forces of the Magicus Mundi, she’s closing up shop—until a man claiming to be the God of Justice wants Sylvie to find his lost lover.

It took me longer than I expected to finish Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict. It wasn't the fault of the book; I just don't read as fast as I used to. No, let me rephrase. I read at the same speed, but I have less time to devote to reading.

I've now finished Sins & Shadows, so here goes. The book is very readable. It's also what I would consider light reading, despite the fact that there's a lot of death and destruction and the protagonist, Sylvie Lightner, is forced to ask herself whether she might be just as bad as the "monsters" (human or otherwise) that she kills.

I think the reason I still consider this book light reading, despite all the dark stuff, is that I never got very far into Sylvie's mind or emotions. She questions herself, but I didn't feel it with her. I wasn't emotionally engaged in her struggles, so the book ended up being a fun adventure novel, but not anything very deep.

One section of it was an exception, though. The exception consists of approximately three chapters where we get Sylvie trying to force her will on a certain god character. I can't identify the god because it would be a spoiler. Sylvie wants him to do something he needs to do, but the god doesn't want to, and the result is a very interesting three chapters where Lyn Benedict pulls us into the god's emotions from Sylvie's point of view. I realize that may not sound exciting, but trust me, it was. And there was action, too.

That particular god was the most interesting character, I felt. He had more shades of gray than the others, more internal struggles. The others, well, they served the plot.

One character I wasn't expecting put in an appearance: Lilith (I hope it's not a spoiler to mention her). So now I have to ask, is Lilith common in urban fantasy? I lauded Red-Headed Stepchild as original for including her, but maybe I was wrong. I haven't been reading urban fantasy long enough to pick up on all the tropes and cliches.

My final complaint has nothing to do with the quality of this particular book. The problem is I'm tired of kick-ass female protagonists who don't know when to keep their mouths shut. Sins & Shadows has one. So do a whole ton of other urban fantasy novels. I realize these are strong women, but I think it's possible to be a strong woman without necessarily kicking physical ass or mouthing off. It would be really nice to read about a different personality type. Or a man.