Review: Mortal Ties by Eileen Wilks

MORTAL TIES (A Novel of the Lupi)
By Eileen Wilks

PUBLISHER: Berkley

PUBLISHED: 14 February 2013

GENRE: Fantasy / Paranormal Romance

FBI Agent Lily Yu is living at Nokolai Clanhome with her fiance, lupi Rule Turner, when an intruder penetrates their territory, stealing the prototype of a magical device the clan hopes will be worth a fortune - if a few bugs can be worked out ...

But the prototype can be dangerously erratic, discharging a bizarre form of mind-magic - and it looks like the thief wants it for that very side effect. Worse, whoever stole the device didn't learn about it by accident. There's a Nokolai traitor in their midst.

As they race to recover their missing property, they find Robert Friar's sticky footprints all over the place. Robert Friar - killer, madman, and acolyte of the Old One the lupi are at ware with ... an Old One whose power is almost as vast as her ambition to rock the entire world.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the 9th installment of Wilks' Lupi series and I LOVED it! I was hooked from the opening sentence:

"Lily Yu hadn't planned to visit a graveyard at sunset. It just worked out that way".

The tone and writing was consistent. The characters were wonderful and the story was convincing and moved along nicely. 

But far and away the best thing about this book was Lily and Rule's relationship. I'm so used to reading about relationships in fantasy novels where the couple are opposites or one of them has more power than the other that it was really wonderful reading about Lily and Rule. Their relationship is balanced and one of equals. They work well together and are understanding and respectful of each other. I actually felt like it was a relationship to aspire to.

There were some great moments in this book and some lovely subtle humour. I also enjoyed the references to Chinese culture, even  though I still don't know the difference between a friend of the fifth degree and a friend of the third degree! 

Here's one of my favourite quotes:

"Lily didn't ask if any of those outside had survived. Tigers, Grandmother had said once, see no point in disabling an enemy".

The only problem I had was that I kept forgetting the prototype wasn't a type of magical raygun! That was the image that kept popping into my head whenever it was mentioned and as a result, I found it hard to picture the prototype as it should be, contained within a skull. That is such a minor, minor point though!

I had never heard of the Lupi series before I read this book but I will definitely be reading the series from the very beginning now.

I really do think everyone should have a bit of Lily and Rule in their lives.