Better Part of Darkness worked for me and didn't work for me. It worked for me in that our protagonist, Charlie, makes a lot of mistakes and she pays dearly for most of them. She's not naive, or even particularly idealist honestly, and she knows that the world is in a horrible place, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't keep trying. She also makes choices that aren't usually seen of the 'hero'. All that was very refreshing and interesting for me. Apparently even I have limits on how many heroes/heroines can make really bad choices and still not pay for it. And I do mean really bad choices in Charlie's case. Not 'That was a stupid thing to do!', but the 'Oh. My. God. That was bad.' variety.

The problem I had was that for all the fun and interesting that was Charlie, she was possibly the only character I wanted to read about. There were plenty of other characters--informants, coworkers, her partner, bad guys, etc--which is probably what made it hard to want to know any of them. Aside from her daughter and her partner, everyone else just came and went. While this works great for later in the series, when Kelly may want to call upon them and dive a bit deeper, for a first book it clutters my attention. It felt like each time I met one person someone new popped up.

The amount of detail Kelly puts into her version of Atlanta is awe-inspiring honestly. I've been there twice in my life and can recognize some of the places that Charlie talks about 'from before' but this Atlanta is so different. Its almost a character on its own honestly.

In the end I had trouble enjoying this book because I was uncertain who was doing what and when, or who was who. I have a feeling when the second book is released Kelly will have a stronger grasp on who she wants to have running around in her world however and look forward to that book. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I could picture everything the Author was trying to portray! One of these days I will get the funding and time to read the next book! ( )

I really wanted to like this book. The main character was original: divorced with a kid, so I assumed she'd be mature and avoid the silly whining, stupid mistakes and teen girl crushes of other twenty-something main characters. Wrong. She makes incredibly stupid mistakes. I never made it beyond halfway through the book but by then she'd managed to ditch her back up every chance she got and throw herself into suicidal positions. What mother does that? Oh -'and let's not forget her Mary Sue ability to develop weird new powers that make her uber special. And the way too special partner who will predictably become her lover. Too bad he's boring and there's no spark. Over all tried too hard and was way too cliched. ( )

Interesting new world by a new author. Little slow start, got into it, got slowed down for some reason and then finished it up. Read the preview for the next book and it should be good. We'll see. ( )

WOW! This book is amazing. I haven't read a book this imaginative in some time, which is definitely a good thing. I was starting to think the world ran out of creative ideas. The characters are awesome and richly developed; Hank is definitely by far my favorite. I also love how the characters are described as "beings from heaven and hell"; this book lends to both good and bad as well as the non-typical mythological creature...how often do you see a book with Sirens, let alone male Sirens. The plot is amazing and action packed from page one...just a totally awesome book. READ IT!!! ( )