Jane True is one of the most original and endearing characters in Urban fantasy. Her adventures as she embraced her heritage, confronted evil and tried to protect her small town of Rockabilly and its quirky inhabitants has delighted readers everywhere in the first three books of Nicole Peeler’s series.

Until now there has been a wonderful collegiate feel to these books as Jane needed to work with her friends, and especially (yum) Anyan. We’ve loved Jane’s inner monologues, irreverence but also her complexity.

Book Four Eye of the Tempest is quite different. For a start this has a definite feel of a bridging book and as a result a lot of the magic is missing. This book is a step. A process. A way to explain the background of the supernatural world. A device to position Jane as the central figure in the war ahead. It seems clear that from here on the series is going to move more into the global arena and so this book tied up a few of the local issues, especially her father’s health, and planted the seeds of where the series will go next.

With such a focus on setting everything up for the future I feel that some of the ‘present’ in the book was lacking. For most of the book Anyan is missing and when he was there he was reduced to a frustrated lust-interest. The quirky characters in Rockabilly make little more than guest appearances to show that they’re still around but doing quite okay without Jane, and there’s little development on the villains, who are pretty much the same as in the past. But, most sad, Jane’s inner voices seem reduced to just her libido making comments to remind us that Anyan is still relevant.

Thankfully I really enjoyed the ‘monster from the deep’, I think that Blondie will become quite interesting and the plot set-up indicates that the future for Jane is going to be VERY intriguing!

What I really wish is that I had waited until next year before reading Eye of the Tempest so that I could read this bridging book and immediately dive into the next adventure.

I fully believe that Jane is in for fascinating times ahead and that she will again be the character we have all fallen in love with. I guess…we just have to be patient!