Wednesday, January 23, 2008

"Coyote Dreams" by C. E. Murphy


This is the final book in the Urban Shaman trilogy by Murphy, and it's much better than the middle child, "Thunderbird Falls." Mostly due to the reappearance of Gary, our awesome septuagenarian cabbie. And, of course, there's quite a bit of interaction with her boss, Morrison. Sigh.

In this final installment, Joanne has been trying to learn the ways of the shaman (and trying not to trust the wrong people again). She's still on the lookout for Coyote, her missing spirit guide. In the midst of all this, her coworkers start falling asleep - and not waking. Her fellow cop-in-weirdness, Billy, is the first to succumb, followed quickly by his wife. Then at least half the cops from her precinct fall asleep. Joanne is flummoxed as to what could be the cause and how to stop it. Her only hope is find some sort of protection for the ones still awake, and hope that a solution presents itself soon.

Overall, not a bad book. As I said, much better than the second of the trilogy. I did find it a bit difficult to know when we were awake, when we asleep, and when we were in a trance state. You really have to pay attention when reading this book. It's worth it, but then again, I don't always enjoy having to pay that much attention to what I read! Sad but true - sometimes I'm just looking for some fluff. I will say that I was a bit unhappy with the ending, and I'm hoping that Murphy writes about Joanne again down the road. Not entirely sure she'll do it, though. The series could very easily continue, but it also feels pretty much "over" with the end of "Coyote Dreams."

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