Title: Shadow Blade. Author: Seressia Glass. Genre: Urban Fantasy. Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages. Publisher: Pocket; Original edition (January 26, 2010). Description: For Kira Solomon, normal was never an option. Kira's day job is as an antiquities expert, but her true calling is as a Shadowchaser. Trained from youth to be one of the most lethal Chasers in existence, Kira serves the Gilead Commission, dispatching the Fallen who sow discord and chaos. Of course, sometimes Gilead bureaucracy is as much a thorn in her side as anything the Fallen can muster against her. Right now, though, she's got a bigger problem. Someone is turning the city of Atlanta upside down in search of a millennia-old Egyptian dagger that just happens to have fallen into Kira's hands. Then there's Khefar, the dagger's true owner, a near-immortal 4,000-year-old Nubian warrior who, Kira has to admit, looks pretty fine for his age. Joining forces is the only way to keep the weapon safe from the sinister Shadow forces, but now Kira is in deep with someone who holds more secrets than she does, the one person who knows just how treacherous this fight is. Because every step closer to destroying the enemy is a step closer to losing herself to Shadow forever...
My Review: Most of the UF I have read the main characters tend to be a certain type. And by that I mean they have no ethnic flavor. Everyone is vaguely Anglo. Hardly a religious or cultural custom practiced. I suppose it makes the character less easily categorized as Cuban or Italian or Polish. So as the non-Cuban, Italian or Polish people could, if they wanted to, identify better without colorful things such as custom or culture blocking your view of personality or character habits. The thing is...I actually like learning about different cultures. That is probably the main reason I liked manga (Japanese comics) for so long. The culture is a big draw. I am not saying this book is a cultural wonderland. But we do have an African-American lead, with an Egyptian love interest. If you notice a lot, in PNRs mostly (generally in most books written by white ladies about anyone outside of their own culture/ethnic group), they chicken out and make their Black, Native American or Asian characters have distinctly "Anglo" features (I think the word "distinctly" is often employed). It is sad that even in written entertainment we are face with what is considered (by mass media to be) the most attractive. I know I am going on a rant. And I am sure you have heard or thought of this all before. But I need to say it.
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