Review by Booklist Review
When Nat Drozdova finds herself in the lobby of a Manhattan high-rise, she thinks she is fulfilling her dying mother's final wish. She fingers the business card her mother thrust into her hand and turns it over. The words "let her in" are scrawled on the back. When she holds up the card, she is whisked into a world her mother has hidden from her. A world where the Baba Yaga runs her criminal syndicate in that very high-rise, where cats talk and invisible seamstresses make gorgeous gowns, and where blood taken without consent feeds, and violent ritual sacrifices bring forth new magical beings. The fantastical--all living behind the thin veil of Nat's reality. That afternoon, when Nat promises to do Baba's bidding in exchange for saving her mother's life, she has no idea of the extent of her mother's lies, or whether the dangerous path forward will lead her to power beyond her wildest imagination or to her own demise. For readers who love the retelling of dark fairy tales, Saintcrow's series starter is a thrilling ride that will not disappoint.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Saintcrow (Rattlesnake Wind) posits that gods, heroes, and characters from myth and lore live in an invisible world alongside humans in this unfulfilling urban fantasy. Nat Drozdova's cancer ridden mother insists she can be cured--but only if Nat seeks out a mysterious woman named Mrs. de Winter. Nat's visit to de Winter's Manhattan offices introduces her to a fantastical world she never knew existed, where cats talk and divinities live in magic and luxury. It's a world her mother is apparently very familiar with, and if Nat wants to cure her, she must team up with Dmitri Konets, who makes it clear he wants her and her mother dead, to recover the artifact her mother stole from de Winter and then lost. Much of the story consists of minor fetch quests to uncover key items needed to complete the main quest, bogging the story down and providing little in the way of real action. Nat is a frustratingly passive character, and while brooding Dmitri seems like he's being set up as a potential love interest, readers will have to wait for future installments for the payoff. Indeed, the novel ends abruptly on a "to be continued," leaving few threads tied up. The result is underwhelming. (May)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Nat Drozdova placates her dying mother by visiting Mrs. de Winter in New York City's Morrer-Pessel Memorial Tower, but she doesn't expect what she finds in the penthouse office of Y.A.G.A. Fine Arts and Antiquities. The mysterious de Winter claims to be her grandmother who's willing to save Nat's mother's life if Nat can retrieve a few items that her mother stole before she left the old country. Thus Nat launches on a mysterious, magical tour. Saintcrow (Duty) returns to her roots in this epic-tinged urban fantasy. It's a road-trip story, like Neil Gaiman's American Gods, in which Nat will find the roots of her heritage as she takes a dangerous foray into the mystic places where the Slavic myths such as Baba Yaga and the deathless Koschei still guard their secrets--and her own. VERDICT There's much to savor here for readers looking for a deeper dive into the same legends as those in The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore, but in a more contemporary setting. Also a good choice for readers seeking stories imbued with the sensibilities of urban fantasy, like The Book of Night by Holly Black.--Marlene Harris
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