Book Review: "Black Heart" by Christina Henry

As a former Agent of Death, Madeline Black is no stranger to witnessing violent ends. But being the one to cause them is an entirely different story…

Despite her having saved Chicago from a vampire invasion, the Agency wants to get Maddy off their payroll—permanently. With the deadly Retrievers hot on her trail, she has no choice but to trust Nathaniel to port her to safety. But even the exotic and dangerous world that she winds up in is not as peaceful as she would have hoped. Caught in a turf war between a group of fae and a disturbingly familiar foe, Maddy soon discovers that the twisted plots of her grandfather, Lucifer, and his brothers extend even into this unknown realm.

Now, with enemies gathering on all sides, Maddy’s fate is looking darker than ever. And to protect her unborn son from her adversaries, she may have to tap into a power she hoped never to access… - from Amazon.com

This is book six of this series, and I received it free through Net Galley in exchange for feedback. In fact, this book is what started me reading the whole series, so I would not be reading out of order.

Madeline Black is back, and this continues from where book five ended. Each book so far in the series seems to almost always, start moments after the previous one. It's amazing how any one person could handle the situations presented in the story, in the time frame they occur, but then again, our main character is half-Fallen, and half human. In this installment, Maddy has the Retrievers (supernatural beings that take care of those that quit/retire, or just plain mess up,from the Agency) sent after her, for visiting the realm of the dead without permission. This leads into the whole story, with includes subtle machinations of Lucifer, Puck, and introduced in this volume, their two other brothers.

Though currently the last book in this series (as of this date) I could see possibly another book or two being released. I felt the writing style in this one had changed a bit ... seemed more bogged down with descriptions than actual action, at least in my comparison with the other novels. The actual story was interesting, as the characters seem to grow and learn more about themselves, even as we learn more about them. I just didn't seem to enjoy this one as much as the first five. Perhaps because I read them pretty much non-stop, in order, whereas I maybe should have taken a break after each one or two. Either way, I would be interested in seeing where the Christina Henry may take the story from this the end of this book.