This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I really enjoyed this book. I picked this one up as a freebie on Audible and decided to listen to it right away. Unfortunately by the time I got around to writing my review, I didn't remember enough of the details to put together any kind of halfway decent collection of thoughts. It is a rather short book at just 5 hours of listening time so I decided I would just give it another listen, which is what I did.

While I read and listen to a little bit of just about every genre, I don't tend to read a lot of science fiction. I did appreciate the futuristic world that this story was set in. I liked the technology that was worked into the story. Even the cats in this story were not the normal cats like I have come across in my life. These cats work as a team and treat Shining as their leader. I liked the way that the world-building gradually built over the course of the story with each piece of information adding to the overall world.

I thought that this book was exciting. There was a lot going on and it is obvious from the very beginning that things are looking bad for Shining and the gang. As the story progressed, I realized just how much danger they were really in. I liked the way that the past that brought the characters to this point in their life was worked into the story and I thought that it really helped me get to know and like the characters better.

Khristine Hvam did a fabulous job with the narration. I thought that she did a great job with all of the character voices and was able to add a lot of excitement to the story. She read the story with a very pleasant voice and read at a perfect pace. I think that her performance added to my overall enjoyment of the story.

I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a great story filled with great characters and just the right amount of action. This is the first book in the Junkyard Cats series and I look forward to reading future installments.

Initial Thoughts
This was really well done. I have had Faith Hunter's books on my tbr for years but haven't picked one up before starting this audiobook yesterday. I ended up having a fantastic time with this story. I thought that the premise of the story was very unique and I thought that the world-building was very well done. I thought that the characters were great and I wanted to see Shining Smith come out of the situation she found herself okay. I thought that the narrator really brought the story to life which added to my enjoyment.

Book source: Audible freebie

Faith Hunter dips her toe into SF with this Audible Original, and leaves quite an impression. The distinctive Hutner-flair is there, with science-y stuff replacing the magic stuff. It works pretty well.

Shining Smith is a veteran, of a handful of things, really. This takes place in the near-future, following a World War and another one (called the Final War in an act of aspirational nomenclature, I assume). She lives in/runs a scrapyard left to her by her father with a few cats and another vet recovering from trauma.

Shining deals on both sides of the law through intermediaries—no one knows her or who she is beyond those. It's a perfectly safe environment.

Not a nice one, not a fulfilling one, but a safe one. And in her world, that's asking a lot.

Until one day, one of her intermediaries shows up at her scrapyard dead. And then a very strong suspect for killing him shows up. And things get worse from there.

The action scenes are cool—filled with all the kinds of things that the best SF action scenes are filled with. The future-tech is cool, completely foreign to reality, yet it seems like the kind of thing that would emerge from our current tech.

I liked Shining, we don't get to know her much. She's such the riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, that it's hard to get a real handle on her—but we get enough to root for her and want to know her better. Her compatriots are intriguing—as well-rounded as characters can get in this limited space where everyone is lying to each other about who and what they are.

There were a couple of SF-brand/tech names (like The Tyrell Corporation or tricorder) that I really couldn't understand what Hvam was saying. Against the spirit of an "Audible Original," but I'd like to read this so I could get a handle on those things. Which isn't saying that Hvam didn't do a great job—as per usual, her narration is top-notch.

My only complaint (outside of the tech words I couldn't decipher), is the brevity, we get the good story, but we don't get any depth—it's like it's designed to make you want more. Hey, wait a second . . .

A fun action-packed story that'll whet your appetite for more. This is a glimpse into a cool world and I love what Hunter has created here. Yeah, I'm only going with 3 Stars for this. There's a lot of potential in this world and with these characters—if Hunter returns to this? I can easily see this becoming a favorite series. It's fine as a stand-alone, and it doesn't demand a series/sequel but I think to really appreciate everything she set-up here, we need a little more. I'm not sure that makes sense, but...it's what I can do.

My free Audible pre-order of this new Faith Hunter book dropped into my inbox today and I had to make a start on it. It's only five hours long but it's packed with ideas, world-building and action. 

Perhaps it's just my imagination but this book feels like it's written with more zest than the most recent Jane Yellowrock books. It's as if Faith Hunter is having a lot of fun NOT having to drag around the whole history of the Yellowrock series and be free to produce something completely new.

No vampires or other supernaturals in this one. It's Science Fiction but with all the kick that Faith Hunter brings to her storytelling.

"Dark Queen" brought the long story arc of Jane Yellowrock's relationship with Leo Pellissier, Vampire Master of The City of New Orleans to a dramatic close and found Jane putting her affairs in order and slipping away to die on an estate in the Appalachian Mountains where Beast can survive.

If none of that makes sense to you, then head back to the beginning of the series and settle down for a fun ride with strong characters, complex relationships and an ever-evolving world of vampires, witches and weres.

If it does make sense to you, then the good news is that "Shattered Bonds" gives a promising basis for rebooting the series in a slightly different direction.

I was pleased to see that Jane and Beast are centre stage in this novel. I always enjoy Beast's appearances but this storyline develops the relationship between Jane and Beast in a convincing and interesting way.

The ensemble cast that makes up Jane's adopted family, the Younger Brothers and George Dumas plus the extended Yellowrock Clan are all in play plus Molly Trueblood's family (husband, children and all her sisters).

There's another, apparently invincible and extremely nasty, Son Of Darkness to face and Jane is still dying of a magic-related cancer.

This is a novel where the intense scenes that shape the relationships between the characters are the ones that shine; where Jane makes some very unconventional choices, even for Jane and where Faith Hunter once again comes up with a plot that plausibly twists what we thought we knew into a new shape.

Khristine Hvam does her usual splendid job with the narration. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.