Chapter sixteen of Cauldron Borne, and one of the things about this book--this series, really--is that it's just incredible because one minute we're piggy-backing on a 14-year-old demigods precognition abilities to try to thwart a death prophecy AND avoid zombies, and the next minute we get something so contextually heart-wrenching that you just have to stop and catch your breath a little:
I have been WAITING to get the hardcopies of the re-releases of this fabulous series to do individual reviews of each book, because this series is my ultimate comfort series. This series hits a ton of my favorite points. It is urban fantasy, does some amazing things with both Irish and Native American lore, has a fabulous slow burn romance, has GARRISON MATTHEW MULDOON, and a protagonist with attitude. It also has one of the strongest writer voices ever. Literally every CE Murphy book SOUNDS like a CE Murphy book, but without compromising the voice of the protagonist. That is a skill that is a hella rare delight. So let me introduce you to Joanne Walker--nee Siobhan Walkingstick--as we talk Urban Shaman.
This is you SPOILER WARNING because this book is too damn good and I want to talk all about it. This is also a CONTENT WARNING for anyone sensitive to novels focusing on cops, because while this series is not entirely uncritical of them, we do spend a lot of time with and around them, and Morrison in particular has idealized being a cop. The book was originally published in 2005, so a LOT has happened since then. Your mileage may vary.
So this series has a bit of a story to it, and if you've been hanging out around my bookshelf for a while, you've seen me mention this series before. It was originally published traditionally starting in 2005. The author had to make a couple of concessions for the series (including relegating a novella to "book 1.5" rather than making it book 2 and a title that she SUPER did not like), but the series did well and its fans love it deeply. I picked it up in...like 2010? Ish? It was early in my undergrad, because I made a dear friend who did not stop talking about this series. So I picked it up, read it, loved it. Fast forward to the 2020s and I believe it was sometime during the pandemic that Murphy got the rights back to this series and decided to rerelease them with new covers, a new order that includes book 1.5 as book 2, and a title change for book 4/5. I tend to be a practical reader; it's rare I collect for titles or special editions. This time though? I made an exception. I want these beauties on my shelf and I want to support this indie rerelease. Also I haven't done a reread of the series in a few years, so this is going to be just a sheer delight for me.
Ok, context having been contextualized, let's jump right into this book.
Joanne Walker is a hot mess. On page one of book one, she is in her mid-twenties, is estranged from a messy relationship with her father and her Cherokee heritage, met her very Irish mother four months ago and buried her days ago, is estranged from her Irish heritage, has lost her job because she overextended her bereavement leave, and is carrying around a metric ton of trauma related to getting pregnant with twins at fifteen and losing one baby shortly after giving birth and giving the other up for adoption shortly after that. And that's literally square one.
I honestly don't know how well I would handle getting fatally stabbed by the god of the Wild Hunt after not sleeping for over 24 hours, but for Joanne, this is just the start of tracking and catching a serial murderer who is killing people who are powerful in or connected to "another plane of existence." It's also the beginning of a new journey for Joanne, because she has power--specifically healing power--and the cost of not dying on a fae blade is learning to use it. She gets help from Marie D'Ambra--who Joanne spots from a plane and briefly rescues from Cernnunous--Coyote, Billy Holliday (a coworker and family friend), and Garrison Matthew Muldoon (Gary; cab driver extraordinaire and kickass septuagenarian sidekick). However, baby shaman (or gwyld, depending on which language you want to use) Joanne is super caught on her back foot and just barely manages to stay ahead of Hearne and Cernunnos long enough to stay alive and keep the Wild Hunt bound into its endless cycle.
The fact that before she met her mother Joanne was also a hardcore realist and pragmatist doesn't help either; she has to not only change her worldview, but she has to get out of her own damn way to do it. And she has to do it while changing jobs. She was a police mechanic who went to the academy on the recommendation (and pressure) from a previous boss. So when her current boss, Captain Morrison, is told by HIS superior that he is not allowed to fire the half-Cherokee woman in his department whose only crime was overextending her bereavement leave, he ends up "promoting" her to foot patrol. Admittedly this was on the expectation that Joanne would leave on her own, because this woman doesn't want to be a cop. This would have worked with lots of other people, but Joanne and Morrison are the most awkward of ducks, and she is too stubborn to quit.
There's also the small matter that when Morrison and Joanne first met, she didn't know he was the new boss and she mocked him MERCILESSLY for misidentifying her muscle car, Petite. And they never really recovered from that little incident, but Morrison is damn good at his job, so when Joanne can produce actual results, he grinds his teeth and coaches her in her new position to be the best she can be, help people, and get the job done. And he manages to be the best grouchy boss with a heart of gold even in this first book where he isn't the most sympathetic and I don't think is MEANT to be the most sympathetic. But when Joanne wipes out on concrete stairs, he's the one there with the smelling salts until it's clear she's ok. When Joanne has to deal with the death of a witness to a school stabbing who was under police protection and Joanne feels guilty for putting a target on her back, it's Morrison who is there going "It's not your fault. But you can do something about it."
Guys, I ship Joanne and Morrison so hard, even in this first book. They're honestly a really interesting and solid couple. I don't want to derail this with Morrison, but I do want to just highlight my favorite interaction between Morrison and Joanne in this entire book. This is Joanne being deeply sleep deprived and filterless, and while Morrison manages to stay pretty much professional, he's HONEST with her:
"Why do I bug you so much?" This was probably not the time to get into it, but I was suddenly incredibly curious. Morrison arched his eyebrows. "No, really," I said." I mean, I know we got off to a bad start, although I still can't believe you didn't know a Mustang from a Corvette--"
"I was never into cars."
"Obviously. What were you into?"
Morrison stared at me over the edge of his coffee cup, then put it back down. "Being a cop."
"What, when you were like nine? Fifteen? You wanted to be a cop, not to drive fast cars and pick up girls?" I took an incredulous bite of the apple fritter.
"Yeah. I never wanted to be anything but a cop. And that, Walker, is why you irritate me." Morrison looked like he was at war with his own body language, trying to force himself to relax back into his seat while the intense low pitch of his voice drove him to lean forward, speaking to me sharply.
"You fell into a job I spent my whole life working for. You irritate me because I think being a police officer is a calling and a solemn occupation and you're carrying a badge without it meaning a damn thing to you. You hang out with my officers in your off time, being just that damned cool, an attractive woman who talks cars and drinks beer and arm wrestles. None of them give a damn that you were in the top third of your class at the academy and that you're wasting your skills in the Motor Pool playing with engines. But it bugs the hell out of me. That is why you irritate me."
Literally I think this is my favorite exchange of theirs in this book, but it cannot be said that this is comfortable or amicable. It's tense and frustrated and I kinda love that.
Now, Morrison is amazing, but even Morrison does not hold a candle to Gary. Gary picks Joanne up from the airport and then spends three days tagging along and snarking as she figures out her powers and gets entangled in murders and goes on a self-directed crash course in healing magic. Gary is HERE for an interesting time with a lifetime of diverse experience, an open mind, and honestly a big squishy center. We are gonna spend like the next six books with people accusing Joanne of dating him and it is the best thing ever because she makes herself an easy target about it and Gary is deeply entertained by it. I've talked about Gary's backstory in detail here, so I won't go too much into it here. But Garrison Matthew Muldoon is the best person in the series, end of conversation. We love him so much.
We can mostly skip over the other cops, but we should address Billy. Because aside from being aware of other planes of existence, Billy is pretty awesome and will become a pretty important secondary character in further books. The poor man leans into his name as best he can, he's a wonderful dad and a decent detective. We also adore Billy.
We also need to address Cernunnos and Suzy. Because despite a fairly antagonist relationship in this book, Joanne and Cernunnos sort of settle into the friends who have sheer animal magnetism and a snarktastic dynamic who nonetheless have each other's backs. We get a lot more of Cernunnos and he is kind of the first touchpoint for the Irish half of Joanne's heritage and powers as Coyote is for the Cherokee half. (We'll address Coyote later; for now he's just cute and furry but that's gonna change.)
Suzy shows up again in book 4/5, and she kind of represents Joanne's first save. Because until Suzanne Quinley at the end of this book, Joanne can't save ANYONE. Hearne's body count is like seven shamans, Suzanne's adoptive parents, a 60-something schoolteacher, and four high school kids in this book before he heads for his biological daughter to sacrifice her to unbind the Hunt. Joanne can't save any of them, and it eats her. She DOES save Suzy though, and Suzy is really the person who proves to Joanne that she really can make a go of the shaman thing and she really can make a difference in people's lives.
This is the book I recommend to people who tell me they like the Dresden Files, because the vibes are similar without the paternalism, chauvanism and dickheaded machismo. Also, where Dresden Files make me FURIOUS, Joanne makes me cry good tears, especially in later books. Her story is about healing and finding humanity and community when you think you've lost them forever. I adore these books, and we'll definitely be talking more about them as the the rereleases keep coming.
I love this series. If you take nothing else from this post, take my absolute adoration for Joanne, Gary, Morrison, Billy, and the cast of these nine books. They are incredibly written and unique. This is the urban fantasy detective/cop series I now recommend to readers instead of the Dresden Files. Let's talk The Walker Papers.
Joanne Walker (nee Siobhan Grania MacNamarra Walkingstick) is a half Irish, half Cherokee mechanic in Seattle who gets run through and is given three days to learn to use her shamanic powers and save the world. In Joanne's corner are septugenarian, recent widower, and all around badass good guy Garrison Matthrew Muldoon, Detective Billy Holliday, and Captain Michael Morrison. In the oppostite corner are the Wild Hunt, Cernunnos, and Hearne. Joanne barely manages to pull off not letting the end of the world happen, but all of Urban Shaman is a wake-up call about needing actual training and knowledge and kicks off a journey to get it.
Thunderbird Falls is, if anything, a treatise on the dangers of choosing sources and teachers, but also the lessons that you learn (and the damage that you live with and carry) in choosing poorly. This is the least memorable book in the series for me; it's not bad by any means, but it is the one I reread the least.
Coyote Dreams is tied for my favorite entry in this book with Mountain Echoes. CE Murphy had said that the series was conceptualized as three trilogies representing Joanne's journey from apprentice to journeyman to full shaman, and this book really feels like a changing point for Joanne, both magically, personally, and interpersonally. It's also where we really start to get a shift with Morrison, and the slow burn enemies to lovers thing they will roll with for the next few books really kicks off. It's also the book where Morrison gets prompted to actually look at Joanne's past, and for the next like, FOUR books you're always just kind of background wondering how much he knows. Plus we have an accidental end-of-times sign that kicks off a sleeping sickness, and as far as epidemics go, this one is not too intense for the 2020s.
If I have to tell you that Walking Dead is the zombie book...welcome to the literary club, we have jackets and I'll see about getting you the "Books 101" handbook. This is also the Halloween book, and literally everything about it is absolutely delightful. This book is sheer fun from start to finish, while simultaneously really digging into some emotional backstory with Billy and some really incredible closure with his sister.
If Walking Dead is the Halloween book, then Demon Hunts is the Christmas book--but I mean that in the best way. I'm not usually a "Christmas Book" girl, and its not overwhelming in this book, it's more just...it's been a couple months since the events of the last book, so it's December, y'all. But what I love about this book is that it really sparks Joanne's internal journey with coming to terms with her personal and cultural pasts. We get to meet her best friend from high school, and she's a Federal Office now. It's amazing. Also, Gary has a tortise, and no, I will not explain further, but it is INCREDIBLE.
Spirit Dances continues Joanne's journey into her cultural pasts. There is shapeshifting. There is DEFINTELY a Joanne-Morrison date, that they frame as a mission. There might be werewolves. This is also the book where Joanne transitions into a full-blown shaman in her own right; it's functionally a graduation day.
Where Demon Hunts and Spirit Dances really explore the Cherokee half of Joanne's heritage, Raven Calls dives deeeeeeep into the Irish half. If you are planning to read "No Dominion," this is the book that novella slots neatly inside. I actually do recommend reading "No Dominion" with this book, because it adds so much. Also, we very much get Morrison--who could not drop everything and fly to Ireland on zero notice because honestly, that's just life sometimes--putting Gary on a plane to be Joanne's backup. Seriously, the amount of no-questions-asked backup Joanne has is incredible and I love it.
Mountain Echoes is tied with Coyote Dreams for my favorite book, and this one is the Joanne and Morrison show that we have been waiting for for FIVE BOOKS at this point. This book also has wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, and brings Joanne's past crashing forward into a present she objectively did not expect to have, let alone have to deal with. We get to meet Aidan--and briefly Ayita--in this book, and it's incredible. And THEN. And THEN CE Murphy drops the biggest bombshell as the last line at the end of this book. If you're going to read "No Dominion," read it BEFORE the end of this book.
Final books can be tricky, and not all of them stick the landing. I thought that Shaman Rises stuck the landing. It tied up all the threads that had built over the last eight books, and i was intensely satisfied at the end of it. No spoilers though, because this book is fast-paced and absolutely WILD. It's 100% worth the ride and I wouldn't dream of ruining it for anoyone.
That is a subordinate coming to ask you about a possible ethical breach. That is NOT the cute girl who laughed at your ass for not being able to identify a classic muscle car. That is NOT the woman who has been tying your insides in knots.
WHY WOULD YOU ASSUME SHE'S ASKING YOU ON A DATE!?!?!?!?
Oh my god I love this man. It took him FIVE BOOKS to finally snap and get unhinged and low-key strongarm a subordinate into a date. He hung on through TWO ex-boyfriends and her meltdown over him boinking a curvy redhead, and FINALLY he snapped. In the best possible way.
I can't say that I have any particularly strong feelings about Halloween, but sometimes reading and holidays match up, and if Joanne is spending her Samhain wishing like hell zombies weren't a thing she has to deal with, I can yammer about how awesome it is to watch her hate on dealing with zombies. Let's talk Cauldron Borne.
This is your obligatory SPOILER WARNING. No fair saying I didn't warn you that there would be zombies and spoilers past this point.
So after having taken the promotion Morrison offered her at the end of the last book, Joanne's social life has exploded and we open with a Halloween party that she's co-hosting with her fencing instructor, is attended by most of the SPD, and also includes Edward "Thor" Johnson, Joanne's boyfriend with a big sexy truck. Put a pin in the boyfriend, we're gonna need to come back to that. The other big key point about this book is that it's where Joanne realizes that she is getting a handle on her shamanism. She's got a better sense of her abilities than in past books, and she has more than the little bit of knowledge it takes to be dangerous. So when she and Billy catch a homicide that has some spooky origins, she's actually making plans and acting instead of just reacting. It's a great change, and honestly this is where Joanne really starts coming into her own.
This is ALSO the book where Joanne figures out that of all the spooktacular creatures she could be dealing with, Zombies are her least favorite. And given all the sensory details we get about them from this book? They're my least favorite too. Monsters should have the courtesy not to SMELL if they're going to murder you.
However, that gets a bit ahead of myself. Let's start with Joanne and Billy, because he is undoubtedly our MVP secondary character in this book. Detective Billy Holliday sees dead people, and has since the tragic, accidental death of his sister Caroline when she was eleven. That's all fine, it makes him a damn good homicide detective, and he has built himself a happy, stable life with his wife Melinda--who is literally days from giving birth to their fifth child. It is this gift of seeing ghosts that lets Billy know that a whole bunch of very pissed off ghosts erupt from the party cauldron and try to possess people.
One of those ghosts is Matilda Whitehead, and 13-year-old who was murdered in 1900. She leads Billy and Joanne to a string of semi-centennial child murders that connect somehow to the murder of a security guard who was securing the Cauldron of Maltholwch--better known as the Black Cauldron--which has of course been stolen. So Joanne and Billy have to a) solve a bunch of related murders and b) find the dang Cauldron. With the help of a lot of ghosts and Suzanne Quinley--grandaughter of Cenunnos, leader of the Wild Hunt--they do. But not before the guy who stole the Cauldron tries to use Joanne as a test case to make sure he can bring his wife and daughters back to life.
Joanne tries to self-sacrifice by jumping into the Cauldron to destroy it, but Billy cold-cocks her and jumps in instead. At which point it is revealed that Caroline's ghost has stayed with Billy his whole life to protect him. Which is lucky, because only Caroline can destroy the Cauldron by finally going to her rest. Billy and Joanne are yote from the exploding Cauldron, and Melinda goes into labor. Our bad guy has a grief heart attack, and everyone is happily ever after at that point.
So let's dig in a little, shall we?
Joanne, Thor, and Morrison
So. For those of you playing along at home, Joanne had a choice at the end of the last book. She could take a promotion to detective or she could take a chance on a relationship with Morrison. In one of the most heart-wrenching but correct decisions I have ever seen a character make in a book, she took the promotion. And sometime between books, she started dating the guy who was hired to replace her all the way back in book 1.
Morrison is deeply cool about ALL of this (so much so that it got its own post), while still carrying one hell of a torch.
Unfortunately, it takes less than five chapters for it to be really, really damn clear that Thor is not cut out to be the side of the relationship that runs for cover or trusts the other side to protect themselves. In fairness to him, at over six feet tall, good with cars, and ripped as hell, he probably hasn't HAD to walk away from many fights in his life. He's probably very used to being protective. But if you don't have magic, you can't face down the magical enemies and win.
This sits poorly with him, and the miniute Joanne says she is walking into an objectively dangerous situation, he pitches a tantrum because he can't go badass with her. They literally break up over this, and everyone but Joanne saw it coming. I'm pretty sure THOR saw it coming. He wanted to be the protector, but that was just never going to be the dynamic.
Which is something Morrison SUPER understands, because Joanne goes to say a "just in case" goodbye to him before she walks into danger. And I don't honestly know what possessed Morrison to push the issue and ask WHY she was really in his office. He could absolutely have let her hide behind "Billy told me I had to ask your permission before walking into a dangerous situation" because it's plausible deniability for everyone involved. Hell, I'm fairly sure BILLY was expecting Morrison to forbid her from going. But Joanne walks into the office and goes, "Hey, so, I'm walking into this situation. It'd be better if you didn't order me not to. Cool?"
Morrison is just barely cool with it. He, in fact, turns purple about it, but he lets her go. He trusts that she's got this. And when she gets sucker-punched and hung over the cauldron by a serial killer, he strong-arms Cernunnos himself to get him, Billy, Gary, and Suzanne to Joanne this very second. (God I want to see that scene...we don't get it, but it would be INCREDIBLE.)
Morrison knows how to stand beside and trust a partner. He also knows when protection and help are useful rather than infantilizing and actively detrimental, so points.
And he somehow manages to do ALL of this while respecting Joanne's choice. Even when she is having trouble with her own choice, he's just...there. Letting her figure it out, and stepping in when it's necessary to make sure she doesn't end up sacrificed to an ancient Celtic cauldron.
Suzanne Quinley
Miss Suzy Q. is back! Our girl was a minor character in book 1, and since the events if that book has been living with her aunt in Olympia and coming into the powers that are her heritage as a demi-god. She can see through time, guys, and it's as awesome and terrifying as you might expect.
This new precognitive ability is why Suzanne turns up in Seattle: She has seen Joanne's death and she wants to prevent it from.coming true. Along the way, Suzanne ends up revealing herself to just be RELENTLESSLY impressive. In the face of waves of zombies (starting with insects and graduating to small animals and finally to humans) and an adult who is curled in a ball on the ground shrieking (Joanne REALLY is not ok with zombies), Suzanne picks up the shotgun full of rock salt, fires into the crowd of zombies, and orders Joanne up. She also threatens to shoot Joanne to buy herself time to run, but she's 14 and being chased by zombies, so I genuinely do not blame her. Luckily, Joanne gets the hell up, so Suzanne gets to just keep blasting zombies as they make their way back to Petite.
Honestly, this whole scene in the cemetery is freaking incredible. A+, no notes.
Suzanne also gets to ride with the Wild Hunt to Joanne's rescue, where her magic gets EVEN CREEPIER. Billy and Morrison have guns with which to shoot undead Celtic warriors, Gary body slams one before nabbing Joanne's sword to use. Suzanne just straight up Benjamin Buttons them out of existence. It's the creepiest thing I have ever considered in terms of ways to dispatch zombies, but it is damn effective.
Archie Redding
Our big bad for this book is way, way more tragic and human than I had been trained by the series so far to expect. Archie Redding was a homesteader in the 1800s who took.his wife and two little girls and trekked across the continent toward California. Tragedy strikes when they're traveling out of season and get caught in an avalanche. Redding is thrown clear, but his family does not survive.
And who happens upon him in this moment of tragedy and vulnerability? A freaking banshee with a magical solution to preserve the bodies until they can brig them back to life. And all its going to take is murdering a kid every fifty years to buy the lifespan and preservation. So Archie full-on murders kids every fifty years until he sees his chance to steal the Cauldron of Matholwch and use it to reanimate his family.
He murders his fellow security guard to get it out of the museum. He tries to murder Joanne as a test case to see if it'll work on his family. There are literally dozens of bodies buried under the pool in his back yard.
And all of it ends up being for naught, because the cauldron only gives his family a minute of life. On top of that, it's not even his family's souls that come back, it's three new ones. Archie got played by the banshee and it's master, and a bunch of people died over the one hundred and sixty-odd years this saga took.
Archie ends up dying of a heart attack while Joanne and Bily are busy destroying the cauldron. While Joanne could have brought him back to face justice, Morrison leaves the choice to her, and she leaves him be. There was nothing about forcing him to live and endure the criminal justice system that would have made anything better, so she leaves him dead. It's probably the kinder option, but that doesn't make it an easy choice. Especially since Archie is more tragic than evil.
The Freaking Cauldron
Ok, so for being an inanimate object, the Cauldron of Matholwch has a hell of a presence in this book. Death magic tends to have more attitude than other types of magic in fantasy in general, and this is no exception. It's seductive and creepy, and it does FUNKY things to your free will. Like funky to the point of being its own anti-destruction loophole, because the very nature of its magic means that no living human goes in of their own free will, which is how you do a sacrifice to destroy the thing.
Billy and Caroline are the loophole for the loophole, but holy cow there's something...sticky and oppressive and heavy about the cauldron's magic.
It's a REALLY cool item, and the fact that it gets us headed toward the Celtic side of Joanne's magical heritage--plus some foreshadowing about Brigid and the Morrigan--is a ton of fun.
Daniel Doherty
Ohhhhhh Daniel Doherty...this poor little insurance adjuster really goes THROUGH it this book, and he almost deserves it. He pops us early on in the book because he's trying VERY hard to deny Joanne's claims about the damage Petite suffered in the last few books, or even accuse her of insurance fraud. Since this is Petite on the line, Joanne has no patience and seriously almost gives Doherty up to the zombies in the cemetery.
He is a skeezy, sanctimonious, dyed-in-the-wool corporate stooge, and frankly he deserves the scare of his life. Literally one of the highlights of this book is once Joanne gets Doherty and Suzanne out of the cemetery and safely back to the police precinct, Doherty asks her what the hell happened. Joanne's response is, and I quote:
"What do you want, Mr. Doherty? Do you want the truth? If I tell you it's what you want it to be, an incredibly well-realized film production, are you going to go home and write up our madcap race out there as a liability and refuse me my insurance claim?"
Like...damn girl, I'm with you on insurance men being the absolute worst, but even I think that's cold. Although if my baby's well-being was on the line, I'd probably be that blunt too.
For fans of the series who want to see how Doherty handles this long term, there is a free short story called "Ghost Rider" that handles this and low-key crosses over with a pair of brothers who also have a car fetish and monster hunting legacy...
There wasn't a ton of Gary in this book, or even as much Morrison as I'd have liked, but this is one of my favorites in the series purely for how well it handles zombies and for how it handles death magic. Not to mention the always fun dynamics between Joanne and Billy, and a bit of a wrap to the arc Billy's had going for these first five books. As per usual, I cannot recommend this series or this author enough!
Chapter 5 of Cauldron Borne and holy cow it did not take Thor long to prove that he and Joanne weren't going to work long-term. The protective instinct is only good if it doesn't smother the other person's competence and the facts of reality. Joanne has LITERAL ACTUAL MAGIC, and he doesn't. Ergo, he has to trust her to protect herself, and he literally just said, "I can't run when things get weird or dangerous if we're going to make this work. I want to be there to help. To keep you safe."
SIR. Do you have magic? Can you even SEE the monster sprinting toward us across the Astral plane? No? Then RUN WHEN THE PERSON WHO CAN TELLS YOU TO RUN. You're helping no one if you get your ass killed or distract the person with the magic.
Ok, I'm just at the end of chapter 4 of Cauldron Borne, and like...
CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT THIS FOR A SEC:
Joanne set a boundary at the end of the last book. She took the promotion instead of the relationship. And Morrison is respecting the HELL out of that boundary. He's politely and publicly acknowledging and supporting her choice. He's good to Thor. He doesn't make it weird.
But. Butbutbutbutbut. He has not turned away when she looks back. This man respects the door that Joanne shut. But he's also going to be fully on board if she ever decides to reopen it. And even if she never does, he's still her captain and he's still always going to have her back because as long as she's a member of the force, she is his people.
Seriously, Captain J. Michael Morrison is the best and this man makes me swoon like few other fictional characters.
Would the Awake and Present Timeline Joanne Please Stand Up?
Depending on the day you catch me on, I will tell you ether that Coyote Dreams is my favorite books of the series or that it is tied for the top spot with Mountain Echoes. Either way, this is a damn good book. Joanne is finally ahead of the curve for once, and she's learned to both lower the blast walls and raise shields--but more important she's learned when to do those things and why. Not that any of this means that Joanne's life is anything but messy, in a glorious, tangled, way that is a blast to watch unfold. Oh, and she has to convince a Navajo god that she isn't actually the harbinger of the end of days, which is somehow STILL less embarrassing than Morrison casually saying that he gave his piece of topaz to Barbara Bragg. Let's talk Coyote Dreams.
This is your obligatory SPOILER WARNING. You know the drill, folks.
Ok, so I'm skimping on the plot summary on this book for two reasons. One, I very much want you to GO READ THIS BOOK. It's worth it, I promise. Two, this is my blog and I want to just highlight all my favorite parts of this book, because frankly? There are SO MANY and this book is just AMAZING.
The TLDR of the plot is that Joanne accidentally woke up and gave a signal to a Navajo god that it's end of days, so Begochidi starts putting people to sleep and siphoning off their life force to keep himself awake and powerful enough to lead his people to the next world. Meanwhile, Joanne suddenly has a social life that gets wildly out of control as she and Morrison date a pair of fraternal twins and Joanne gets JEALOUS AF. This social life gets twisted up with her day job (police officer) and calling (shaman) as people she loves start to fall asleep and cannot be woken up. She manages to keep Gary awake though, and we love that for her. Eventually, Joanne steals her 13-year-old self's competence with her own magic and convinces Begochidi that she isn't the herald of the end times and he can go back to sleep. Everyone wakes up and it's all good, and Joanne takes a promotion from Morrison instead of a date, to both of their very complicated feels about it. The end.
Ok, now, on to the things I adore about this book. And we're gonna use headings, because that's pretty fun for me.
Joanne Wakes Up In Bed with a Boy She Didn't Sleep With
This book starts off with Joanne waking up next to a strange man. It's kind of hilarious, and we spend 3/4 of the first chapter sorting out who the heck this very cute man is and how we feel about the cute man and how we feel about being IN the situation, because this is very outside of normal for Joanne. Genuinely, the clear communication, priorities, and internal monologue in this whole section are amazing because the flip-flopping between "What the SHIT am I doing right now???" and "daaaaaaaaaaaaaang, this man is pretty" is both hilarious and deeply relatable.
Especially once Gary shows up and chaos gremlins the whole thing by switching between concerned friend, dad figure out to terrify the boy he found his daughter figure with, and wingman. I love when Gary brings the chaos gremlin energy, and he keeps leaving Mark's number around the apartment for Joanne to find to make sure she has the option for a social life and boyfriend if she wants.
The fact that Mark is one half of the manifestation of the sleeping sickness that is spreading throughout the novel is...regrettable. Because he's cute, polite, he cooks, and he made the bed. But he's part of the problem, and more than that, part of the problem is that Mark is not Morrison.
Joanne Pisses Off Doc Holliday
Ok, so, when Billy Holliday gets trucked off to the hospital in a coma, Morrison drags Joanne there to see if she can help. When a doctor walks in all offended by the drum and the laying on of hands, he "simply hit all my arrogant-prick medical-professional buttons" and Joanne lets him absolutely HAVE it. I'm just gonna let her speak for herself at this point, because nothing I could say could possibly make it any better:
"This is Mrs. Holliday. Oh, you've met. [...] So I'm sure you understand that whatever's going on in here is happening with her approval, which makes it, let me see, what's the phrase I'm looking for here. Oh yeah. None of your goddamn business. [...] Does it appear to you that anyone in this room is providing illegal medical advice, or in fact trying to remove Mr. Holliday from the hospital's expert care? [...] I didn't think so. I'm sure you're familiar with the idea of positive thoughts and prayer shoring up the ill, Doctor, even if you don't subscribe to its usefulness yourself. [...] That's what I thought. But you'd hardly deny the family and friends of an ill man the chance to surround him with those thoughts and prayers, would you? I didn't think so."
And she spends this entire monologue aggressively backing him out of the room, only for Melinda to explain that he is actually Billy's brother.
I love how far this represents Joanne having come from book 1, because book 1 Joanne would have been entirely on Doc Holliday's side. She'd have rolled her eyes SO HARD at faith healing and the idea that anything other than medical science could help Billy. And now, just two and a bit books later, she's actively and aggressively slapping down someone who is hardcore only western medicine. It's such great character growth, and I cannot do anything but LOVE how hard Joanne goes to protect and support her people.
Even if in doing so without first surveying the room she accidentally pisses off the person she's going to have to work with once Melinda goes to sleep as well. Which leads to a whole great "look, I was a dick and we disagree, but can we just bury the hatchet and make this work?" arc.
Joanne's Ongoing Battle With Laurie Corvallis Begins
Laura "Laurie" Corvallis is a reporter who will keep showing up in the rest of the books, and we kind of love how tenacious, self-aware, and wholly ruthless she is. Most of that comes from her later book interactions, but we are introduced to her here when she shoves a microphone in Joanne's face immediately after Morrison goes, "Whatever you do, do NOT talk to the press" because a quarter of the precinct is now in comas.
Laurie Corvallis knows a lead when she sees one though, and she spends a lot of time watching and following Joanne. Joanne buys her cameraman's loyalty with a burger, and ultimately fucks this first interaction up because she actually gave Corvallis a lead that both did and did not pan out. So basically, Joanne made herself interesting to the reporter who is just barely not a muckraker. She will never, ever be free of this woman.
Joanne Loses Her Absolute Shit In Public During a Double Date
Ok, so this meltdown. This meltdown is epic, and got a little bit of its own post on this blog because it's precipitated by Morrison making the worst possible move ever and giving the piece of topaz Joanne gave him (topaz is protective against the comas) to Barb. But that is just the catalyst; this meltdown encompasses more and needs a little setup.
So Joanne accidentally gets Coyote killed during a trek into the astral plane, and admits it to Morrison when she checks in with him at the precinct. It's already SUPER awkward, but then Barb walks in and strongarms Joanne into a double date. Joanne doesn't like Barb. Joanne is jealous AF of Barb. Joanne extremely does not want to go on a double date with Barb and Morrison. Unfortunately, we then cut to Joanne and Mark on a dinner date with Barb and Morrison, and Joanne's shamanism has come up in the context of the comas half the police force is in. Barb is PUSHING the topic, and when Joanne explains that the topaz is protective, this happens:
"The topaz works as a charm against the sleeping sickness," I heard myself add. Morrison's expression went indecipherable.
"Good," he said after a moment. "I gave that piece to Barb."
I'm pretty sure that line counts as both murder and suicide. Like, this reminds me of Anthony in Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra trying to do the honorable thing and falling on his sword but FUCKING IT UP. Like, there was no way out of this conversation alive for either Morrison or Joanne, but instead of mitigating the blow, Morrison landed it in the most painful way possible. Joanne is already emotionally vulnerable because her friends are in comas or dead, and the man she is absolutely gone for just basically shoved her in front of a bus. I'm way more emotionally put together than Joanne is, and I don't think I'd have managed this any better than she did.
And what Joanne did was...kind of the epic date night scene in the restaurant/restaurant parking lot. First she freezes as Barb waffles on inanely about topaz. Then she stands up. Then she BOLTS from the restaurant, taking out at least one other table as she goes. She doesn't get her car door open in time to avoid Morrison catching up to her, and when he gently touches her shoulder, she hauls off and decks him (he deserved it).
Then the words come out. With no thought for volume, propriety, or the audience of confused diners who have followed them out to the parking lot. And more than hauling off and punching Morrison, Joanne lets him have it with her words. And I suspect that this is what lands for Morrison more than the actual punch, because she manages to admit that she has feelings for him, throws his own logic and integrity in his face, throws the fact that the sleeping sickness is actually killing HIS people in his face, and finally calls his ass out for his "big dumb hero" moment actively putting him in danger. Which...is valid and true but uh...I'm pretty sure that kind of surgical takedown is pretty close to as emotionally devastating as Morrison giving Barb the topaz is. And I think those points hit because the ONLY rebuttal Morrison has to all of this is as follows:
"I'm going to cut you some slack, Walker, because a friend of yours just died. [...] But if you ever. So much as think. About throwing another punch my way, I will have you up on assault charges so fast your head will spin, and I am good and certain that your bag of tricks doesn't hold a get-out-of-jail-free card. Do I make myself perfectly clear, Officer Walker?"
If you have to fall back on literally being the boss, you've made your point, but you've lost that battle. He didn't address a single one of her valid points, or the fact that he was out of line by giving the topaz away. So uh...I'm not going to declare a WINNER here, but I think hits were scored all 'round.
This was gloriously messy as a public scene, but it also was gloriously messy in that it fully spilled the can of worms that is the weirdness of the Joanne-Morrison relationship out into the open where they can both see it and kind of can't ignore it anymore. They're gonna try, though. For like another four books.
Joanne Saves Morrison's Life
So...when you date one of the two people actively siphoning people's life force after putting them in a coma and then you hand them the thing that protects you from them...you're absolutely getting nerfed and drained dry. And I have a hard time sympathizing with Morrison about ending up on his back on his kitchen floor with Barb's hand over his heart, sucking his literal life away.
As Joanne notes, his life force is depleting WAY faster than anyone else's, because he is very close to her and unlike Billy and Mel, he doesn't know how to shield. So he is about to get very literally energy vampired to death by his girlfriend, when Joanne astral projects in and sticks her astral hand into his chest beneath Barb's, startling Barb enough to break the connection and get some damn shields on this man.
There's not a whole hell of a lot to this instance--it goes pretty quick in the book, but holy HELL is this emotionally satisfying. Joanne is vindicated about not liking Barb, she gets her own big damn hero moment, and she actually knows enough about herself and Morrison to be able to effectively shield him. The details she pulls up to link to him and create boundaries for the shield for him are really lovely and sweet and real. It's such a good moment, and it's absolutely the moment where you KNOW they are endgame.
Joanne Punches Barb in the Face
This one is pretty much what it says on the tin, and it is deeply emotionally satisfying. Like as soon as Joanne finished shielding Morrison, she winds up and hauls off a punch that takes Barb in the teeth. It's AMAZING.
Gary Helps Joanne Arm Up
Garrison Matthew Muldoon is the best human in this series, period, end of sentence. So of course when Joanne decides she needs to be drummed under to fix the sleeping sickness and prevent the end of the world on the astral plane, Gary isn't about to let her go in unarmed and unprepared.
Admittedly, his first preference would be that she not go in at all, but once it's clear that she's GOING, he plants her in her living room and then arms her up. He pulls Cernunnos's sword out from under her bed and hand it to her, before putting a copper bracelet that acknowledges her Cherokee heritage and was a gift from her father on her left wrist to protect her heart. Then on goes a silver triskelion and Celtic cross necklace from her mother, to guard her soul. Then Joanne says, "What about you? [...] Don't I get anything from you? Mother's got my soul covered and Dad's got my heart, but without you, jeez, Gary, I wouldn't be here at all. You took the damned sword out of me when I was dying so I could heal myself. And all I get is this lousy little ritual?"
My description is not doing this scene any justice whatsoever, because at this point when reading, I'm in tears right along with Joanne. And then I sob my eyes out when Gary pins his Purple Heart from the Korean War to her chest to shield her.
This is literally every arming up scene from every movie with such a scene, but it hits so beautifully hard and is all about love and protection rather than glorifying the battle. This has to be done, but it's about making sure that Joanne will be ok and make it out the other side. That Gary supports her effectively and without question or hesitation is also just heartbreakingly wonderful.
Joanne and Morrison Have a Heart to Heart Part I
Ok, so...remember when Joanne shielded Morrison? There was a small oops in there, because she accidentally hooked him up to Begochidi through her shields, and she has to fix that from his garden. Which...after the scene at the restaurant you kind of expect to be deeply confrontational and awkward, but reader and Joanne are surprised when Morrison is deeply chill and comfortable. Well, he should be, it's his head they're in.
This section is a really well done and deeply necessary follow-up to the meltdown at the restaurant, because this is where Morrison opens the door that Joanne flung open during the meltdown. It also gives Joanne a chance to come clean about her past to Morrison without the "real world" power structures and hang-ups that really prevented them from communicating this well from minute one, where Joanne publicly ribbed him for not knowing cars.
This is SUCH a good conversation, and all props to CE Murphy for writing setting in this scene, because I don't know what I was expecting for Morrison's garden, but this was PERFECT.
Joanne and Morrison Have a Heart to Heart Part II
Soooooooo...remember that bit where I said that Joanne and Morrison were going to spend the next four books trying SUPER HARD not to acknowledge that they like each other? That starts here. The last few pages of this book are Morrison coming to Joanne to ask if their previous heart to heart in his garden was real. Joanne says yes, and he's over here looking devastating and superhero-y and he very carefully and precisely asks, "Would you take a promotion?"
And literally, y'all...this question is DEVASTATING. Because a yes would mean aligning Joanne's shamanism and her day job in ways that would help her learn and grow, but more importantly would genuinely help people. A no, however, would mean...Morrison. It would probably end Joanne's career as a cop, but it would open the door to try it with him and change literally everything about her life again.
And Joanne takes the promotion. She HAS to at this point, she has more to learn, she's still healing, and she's legit terrified of herself, which means that she isn't ready to focus on a future and relationship that she knows she wants. For all that, though? This is HEARTBREAKING in the best way. I haven't seen such a well-done bittersweet ending for a book in a WHILE.
Joanne Steals Her Past
So, a lot of this book is Joanne recognizing that her past left scars that she needs to deal with, from Aidan and Ayita to her dad to Sara Buchanan to the First Boy. And all of that ties up and gets utterly tragic when Joanne realizes that to save everyone in the here-and-now, she needs the skills and knowledge that her 13-year-old self had.
So in the astral plane, she ends up back in North Carolina with her younger self, and realized two things. First, she doesn't like her younger self and the feeling is mutual. Second, she has to take those skills from herself, and the sense of loss and pain and isolation from this action significantly contributed to the choices that led to her teen pregnancy and isolation. Like, this is actually tragic, because by the time Joanne understands what happened and why, it had already happened and she has no choice but to hold her younger self in her arms and tell her she'll be all right as her older self steals the things that give this 13-year-old community, confidence, and self-worth.
Guys, I cry so hard at this scene every time. The fact that there are lives on the line--that the world is on the line--somehow still doesn't make this ok for Joanne, either at 13 or 28. It's just tragic because it's a closed loop of time so there's nothing to be done to change it. That said, knowledge is power, so adult Joanne knowing what happened and why allows her to move forward, as we'll see in subsequent books.
I just love that the real tragedy of this book is that Joanne was the architect and victim of her own life, when at all points she was doing the best she could with the information she had. And at more than one of those points, it just wasn't enough. Especially when she's young, unsupported, and in pain. The idea of self-compassion (even when it's hard, and even when 13-year-old you was an obnoxious brat) this part of the book focuses on is so important, because it's soft, it's tragic, and ultimately, it's hopeful in some very real, concrete ways.
Begochidi's Last Best Shot
Ok, so this is in here because Begochidi tries so hard to take Joanne down into sleep by giving her what he thinks she wants in dreams, and he just KEEPS. FUCKING. IT. UP. The final attempt is clever in that he lets her think she's woken up before giving her the supposed life of her dreams. But damn for Begochidi, Joanne is good at details and if she thinks she's awake, there should be a particular logic to events based on her life, and the details just...don't match up.
Joanne is allowed to think she's woken up in her apartment after a week, with both Gary and Morrison there. Except that in this reality, Morrison is dating her, she has her own mechanic shop, and Gary and Morrison sorted out whatever the alpha male bullshit they have going on. And despite all of that being stuff Joanne would LOVE, the details are wrong. If she had been in a coma for a week, Gary shouldn't still be holding her drum when she wakes up, and she should be waking up in the hospital. Not to mention that Morrison dating her--as awesome as it would be--is just too weird to track.
Like...it was a valiant effort, Begochidi, but you cannot fight an English major with an insistently logical mind with dreams. He'dve got me though, since this is one of my favorite scenes in part because we DO get that tantalizing taste of the dream.
Overall, this book is just amazing, and if you've made it this far and DON'T go read the series...I guess I applaud your 3am, insomnia-fueled fall down this rabbit hole? Also, I hope you sleep soon.
