Blood of Eden by Tami Dane review

The novel Blood of Eden is by Tami Dane.  Blood of Eden is a supernatural crime novel.  It is the first novel in the Sloan Skye series.

In the Blood of Eden, Sloan Skye is the main character.  This novel is also in first person point of view by Sloan Skye.  This book drops the readers into the mind of a disbelieving Sloan, who joins the FBI’s new paranormal behavioral analysis unit as an intern working on profiling criminals. Sloan does not believe in the supernatural and believes, at first, that everyone is playing a trick on her. She originally applied for the behavioral unit but was turn down. She then had to join the paranormal unit.

Sloan Skye has dreamed of working at the FBI her entire life. She is a brilliant, with a very high IQ, criminologist, which are those who profile and research criminals. This book deals with Sloan’s crazy personal life and her first murder case.  

The murder case in this novel was not the most entertaining or the most captivating, but for the first novel it wasn’t bad.  I hope in the next novel it gets to be a little better.  I would like to see the book speed up a bit, because in this novel, Blood of Eden, there were several parts that dragged on for me especially toward the middle.  The murders, at first, appear to be not incredibly original because it looks like a vampire killing and it actually was.  The author did however spice things up with Sloan having a stalker and we also discovere that it isn’t a normal vampire but it was an adze.  The adze can transform into one of the African fireflies but only after sunset.

You slowly learn about a creature that stalks Sloan, a Sluagh, which I believe is like a shade.  This Sluagh is the prince of the Sluagh and is called Elmer.  Elmer want to marry an elf, especially a full- blooded elf, in order to become alive and with a whole solid body. Sloan is not a full- blooded elf but a half- blooded one.  Elmer couldn’t find any elf that would willingly marry him so he kidnapped Sloan.  Sloan realizes that Elmer was not a terribly man but one who had lost all hope at not only finding love, but also someone to give him what he wants in life.  She then gave him a deal.  She told him to let her have a year to find his true full- blooded love and if she couldn’t find someone to marry him, she would marry him herself.

This novel introduces Sloan hectic personal life.  Sloan’s best friend and roommate is Kate. Kate is a strong supporting character and a minor character. Sloan’s mother is schizophrenic and seems to be everywhere in this novel. Her mother is almost childlike because Sloan takes care of her mother’s problems, which occur often, and Sloan seems like she is much more mature than her. Sloan’s run- away father also makes an appearance at the end of the novel. We learn in the beginning that her father left her and her mother when she was young. I thought Sloan’s reactions to her father coming back were very realistic and it shows that it is not always a happy reunion.  JT is Sloan’s romantic interest in the Blood of Eden. He is also in the paranormal behavioral unit at the FBI.  Sloan does not want to date JT because she believes quite strongly that dating in the work place is a bad idea.  Sloan wants to do well at her job even if it is not quite her dream job. She still wants to get invited to stay working at the FBI past her internship and hopefully get moved up to a more preferred unit. 

Blood of Eden is a novel that I would recommend to those who enjoy reading about family drama, about crime solving, and the paranormal. This is also for anyone who enjoys reading about the process behind solving crimes.  I did enjoy this novel, despite any criticisms I may have given this novel.