Why do I love this book?
Nettie Lonesome is one tough, sympathetic, orphaned in childhood, raised by abusive idiots, going-to-save humanity heroine. Her friends are shapeshifters; her quest to kill monsters. Bowen has created a world resembling America of the 1870s. There are Durango Rangers, ranchers, indigenous tribes, and one thing more: MONSTERS. All kinds of monsters—the kind mothers teach their children to fear and with reason—vampires, chupacabras, and harpies. It’s Lonesome Dove meets From Dusk Till Dawn.
But this is not just a book about a seventeen-year-old girl killing monsters. That’s what she does; not who she is. This is a sweet and tender story—a coming-of-age story, a finding out who you are and what you are kind of story, a who-do-you-love story.
Wake of Vultures is marketed as Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy but with Nettie in the lead, it’s a great YA read too. What really sets this book apart is Bowen’s writing style. Her prose is tight, pithy, blow you away visceral. She’s a poet in stompy boots.
“Eternity was a wake of vultures, a harem of harpies, a brigade of bragging bitch-buzzards carrying her through the night, flying her toward the gaping mouth of a cave at the top of a mountain that nothing on two legs could ever reach” (313).
And it’s book one in The Shadow series. Conspiracy of Ravens picks up where this leaves off, and Delilah S. Dawson writing as Lila  Bowen is currently writing book three. For some real fun, follow the author on Twitter @DelilahSDawson