Follow TV Tropes

Following

Literature / Jane Yellowrock

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jane_yellowrock.jpg
This ongoing fantasy written by Faith Hunter features the strong and sexy Jane Yellowrock, the last of her kind, a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. Back from hiatus, she’s hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katie’s Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who’s killing other vamps. Once she solves that case Jane finds herself caught up in the vampiric politics which cascades her into a series of unwanted adventures. This is a series of Urban Fantasy novels that are half romance, half Transformation Comic, with elements of Supernatural Romance thrown in.

So far there are ten published books in the series and three series of short stories:

  • Skinwalker
  • Blood Cross
  • Mercy Blade
  • Cat Tales
  • Raven Cursed
  • Death's Rival
  • Have Stakes Will Travel
  • Blood Trade
  • Black Arts
  • Broken Soul
  • Dark Heir
  • Shadow Rites
  • Blood In Her Veins

Provides the following tropes:

  • Bad Powers, Good People: the Skinwalkers as Jane discovers throughout the series are a protector people who looked after the Cherokee, despite having a reputation for evil.
  • Beast Woman: Played with. Jane looks human almost all of the time, but Beast's traits show up visibly on her when she is upset, mortally wounded, or under extreme stress. Over time, Jane learns to let Beast show when she wants, to make others realize she's not all she seems.
  • Big Eater: The Vodka and Tequila Boys as humans go, but Jane can make them all stop and stare. Her regular appetite is big for a human, but after a shift, she eats enough for herself, for Beast, and to make up from calorie loss caused by the shift and by her activities in a different form.
  • Blood Magic: Used throughout the series by vampires and witches both.
  • Camp Gay: Deon, the chef at Katie's Ladies.
  • Can't Have Sex, Ever: Played with. Rick LaFleur, one of Jane's many interests. Due to being supernaturally contagious, and forbidden from sharing the contagion, under penalty of death. He can, however, have sex with those of his own supernatural type — which do not exist on the North American continent — besides himself.
  • Child Prodigy: Angie Baby, magically so. The same is true for her baby brother Evan, Jr.
  • Cool Boat: The handmade wooden airboat Jane gets to ride on in "Cajun With Fangs"
  • Domino Revelation: Well we have vampires, shifters, and witches...so all other things are probably real too!
  • Duel to the Death: How Jane gets out of trouble she didn't even intend to get into in "Death's Rival".
  • Emergency Transformation: A human servant is brought over as a vampire to not only save her life but to prevent the vampire who drained her from being declared rogue and killed for it.
  • Extended Greetings: any formalities undertaken by vampires or weres require arrival by rank, and then introduction by title, of which there are many because higher rank means more titles — especially among the supernats who are long-lived to immortal.
  • Female Gaze: A lot of the narrative in the book is given over to describe how hot the men Jane encounters are in their various outfits (or lack thereof).
    • This is also true of the Never Mess with Granny types Jane encounters. They are not shy about the hot men they encounter either.
  • Genre Savvy: The Kid, Alex Younger, knows people believe tropes they see on television, such as Enhance Button.
  • Glowing Eyes: How Jane's appear to onlookers when she lets the Beast in her show.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Played straight, mocked, played with, and inverted based on Jane's mood and who she's with.
  • Last of Her Kind
  • Love Dodecahedron: Jane is the center, but Rick, Bruiser, Leo and Eli all have at one time or another had her interest romantically (and reciprocated).
  • Magical Native American: Jane Yellowrock herself but in a more literal sense than the trope usually portrays.
  • Mama Bear: Jane, to a fault. This is one thing she and Beast never, ever disagree about. If children are endangered, the children will be saved. This includes pregnant mothers who haven't even given birth yet.
  • Monster Is a Mommy: One of the new creatures showing up in Mercy Blade reveals itself pregnant in Raven Cursed.
  • Mooks: There are some in every book. Some survive, some don't. Derek Lee's Vodka and Tequila Boys both fall under this trope as well.
  • My Horse Is a Motorbike: Jane's preferred mode of transport above all others. Her own is called 'Bitsa' but she rides other bikes when the situation calls for it.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Aggie One Feather's mother, and Miss Esmee, the little wizened redheaded crack shot.
  • The Nicknamer: Jane tends to give nicknames to people she meets.
  • No Guy Wants an Amazon: Subverted. Although there are many sexy and delicate women in the series, Jane who stands six foot in her bare feet has no shortage of men interested in her — in many cases because she can fight, eats like a truck driver, and knows her weapons.
  • Our Angels Are Different: Angie Baby has one she can see, and talks to. Her father has two. Her mother had some but they left when Molly's faith waned. As of Raven Cursed, Jane also has one.
  • Our Demons Are Different: The Big Bad in Raven Cursed.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: As opposed to most vampire stories, these guys go all beast-like and kill indiscrriminately until they are tamed after a few years..sometimes a few decades or centuries to make them less beast and more human.
  • Our Werewolves and Werecats Are Different: Though they share an origin point, the transmission of infection and results are different.
  • Papa Wolf: Big Evan Trueblood. Pragmatic, but very protective of his family.
    • Lucky Landry from the short story "Cajun With Fangs" is also deadly protective.
  • Power Tattoo: Played with.
    • Rick's were meant to give power to someone else, and now they kind of get in the way.
    • Lucky Landry's are the real deal - a witch with witch-created tattoos.
  • Skinwalker: Jane is a good kind, not based on the skin-thievery of legend.
  • Shapeshifting: The whole superpower Jane has.
  • Shapeshifter Baggage: She can't assume larger forms with out stealing mass and can't take smaller forms with out storing it.
  • Shapeshifter Showdown: She ends up fighting a another skinwalker who has taken on the traits of a vampire in addition to animal traits.
  • Super-Senses
    • Innate Night Vision: Beast has the night vision of a cat, but Jane in human form can draw on it and see almost as well as a vampire in the dark.
    • The Nose Knows: One of Jane's powers, enhanced by her bond with Beast.
      • Beast's nose is better.
      • Jane is capable of taking forms with better sense of smell than Beast, and has — but doesn't want to insult the cat spirit.
  • The Big Easy: The setting for several of the short stories and some of the books.
  • Theme Codenaming: Derek Lee has groups of former military mercenaries who go by alcoholic beverage codenames. Vodka Boys and Tequila Boys, respectively.
  • Totally Not a Werecat
  • Trademark Favorite Food: For Alex Younger, it's carbs and junk food — forbidden by his brother except as rewards or treats.
  • Two Beings, One Body: Jane accidentally absorbed Beast's soul as a child without knowing what she was doing. The two have shared the body ever since, though who is dominant varies from time to time based on the shape Jane has taken.
  • Unstable Genetic Code: She is a skinwalker who must study the DNA of other creatures via meditation in order to copy their forms.
  • Urban Fantasy: True to form, its a modern day adventure of the paranormal.
  • Vampire Hunter: Her job is often to hunt down and kill Vampires.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Jane can change at will with only a little concentration.
  • Wild Wilderness: A slight aversion of this troupe, Jane has some recollection of her past and the fact that she was undiscovered in cat form for a long while.
  • You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Jane is The Nicknamer and usually doesn't refer to people by their names. When she refers to George Dumas as "George" and not the nickname "Bruiser" it indicates a change where he stands with her.

Top