Title: The Early Years
Author: Faith Hunter
Series: Jane Yellowrock #0.2
In: Blood in Her Veins by Faith Hunter
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Animagus, Dark fantasy, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Roc
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: I have been here.

On her 18th birthday, Jane Yellowrock leaves the children’s home where she was raised, and heads north to her first job. But she makes a detour and discovers where she came from, who she is, and what she is.

I loved revisiting Jane’s first modern day experience of skinwalking. Reading Skinwalker, I had always wondered how she had discovered her paranormal capabilities, and this short story provided a great insight into this journey. It also provided more information about the importance of Jane’s gold necklace and the reasoning behind her name (Jane Yellowrock). I love that every detail about the protagonist’s life prior to the beginning of the first book was carefully planned and thought out by Hunter – an intricate reality that has layers upon layers, with more discoveries every time I read the story.

Jane is displayed as an outcast in the first few Jane Yellowrock books, and The Early Years gives us insight into the beginnings of these feelings. Her protective, Beast instincts also come to the fore in her protection of other outsiders. The feeling of inadequacy and loss of self echoes throughout the story until she literally finds her inner self.

Image source: Goodreads