UF Review: Hunting the Five By Maria Violante

Hunting the Five 
By Maria Violante 
Book #1 in the De la Roca Chronicles
Urban Fantasy
★★★1/2

Stripped of her memories, her name, and her power, De La Roca has spent the last three hundred years as a mercenary to pay for her release from the inferno. When the Angel returns to offer her a bargain, five final kills in exchange for true freedom, will she be able to rise to the challenge, or will she die trying?

REVIEW:

De La Roca has spent the last 300 years as a mercenary as a requirement for her release from Hell. She has no memory of her real name or past and has also lost her powers. When an Angel offers her a chance for real freedom if she completes five last kills, De La Roca jumps at the opportunity.

It's a fascinating and complicated world De La Roca (not her real name) operates in and while she isn't daunted by the five kills she needs to complete, it will not be a walk in the park to get this done. De La Roca is formidable in her own right and many fear her but she's up against worlds she's never seen before and having to put her trust in people she doesn't know very well. This short story offers more questions than resolutions and creates a high level of intrigue. Her reliance on another mercenary and a demon bartender is pretty risky and the jury is still out on that.

What I really liked about this story was its complexity. Heaven, Earth and Hell seem to be working openly and in tandem with each other, with specific rules and boundaries. However, there also seem to be other "planes," representing potential other worlds that no one is aware of. De La Roca is slowly being revealed, not only to the reader but to herself as she was stripped of her memory. My only criticism is that it was too short and much was unexplained and unresolved. With that said, however, I'm interested enough to read the next book and know I will complete this trilogy.