Review: Elemental by Whitney Hill (Shadows of Otherside #1)
Title: Elemental
Author: Whitney Hill
Series: Shadows of Otherside #1
Publication Date: April 2, 2020
Review Date: February 13, 2023
Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️
In Elemental, the series debut of Shadows of Otherside, Arden Finch—a Black sylph/Air elemental—takes her rightful place with long-running strong women urban fantasy characters like Rachel Morgan, Toby Daye, and Damali Richards. She makes her living as a private investigator in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill Triangle in North Carolina and starts the story as the only elemental she knows.
The world of the Otherside is hidden from the mundane human world. Arden is a Watcher, in the employ/under the control of the local magical boss, Callista, who maintains a delicate balance between all of the factions of the Otherside -- weres, vampires, elves, djinn, and the fae. Her day job is tracking down deadbeat husbands, cheaters, and generally knowing the ins and outs of the Triangle as a PI.
Elemental starts with an intriguing mystery: an influential elf matriarch has gone missing and a member of her family wants her found without mundane authorities intervening. Naturally, this mystery unfolds and expands into a larger conflict and interestingly Arden isn't involved because of her elemental powers, she's actually trying to hide them.
Along they way she enlists the help of her werewolf friend (and maybe more), a couple of djinn she's grown up with, the master vampire of the Triangle, and even some humans -- like a morgue doc who has to puzzle out what some curious puncture holes are...
The story is well told and sets a lot of groundwork for future books. Arden is similar to a lot of the strong women leads in these kinds of stories -- definitely snarky and a bit worldweary -- but she has a lot of humanity and isn't insanely overpowered (yet). The author, Whitney Hill, captures the Triangle culture and diversity extremely well. And there's a little bit of spice to boot. It's not a groundbreaking story, but it does what it sets out to do awfully well.
If you're a fan of The Hallows or October Daye series, and especially if you're looking for urban fantasy with a Black woman main character and a diverse set of supporting characters, this is a series to check out.