Labyrinth

Greywalker #5

by Kat Richardson

Harper Blaine was your average small-time P. I. until she died-for two minutes. Now she's a Greywalker, walking the line between the living world and the paranormal realm. There are others who know about her new powers-others with powerful tools and evil intentions, and now that the man who "killed" her has been murdered, the police are also paying close attention. That means Harper has to watch her step while searching for the ghost of her "killer"-who could be a valuable clue in the puzzle of Harper's past and her father's death, as well as a key to figuring out who's trying to manipulate her new powers and why. But with her growing powers pulling her into the Grey, Harper might not be able to come back out...

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, Vampires, Fiction, Supernatural

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Bestselling author of the Greywalker paranormal detective novels. Former theater brat, singer, dancer, gemology and jewelry course-writer, liveaboard boater, and editor. Currently lives in the wilds of far-western Washington with her husband and dogs.

Reviews

[Denisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, fun, fun!

The second part of the previous book (and yes, we do get closure).

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

Harper Blaine seems to be in over her head in this instalment.

The first four books Harper was hired as a PI to investigate something. While the cases were not exactly connected to her, each new case brought her closer to the truth of her talent as a Greywalker and her father's suicide. Her London trip in the previous book helped her see the right way her personal investigation should go. She already knows who the villain is, but not what he wants from her.

Labyrinth seems to be the highlight of Greywalker series' story arc. Harper finds out the whys and confronts the cause of what she has become. The Grey is loud to the point that makes her unable to work or think. Harper is changing into something else.

There are parts of the book that get a bit slow, but nothing seriously bad. It wouldn't be a problem for anyone who got to here in the series.
This is an urban fantasy before anything else with only a bit of romance in it. Quinton is one of the reasons I love this series. In most of others you get a guy going all stupid ordering people around 'for their own good' or something similar. Here you get something like this:

'If you are determined to do something crazy-ass stupid because you have to, I won't be a macho jerk and try to talk you out of it. But I'm going to do everything I can to keep it from killing you.'

Or something like this:

'No. I don't need her. I don't need her to be anything or do anything. I only want her to be what she is.'

It is refreshing to watch them work together, each knowing the other's strengths and weaknesses.

As for the whole Greywalker issue, the following seems to be a great description of where Harper is in this book and in the series in general. This is more a note to myself than a spoiler.

'I'd thought I understood who and what I was two years earlier, before I'd died in an elevator. I'd thought I had control of my life--at last--that I was the person I wanted to be, doing the job I wanted. Part of that certainty had been torn away from me when I ceased being blind to the Grey, when I became something I did not want to be and didn't understand. I thought I had regained some equilibrium since then. I had come to accept what I was and what I did and make the best of it. Sometimes I'd even gotten a little smug about it. But I'd still been wrong. I wasn't what I'd thought, nor had anything about my life been what I'd believed. Deceptions, manipulations, and illusions had shaped the fabric of my life and I had not been blameless in making it--I'd destroyed my own memories and lived in the bitter confines of my anger at my parents. I'd clung to my beliefs without questioning them and learned I was wrong. I'd reacted, rather than acting. I'd done the predictable thing and run the maze like a good little rat. Was I still a rat, still going where I was pushed?'

There are a couple of errors in the book (e.g. '...he's unable move in any direction.'), but nothing too glaring or too much.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifth in the Greywalker urban-fantasy series and revolving around Harper Blaine, a private investigator who walks between worlds.


My Take
I can't help it. I just love this series. Richardson has created such a unique culture in Greywalker with its vampires such a very minor part of it.

Instead, Richardson uses the magic of a world between ours and Other to build her scenarios and torture with tension...for she's shown us that she is not averse to killing off important characters. Nor does she hold back on the hurt even as she provides us with real world lives.


The Story
The prologue provides us with the action in Seattle on Quinton’s end while Harper was pursuing Edward’s problems in London. And the action is hell, for the vampires are pursuing Quinton and his stunner is no longer working as it should.

Almost the moment Harper sets down at Sea-Tac, she’s heading to Edward's office but only Goodall is available who puts her off with the news that Edward isn’t. Available that is. No one had planned on Harper surviving.

It's the siege at Harper's condo that sends them fleeing the astetem and seeking refuge with the Danzigers, but it's only partly safe for Harper is hearing voices. Voices that pluck away at her mind, whispering in her head, remembering, dropping hints in her ear to help Harper find her path, the labyrinth that would lead her to the solution.

It takes hints and gifts from those involved to find a relief for everyone.


The Characters
Turns out that Harper Blaine has died several times. All as part of Wygan's plot to use her. Quinton is an escapee from the NSA and applies his brilliance to his own projects; he's the guy Harper calls when she needs creative technology...and a booty call. Chaos is her tube rat, her fuzz butt, the little carpet creeper, a lovely kneesock of a chuckling ferret with a passion for shoes.

Edward Kammerling is the head of the Seattle vampire community as well as a power in the human side with his huge development company. He left all his European business holdings in a friend's hands and something's happened to him. Bryson Goodall is Edward's chief of security in Seattle. Carol Linzey is one of Edward's secretaries with a strong sense of self-preservation. Carlos Pires Ataíde is a vampire necromancer who has been mentoring Cameron. Harper has found the Lâmina que Consome as Almas, part of the disaster in Seville. The reason Carlos hates Edward. Sarah is Cameron's sister and friends with Lady Gwendolyn the Anorexic-no-More. Drusilla Cristoffer is Edward's blood mage; not a woman Harper wants to be around but she owns the other puzzle ball. She knows where the labyrinth is located.

Wygan is the Pharaohn, the leader of the astetem, a stronger but slower vampire. He's the white worm-man of her father's nightmares. Simondson is a ghost trapped by his own evil; only Harper can free him. Only Harper will free him providing he performs a service for her.

Ben and Mara Danziger are a professor of the paranormal and a witch while their son Ben can be a monster; they're friends of Harper's and help her understand the magic that twines about the Grey. Another of Harper's friends, Phoebe owns Old Possum's Books and Beans, a used bookstore.

Will Nolan is Harper's ex-boyfriend. In Vanished , Greywalker 4, Alice kidnapped and tortured Will to destroy Harper. Now, he'll never recover but he can't keep away from Harper, needing her help. Charlie Rice is one of Will's friends and the owner of an antiques warehouse forced to call the cops on Will. Detective Rey Solis is with Seattle Homicide and is rather suspicious of Harper and her connections to some really odd cases. Harper’s neighbor Rick and his dog Grendel come to the rescue.


The Cover
The cover has a transparent black metallic sheen shading the greenish-silver background of arched brick openings from which Harper looks back at us as she prepares to enter the promenade. She's looking quite sexy in her fitted black leather jacket and form-fitting pants, her right hand holding a gun pointing down .

The title is a literal interpretation of a puzzle facing Harper, a Labyrinth she must tread to save her father.

[Rebekah (Silver Lily) James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 5th in the Greywalker series, and for those new to the game, probably not the best place to start since it is tying up a long story arc that began in the first book. As always, the story is fast moving, and Richardson has a knack for adding just enough detail about the scene without cluttering the writing. If she says there is a glass on the table, pay attention, it is important. Only one complaint this time - I love Kat Richardson's books, I really do, but I found myself frustarated a little bit with the central character, Harper Blaine this time who seems to be determined to be so hard boiled and independent it reduces her love interest, a strong and fascinating character on his own, to begging for her to let him in on the story.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the others, but that may have been me and losing interest in the book due to Life. I will still continue with the rest of the series.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good continuation of this urban fantasy series about a Seattle PI who can walk in the paranormal layer of reality known as the Grey.

[Melora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still like the heroine a lot, but this book was not my favorite. She spins some excruciatingly boring, Anne-Rice-like prose about the similarities between labyrinths and keys.

And as in the past few books in this series, the romance between her and the hastily chosen, incompletely developed boyfriend character, is even more unbelievable and almost unnecessary except as a plot device. (Why she would use this character as an alternate narrator for a couple of chapters simply mystifies me. Adding an omniscient character, even a ghost, would have been less irritating and possibly more effective.)

Even worse, she spends most of this book building up the evil antagonist of this novel, creating suspense about their eventual encounter, and planning for how she will defeat him, only to have one of the most anticlimactic scenes I've ever read in the last few, seemingly rushed, pages. I actually went back and reread it, thinking I must have missed something. Sadly, no.

It's a good thing we know another installment is coming. Otherwise, the ending of this Greywalker book would have reminded me of another author's endings, the very creative but mostly sloppy Stephen King.

So why did I even like this, you may be asking yourself. Well, as I've said, I still like the protagonist, and I also like some of the vampire characters that she's developed a bit more in this book. I look forward to seeing how those characters interact in future stories.

A plea to the author: Please, Ms. Richardson, spend less time on tangents, and more time on character and plot development in your next Greywalker adventure. Thanks, your (struggling-to-remain) fan.

[Particle_Person · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, if Richardson had ended the series here, I would have been perfectly satisfied. In fact, I wonder if it wasn't a mistake to continue it. I really enjoyed the books after this one, but I didn't like the new story arc as much as this one. It just felt kind of…unnecessary? Richardson really tied things up well with this book, is what I'm saying.

[Camden Sabathne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a fun culmination of various threads woven throughout the first four novels. Carlos and the danzingers always add a nice element of stability when Blaine (and the readers by association) are feeling lost.

Unfortunately, the labyrinth concepts and the functions of the Grey left me confused. The former made me feel ignorant. I felt like I could not envision or understand the sections of the novel revolving around labyrinths and mazes. The latter took me out of the story. Richardson’s descriptions of the Grey are certainly evocative, but I find my eyes glazing over a bit when I can’t really perceive what’s happening at pivotal moments.

It’s almost like this system of magical energy is simultaneously too complex and too simple. It’s abstract enough to be confusing (perhaps rightfully so given what it represents as something totally beyond human understanding), and it lacks rules to give readers a handle on the abstractions. There are some attempts to outline what Blaine can and can’t do — and why. However, like the outline of a ghost in foggy Seattle, those attempts are undefined and hazy.

I enjoyed it and will be continuing the series.

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was decent enough, and there was a lot of progress on learning and understanding what Harper is and about her history.

But I hated the last sentence. HATED it.

[Kater Cheek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd heard of this series, and when I had the chance to buy a used copy at the library (cheap books! supporting the library!) I picked it up, glad that I'd have the chance to explore more urban fantasy. Since I write Urban Fantasy, I'm very picky about others' novels. I've picked up and discarded many more books than I'd read, so the fact that I read this to the end was a point in its favor.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first in the series, and I haven't read the first ones, so I think my appreciation of that was occluded by my lack of background knowledge. Had I known it was the fifth in a series, well, let's be honest, I probably would have bought it anyway (sucker for cheap used books), but your enjoyment might be improved if you start a little earlier.

Harper Blaine is the hard boiled protagonist, an investigator who has the abilities of a "Graywalker" because she came close to death more than once. Her late father, whose ghost appears as a character in this novel, also had similar powers, but he was driven to suicide by the madness they induced. Harper is made of sterner stuff, and moreover, she has a slough of resourceful, competent, loyal friends to help her out with whatever she needs, up until the final battle, which of course Harper must do alone. In short, she's a solid heroine.

There isn't a lot of character building in this. Or, perhaps there is, but I missed it becuase I wasn't around to read the first four novels, so I don't know what she was like before. Harper doesn't seem to do much introspection. She worries a little bit about who is going to die, adn if she can save anyone, but she doesn't dwell on that. She doesn't seem to change much, except that she gets more magical powers than she had to begin with. Mostly, she just carries on with a sense of duty to the cause of justice and willingness to defend teh defenseless that you'd wish we saw more often in our public figures.

Many of the other characters felt slightly two-dimensional to me. Quentin should have been great. He's got a cool tinkerer/steampunk engineer/mad scientist feel to him, but because his only motive seems to be "help Harper," he seemed more of an extra than a supporting man. Ditto for her other friends. They're nice, but they're so nice that they seem more of a convenience to Harper than real people with seperate motives. I'll grant that this lack of depth could be because I wasn't around to see their development in the first few novels.

The setting is an alternate reality of Seattle, but it's not much like the Seattle I used to live in. I couldn't recognize anything, even places I've been before, like Pioneer square. Richardson did a better job of describing Leavenworth, which I haven't been to but was able to picture slightly better. In other scenes, like in the orchard, the topography completely lost me, and my lack of grounding pulled me out of the story.

Which brings me to my main complaint about the novel. Almost all of the action takes place within the Grey, the netherworld between the living and the dead where the magic is created. It was such a cool idea that I wish I'd thought of it first. I loved the idea of people being "greyblind" as opposed to "colorblind." Some of the scenes, especially the magical scenes, seemed as though they'd be strikingly beautiful if they were done in film. A book, alas, is not film, and on more than one occasion, the descriptions of the power flows, ley lines, wards, magic, and the surreal imagery that Richardson used to describe the Grey overwhelmed me. I simply had to stop paying attention and just skim over. This is a problem because I eneded up skimming so many passages that I lost valuable information. In one scene, she's interacting with a necromancer named Carlos. She spent so much time describing his wards and magic-y things that when there was a scene change, I found myself asking, "Wait, how did they get to the basement?" and I had to go back and re-read passages.

In this regard, the novel reminded me of Tom Clancy novel I read years ago, I forget which one. There were some of his novels (one could argue, most) which spent so much time on technical details and TLAs (TLA=Three Letter Acronym) that you lost the plot and characters. I understand greywalking about as much as I understand naval military procedure, so both novels made me kind of glaze over and want to skip passages. People who are already in the know might like the depth of detail, but I wanted more of the kind of plot I could understand, namely, that involving people.

I liked her vampires, and I thought Richardson's worldbuilding was both solid and creative. Harper Blaine is a likeable person, heroic and just troubled enough that you feel for her. If you're rabid about these stories, you'll probably find this solid. Objectively, however, it's too light on the setting, too light on the characters, and too heavy on the abstract magical descriptions for my taste.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kat Richardson’s Labyrinth may not be the end of Harper Blaine’s story, but it has all the tension and urgency of an ending, together with the sense of satisfied completeness at story’s close. Threads meandering through previous books come together, and the author does a great job of reiterating the important without alienating readers. It’s been a while since I read the previous volume, Vanished, and I was concerned I might not remember enough—vital scenes from the story drifting back out of memory’s reach. It was pleasing to find I could pick this volume up without feeling lost at the start, and the recap came as an enjoyably essential part of the story when beloved characters needed to know the details just as much as I did.

Kat Richardson continues to blend surreal with real in Labyrinth, combining vividly real settings from ancient orchard to deserted office, with swirling magic and the ever-present grey. Just as Blaine has learned how her own life has been manipulated, so other characters come to the fore with their pasts fitting them perfectly to the present. This novel’s danger could be earthshattering, and it grows with the pages keeping them quickly turning. Blaine learns that trust works both ways, that change is inevitable, and that sometimes you really do have to hurt before you heal—an interesting collection of lessons hidden in this tale as allies gather to save the world.

A satisfying novel on its own, a great culmination to the threads of previous tales, and a story that ends with just the right sense of completion, and just the right opening left for more, this one has me convinced I’ll keep following the series.



Disclosure: I got the book for Christmas and my husband read it before I did!

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really anticipating enjoying this book. I liked the book before it and this one was supposed to be the culmination of a lot of plot threads. We were supposed to get some answers. And we sort of did. My spoiler-ific breakdown of how this broke down:

I'm really glad the author didn't invoke some tired device, like claiming her big bad was actually King Tut or Cleopatra as a vampire. Thank you for that. However, she instead created a new type of monster--a type of vampire--that just wasn't working for me. So they're the same as other vampires, except they are slower and feed off emotions. Ok, but not all of them work this way? And some of them are sustained by the original vampire, but some aren't? Why? Why, why, why not just make it a normal vampire? I don't understand the reason behind creating a new type when you have the original kind in your story already.

They used guns? Why? They attacked her apartment? Why? Why did some characters hate her so much?

Also, so much exposition. And traveling. Lots of getting from point "a" to point "b" and all the description involved.

And please, if you're being hunted, why would you go to your friends who have a toddler without at least calling first to see if it's ok? And what's up with the dog? Sure, it's always fun to have dog interaction--good tension breaker--but why add something else to an already complicated storyline?

I do like this author and this world she's created, but this book just didn't come together for me.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth book in the Greywalker series, and in it Harper prepares to battle her arch nemesis, the worm man. The Greywalker series is based on the interesting premise that there is a world parallel to ours; this world is called the Grey, and it is populated by ghosts and other supernatural creatures. The Grey is layered with slices of time, in which old buildings exist and ghosts act out parts of their previous lives. Most people cannot see the Grey, though some people can communicate with inhabitants of the Grey. Enter our heroine, Harper. She is a detective in Seattle who is attacked and dies for a few minutes before being revived. Afterward, she is able to see into the Grey and is called a Greywalker. Harper is helped by Quinton, an off-the-grid technician, and Ben and Mara Danziger, who study the Grey and help her understand what she is seeing and experiencing. Harper's house is under attack in this story. She us beginning to understand who has been pulling her strings and why. Some of the sideline characters take prominent places as they fight to keep Seattle safe. Good read.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Greywalker book was a pain for me to get through. It becomes more and more confusing when Harper spends time in the grey. I can't really picture what it looks like and what she's doing in there. The new type of vampire and their problems was just weird and not really that interesting. Harper doesn't even do any actual cases anymore, she's so caught up in her own stuff. Since the whole PI thing was what attracted me to the series in the first place, it's disappointing to see that the story has become less interesting for me. I also find the relationship that Harper and Quinton have hard to take seriously. They don't have an actual chemistry, it just feels like its forced because he is the only other male character that understands the grey and isn't already married (Ben) or isn't a vampire (Carlos and Edward). I am not a big fan of the forced romance. We finally get some of the over arcing story wrapped up in this book, but most of it takes place in the grey and is hard to follow.
I think I will be taking a break from the series for awhile since it's starting to be a chore to read them. 2.5 out of 5 stars

[☕️Kimberly (Caffeinated Reviewer) · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this fifth installment of The Greywalker series we find our spunk protagonist PI Harper Blaine, returning to Seattle to find the city turned upside down. Edward is missing and the local police think they have a gang war on their hands. Harper, Quinton and the nightwalkers know otherwise. A powerful god wants control of the Grey and Harper is the key to his plan. Harper, her friends and sidekick Quinton must find Harper's Dads ghost, stop god-king of the asteme Pharaohn-ankh-astet and protect both the daywalkers and nightwalkers from his diabolical plan. Lots of twists and turns makes this mystery fast paced and exciting. Watching Blaine unfold and understand her role is the grey is riveting. Each novel in this series, is better then the one before. I highly recommend this series.

[Thomas Tymstone · Rating 2 out of 5]

☆☆SPOILER ALERT ☆☆

Harper Blaine -BS
#1 it's all my fault. 🙄
#2 I have no other choice 🙄
#3 I can't tell my partner and friends because they won't like it. 🙄
#4 taking on the kingpin (worst vampire) alone with no real plan and expecting to die. 🙄
#5 asking dum questions in the middle of trouble (ie what happened to your receptionist Dad) 🙄
#6 I used to be a dancer, but I'm not good with emotions. 🙄
☆Bonus: Never to the single moment to learn a skill she didn't stumble upon or try to find if anyone else has ever had this experience before? 😵😵‍💫👻

I need a break from these Harper Blaine misadventures. I going to listen to books I already like ✌🏾
Ps If you catch the short story from Mexico, it was goood. That's what got me here. It's called "Mean Streets"

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a toss up between this one and the last one...Vanished I believe (without looking)...over which is the darker one. If this keeps up it's certainly going to be interesting to see where Harper ends up. I just hope Ms. Richardson is careful and doesn't make Harper out to be some incredibly powerful person/creature all at once. The appeal of these books so far has been whether or not a character was going to make it through and in what state. I applaud Ms. Richardson for being willing to push her characters to the limit but I caution her to be careful they aren't pushed so hard it becomes difficult to suspend belief.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt a lot more put together than the last, but still never felt complete. Harper's voice was especially fragmented here; she went between fast-paced, impulsive decision making to page after page of confused musings.

I just felt as though I couldn't follow her process or much of anything here. The side characters seemed weird and incomplete in their characterization or reactions to Harper and her plans. The big climax of the ending was over in seconds despite huge buildup and expectation. I still don't even really get what happened, if I'm being perfectly honest.

[Deanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one felt darker than previous books in the series, that's not that the others weren't dark. Harper back from London discovers that things in Seattle have got a lot worse, Edward is missing and Harper is in danger.
The plot twists and turns but Richardson has put a lot of thought into that, including adding new paranormal creatures with a glossary at the back to explain what these are.

[orannia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. I just...got bogged down a lot, but I think that was a me thing and not a reflection of the book. There is a lot of explanations to get through and I just wasn't up to them. But, I like a sensible heroine so I'm going to keep reading.

[Cheryl Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

although I have enjoyed this series so far and generally find Harper an enjoyable character there are many parts of this book that were excruciatingly boring and so bogged down in detail that really could have been left out without interrupting the premise of the story

[Jon]

In Labyrinth, Harper Blaine returns from her harrowing ordeal in London to find that Edward, the vampire who sent her to England, has gone missing. What happens in London evidently doesn't stay in London, and the Pharaon of the asetem egyptian vampires, Wygan, is once again manipulating people and events for his unknown, but probably not beneficent, purposes.

Harper and her geeky boyfriend, Quinton, from the moment she arrives, are under attack from the asetem, and they can't remain at his bolthole or her condo, so they move in with Ben and Mara, hoping that the witch's wards and the new location will keep their enemies at bay. They are determined to find out what Wygan is really up to, and that trail will lead Harper, in and out of the Grey, to some odd places.

The tone of this book continues to be quite dark. Harper has come to realize that she may not survive her conflict with Wygan. Wygan has manipulated things so that she has been forced to become more and more a part of the weft and weave of the Grey, so that he can use her at some point to bring his plans to fruition. Harper's loyalty to her friends, such as Edward and Will, and even her father's ghost, may be her greatest weakness, but conversely her greatest strength.

One thing that was a bit distracting to me was the level of detail and descriptive writing about Harper's perceptions of the Grey. A necessary distraction, perhaps, but it did slow down the pace a bit more than I liked. Richardson sounds like she's going to continue this series, and I wonder what direction it will go after the conflict with her arch-nemesis has been resolved. Will she confront lesser monsters for a time, or will even Wygan turn out to have been manipulated by a deeper, darker evil?

[Bonnie Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the last one, but still not quite what I was hoping. The trouble is, the thing that really drew me into this series was the concept of the first novel- a private investigator who sometimes has the paranormal show up in her caseload. The first two books and sort of the third delivered on that idea. The fourth book only vaguely seemed detective like, and the fifth completely abandoned the premise altogether- an action novel involving hunting down and killing a super creepy Egyptian god vampire to save the world was not what I got into this series to read. It was a fun enough plot, but a bit too much of horror involved for my tastes. I'm not necessarily going to give up on the series yet, since the next book's blurb says it starts out with a pre-trial investigation and a murder mystery, so... we'll see.

[Seth Boyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

So... I enjoyed the last book a fair amount. My primary frustration with the series has been that the characters felt distant to me, perhaps because they were so normal. It is odd to read a book with characters who are so realistic that I don't connect with them.

In this book, though, I felt like Harper spent so much time off in the grey that I could not tell what was going on. Indeed, the climax was so abstract that I didn't get a good picture of what happened until the epilogue.

I'm sure that if Harper was as intertwined in the grey as she was, this would be exactly how she was. I just found that she was almost impossible to connect with.

I will be reading the reviews on the next book before investing my time in it.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Labyrinth was another good addition to the Greywalker series. It is a continuation of the previous book Vanished. I thought the plot was interesting and I liked how the author wrapped up the various threads they had woven together over the last five books. Also, I am enjoying the romance between Harper and Quinton. Their relationship is in the background, but I love that Quinton is just a normal guy. He isn't a mage or a vampire or has any real superpowers. He is a kind, supportive, tech nerd who treats Harper well and I love that their relationship is so respectful. The conclusion of this story is very fast-paced and exciting and makes me want to continue in the series, sooner rather than later to see what happens next.

[Brian Paterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. The protagonist is great and her sidekicks and advisors also rock. Trouble seems to follow Harper. All her life? Now, according to the screams in her head, it really was always about her. There is a key, a puzzle ball and… well, read the book. I quickly had fond hopes for the puzzle ball after its debut in an earlier volume. Several threads begun in previous volumes weave together here into a sort of… well… ethereal hangman’s noose. I continue to like the bright and tactile vibe of the otherworldliness in this series, the tapestry of times past, and re-runs of lives that flicker like an old movie. I even cope with the intricacies of its Vampiric factional powerplays. Go the Ferret of course!
This number was one of the first I found of this series. I eventually got Greywalker #1 and Poltergeist #2 from second-hand stores but I avoided reading Labyrinth…. It has a new variety of Vampire. WTF? Labyrinth surfaced again in the bucket list only after I read Underground #3 and Vanished #4 (bought online with other numbers to fill out the series).

[Loryn Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Labyrinth is the fifth book of the Greywalker Series. Phew! It’s a doozy! Unlike most of the other reviewers, I enjoyed it. I’m bumping this one to my second favorite (under Underground). It’s full of nail-biting action. Honestly, I don’t see how the author wrote four more books. Labyrinth has a sense of finality. The author could have ended with Labyrinth. Sure, the end would leave most readers hanging, but it’d be in a good way. Like my last review, I’m not going to go into many details. I have no desire to give anything away. If you want to read it for free, you can find it on Free Novel Online.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Labyrinth is the fifth book in the Greywalker series written by Kat Richardson and centered on Harper Blaine, a private investigator, who inadvertently became a Greywalker, a person who can see and walk among the supernatural, when she died for two minutes.

Harper Blaine has learned a lot of things from her London trip. She learned that she has been manipulated into becoming a Greywalker, by an ancient supernatural being, the Pharaohn, who is partly vampire and ancient Egyptian deity. He wants to return to power and his evil plans require Harper Blaine's abilities to power them. She also discovered that years after her father's death, his ghost is still being held prisoner by the Pharaohn.

Convinced that the man who killed her has some knowledge of the Pharaohn who wants to manipulate her powers – not to mention a key clue in trying to figure out her family's history and her missing ghost of a father, she decides to track him down and interrogate him. Unfortunately, while she was abroad, the murderer was killed himself. To make things worse, the head vampire, her client that sent her to London, kidnapped himself by no other than Pharaohn. Without his leadership, there is a surge of vampire violence.

With little choice, Harper Blaine delves deeper into the Grey in order to find her killer, free her father, and to kill the Pharaohn, before he could unleash Hell on Earth without being totally consumed by the Grey.

Labyrinth is written somewhat well. Richardson has mixed the paranormal, magic and urban fantasy rather well. This installment is a tad different than her previous installment, mainly because it lacked any detective work or mystery solving – it's mostly deals with Harper Blaine meandering through the labyrinth that is the Grey. Richardson's excellent descriptions of the surroundings is usually her strong point, however it may have worked against her in this instance as the Grey is very difficult to imagine and describe well. Regardless, it is a fast paced story with Harper Blaine trying to be one-step ahead of the minions of the Pharaohn.

All in all, Labyrinth is written rather well and a good continuation for the series, which I plan to read in the very near future.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harper is back in seattle

A showdown is imminent. Harper learns more about the Grey and the Grey gets a stronger hold over harper. Quinton is devoted to supporting Harper as she works to unravel everything going on around her. Harper's friends help along the way. This story has lots of action as Harper investigates the mystery of the grey, her father, recent deaths and Edwards disappearance. Great story, narrator does a good job on audio.