Second Skin, by Caitlin Kittredge (St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2009)

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Ever since she transferred into the Nocturne City’s SWAT division, werewolf officer Luna Wilder has been a lot happier. She gets to deal with people before they die, for one thing, and she’s away from some of the coworkers who made her last assignment a pain in the rear. Of course, that all changes when one such pain, David Bryson, a homicide detective who was never her biggest fan, turns up to specifically request her help. It seems he’s got a few dead werewolves on his hands, some very influential people sniffing around impatiently and demanding results, and only Luna has what it takes to put the pieces of this puzzle together. Reluctantly, Luna agrees to help, for the good of the city if not her own peace of mind, and that’s just the beginning. Someone out there was a devious plan, and it all starts with killing representatives of Nocturne City’s oldest werewolf packs . . . which ironically makes Luna, who claims no pack as a matter of choice, a prime target in her own right.

Teaming up with the sexy, unpredictable Lucas Kennuka, who leads a secretive clan of shapeshifters known as the Wendigo, Luna does whatever it takes to get to the heart of things, even as her relationship with fellow werewolf Dmitri continues to fall apart under pressure. Hunted by disgruntled werewolves and renegade Wendigo killers, legally barred from investigating the case due to her personal involvement in the matter, Luna’s pretty much up to her eyeballs in trouble. And that’s before the true scope of the danger is revealed, as well as the true cost of losing.

Kittredge gets better with each book, as she continues to explore Luna Wilder’s world, fleshing out its inhabitants, its rules, and its threats. Second Skin maintains a trend of unpredictability and excitement with the introduction of the Wendigo and the further exploration of the supernatural community that dwells in Nocturne City. I might have thought the first book in the series to be almost routine in nature, but that’s a long-abandoned conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns here, and the character interactions. It’s always nice to see characters capable of change and growth, and nowhere is this better exemplified than in the grudging partnership built between Luna and Bryson, formerly antagonists, as they work together to solve the case. Unfortunately, poor Dmitri seems to get the short end of the development stick as a consequence, alternating between fits of overprotective possession and self-pity, courtesy of the demon bite that’s infected his very spirit. Lucas, treacherous and conflicted as he is, makes for a great romantic foil by comparison, though he’s just as bad a choice for Luna when one looks at the larger picture.

Second Skin really upped the stakes for Luna and Nocturne City, as well as once again altering the status quo. What started out as a series about a werewolf cop is now revealed to be something larger and more daring, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Kittredge has planned for her heroine next.

Red-Headed Stepchild, by Jaye Wells (Orbit, 2009)

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What do you do when you’re half-vampire, half-mage, the mixed-blood child of a union that should never have happened? If you’re Sabina Kane, you ally yourself with the only person to ever care whether you live or die, your tyrannical grandmother, who happens to be one of the most powerful and influential vampires alive. And you go into the only profession open to someone of your dubious heritage and unique talents: assassin. As the enforcer for the vampire Dominae, Sabina’s faithfully followed orders, killing anyone who might pose a threat to the status quo, be they friend or foe, and it’s given her a reputation as a bloodthirsty killer perpetually on the verge of going rogue. And it’s that reputation which will serve her well for her next mission. She’s to publicly break with her bosses, and join up with the renegade Clovis Trakiya, who dares to preach an idea of unity between vampire, mage, and fey, three races which have never gotten along.

So now Sabina’s out in the cold, looking to get in good with Clovis, whose scheme seems too good to be true. She has a demon trapped in cat form (long story) unwillingly helping her out, a perky nymph as her new roommate, and a mysterious mage trailing her, and the growing suspicion that someone’s pulling strings behind the scenes. But who can she trust when her own family is willing to use her and throw her away? And what of the rumors that she has family on the mage side she’s never met? Her conflict of loyalties couldn’t come at a worse time; caught up in the mission and getting ever-closer to the truth, she can’t afford distractions. . . .

Right from the start, it’s clear that Red-Headed Stepchild is an energetic, action-packed story, one where intrigue lurks around every corner and no one can be fully trusted. Moments of unexpected humor help to lighten the mood now and again, adding a wry touch to the proceedings. (Giguhl the demon is a scene-stealer, whether he’s exploring the joys of late-night infomercials or trapped in cat form.) There’s something appealing about Sabina, a mixture of ruthlessness and vulnerability that both helps and hinders her as she gets thoroughly wrapped up in the schemes and manipulations of those around her. All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable debut from newcomer Jaye Wells, and I have no doubt we’ll continue to see good things from her.

Ravenous, by Sharon Ashwood (Signet Eclipse, 2009)

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She’s a witch. He’s a vampire. Together and separately, they bust ghosts, cleanse haunted houses, and deal with the other paranormal weirdness that’s come into public view ever since the supernatural community revealed itself at the turn of the century. Holly Carver and Alessandro Caravelli have a great partnership going, one unencumbered by romance or deeper ties. After all, Holly’s got a nice, normal boyfriend, and Alessandro doesn’t get involved with his meals. Of course, things can always change.

A routine house cleansing turns ugly when they discover there’s far more to the situation than meets the eye, signaling the start of a deadly new case . . . and an alteration in the boundaries of their friendship and partnership. A demon has escaped into our world, and the last person to successfully fight it was Holly’s ancestor, who died in the process. With much of her greater magical ability still blocked after a childhood incident, Holly will have to dig deep into her untapped potential, and deal with some very painful moments, if she’s to have any chance of surviving the troubles ahead. Alessandro’s got his own problems, though: Omara, his vampire queen, is in town and commanding both his loyalty and attention, at a time when he’s growing more and more attracted to Holly. And Omara’s problem may just be tied into the matter of the escaped demon.

Can this star-crossed, mismatched couple of vampire and witch overcome everything that stands between, and against them, in order to embrace their newfound attraction to one another, or will they be torn apart by duty and demons? It all depends on who you ask.

Ravenous is a splendid new offering in the paranormal romance field. Sharon Ashwood has offered up a setting that starts with the simplest, most logical of twists — what if the supernatural community went public just because it was easier than trying to stay hidden in the modern world — and moves on from there. Holly and Alessandro are a likeable pair with genuine chemistry; the sparks flying between them practically leap off the page and singe the reader’s fingers. It’s hard not to root for them, even though Ashwood tosses some rather appealing alternatives into the mix, in the form of various secondary characters. Omara herself, the age-old vampire queen, possesses an intriguing mix of vulnerability and sensuality, giving us an amoral immortal bloodsucker you just want to hug and reassure. Detective Conall Macmillan, a cop who gets inadvertently caught up in things, has plenty going from him, a workaholic who secretly cooks in his spare time. Ashwood clearly excels at creating these characters, and it’s not hard to guess who just might take center stage in her next book.

As an urban fantasy, Ravenous delivers a fast-paced, sharp-edged story that avoids predictability, and I’m quite intrigued at the way she brings the idea of an extradimensional prison for demons and other nasties into play here. I look forward to seeing her explore the setting in future volumes. As a paranormal romance, it’s definitely got a lot going for it, from the amazing chemistry between the characters to the page-scorching moments of eroticism that blaze to life every now and again, from the merest kiss to more in-depth encounters. Ashwood has an exquisite way with words, something that sets her apart from many of her genre-peers, and I’ll definitely be picking up her future releases.

Rogue, by Rachel Vincent (Mira 2008)

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As part of making peace with her father, one of the most powerful werecats in North America, Faythe Sanders has taken on the job as one of his enforcers. With her partner/boyfriend Marc, she helps to keep unaffiliated werecats — strays — from trespassing in their Pride’s territory, which encompasses a great deal of south-central America. It’s not what she wants, but as one of the very few female werecats around, she’s obliged to serve the Pride. However, when dead strays start turning up in their territory, Faythe realizes that there’s something going on, and the answers won’t make anyone happy. Guided by one anonymous phone call after another, she and the other enforcers turn up a series of dead werecats, as though someone’s on a journey and leaving corpses in their wake. But what does this have to do with a number of missing human women? And why is Faythe’s ex-boyfriend, a man she hasn’t seen since she left college months ago, now leaving her increasingly bizarre, threatening phone calls? Murderers, mysteries, grudges and indiscretions, they’re all converging on Faythe just when she’s trying to figure out her future. Marc’s getting serious, and Faythe’s not sure she’s ready for that level of commitment. . . .

There’s a lot happening in Rogue, but it all ties together as the story progresses, and not always in predictable ways. At times it feels like the characters were making some convenient leaps of logic, but in general, the underlying mysteries were fairly well laid-out. There were enough surprises planted along the way to keep the reader from getting complacent, and the addition of several new characters into the mix helps to spice things up. Unfortunately, the part of the story that didn’t work for me is the relationship between Faythe and Marc. He’s a little too demanding when it comes to reassurance and emotional reciprocity, and too quick to take things the wrong way, while she’s a bit too self-absorbed and unwilling to compromise on the important issues. Naturally, this makes for a lot of arguing and hurt feelings, and their relationship just doesn’t seem like one that could last long-term without some serious work on both their parts. I hope we see some more growth in this area if they’re meant to be the central couple in a series that’s as much romance as it is urban fantasy. Faythe wins points in my book, however, for ‘fessing up when she realizes she’s the inadvertent cause of a major problem, rather than trying to hide her suspicions. It bodes well that she’s willing to accept the consequences, though we won’t find out just what happens as a result until the next book.

Rachel Vincent has created an interesting, if somewhat stylized, society for her werecats to inhabit, where the males vastly outnumber the females, and the females are supposedly relegated to breeding and status symbols, and not much more. It’s clear that there’s more to it than that, but we’re still getting the information in bits and pieces. We get to see Faythe’s mother in action, which is a nice change of pace, and another moment of revelation, for us and Faythe.

I’ll definitely pick up the third in the series, if just to see how Faythe deals with the consequences of her actions, and to see if she and Marc have any chance at a lasting, loving, relationship after all. It’ll likewise be nice to see more of the werecat world, and how it works on a grander scale. Rogue, like Stray before it, is a perfectly pleasant paranormal romance, and the use of werecats as its central conceit helps to distinguish it from others in the field. I enjoyed it.

Pride, by Rachel Vincent (Mira, 2009)

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In the werecat world, there are three ironclad laws which mean a death sentence if violated. No infecting humans and turning them into werecats. No revealing the existence of werecats to the outside world, under any circumstance. And no murder. Faythe Sanders is on trial for breaking two of these laws, ever since it was discovered she’d accidentally infected her ex-boyfriend back in college, abandoning him to his fate and killing him when he finally tracked her down for some payback of his own. Of course, in Faythe’s defense, she didn’t even know it was possible to infect him the way she had, and the death was entirely self-defense. Unfortunately, now she has to convince a tribunal of her innocence, and there’s every indication that they want her to fail, all part of werecat politics. Things aren’t looking too good . . . that is, until the proceedings are disrupted by the arrival of an extraordinarily rare werebear who wants to know what the werecats plan to do about a rogue pack of their own killing hikers and making a ruckus in his territory.

Investigating this mess, Faythe and her family discover a stray tabby, a teenage werecat female who’s pretty much gone feral in the wilderness and knows next to nothing of the werecat world . . . a state of affairs literally unheard of in their tight-knit society. Worse still, there’s still that pack of killer werecats prowling the area, and they have their sights set squarely upon claiming the tabby for their own. Can Faythe, her estranged lover Marc, and the others save the tabby, stop the killers, and appease the werebear, all without revealing their existence to the world? And will it be enough to commute Faythe’s death sentence? No matter what happens, Faythe’s love life may never be the same again, as those werecat politics lead to some unsettling changes around her.

This series has taken some interesting turns thus far, and Pride continues that trend. I’m not sure if it’s a strength or a weakness that some of the major plot points this time around hinge upon things that the werecats consider impossible until proven otherwise. After all, it doesn’t speak well of werecat society that there can be so much about their own nature they either don’t know or have dismissed as myth. However, that’s a minor speed bump of plausibility in an otherwise engaging story. Faythe’s continuing maturation and acceptance both of responsibility and consequences provides a nice undercurrent to the overall mystery and action that takes up the majority of the plot. Rachel Vincent keeps introducing fascinating secondary characters, such as the stray tabby, Kaci, and the reclusive werebear, Elias Kellar, and I hope we’ll see more of them as the series continues. Sadly, Faythe’s on-again, off-again relationship with Marc remains frustrating — one wants to lock them in a room together and make them talk about their respective issues and stop being idiots about the whole thing.

While I may have my complains about this series, and this book in particular, I can’t deny thoroughly enjoying it overall. Maybe I’m just a sucker for werecats, but it’s certainly a fun exploration of the concept, and I’m looking forward to Faythe’s next set of adventures.

Nine Gates, by Jane Lindskold (Tor, 2009)

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Ever since their exile from the Lands Born from Smoke and Sacrifice a century ago, the Thirteen Orphans and their descendants have done their best to blend into the cultures of Earth, striving to maintain their bloodlines and protect their unique magical powers from discovery and exploitation. They’ve laid low for generations, some dreaming of a day when they might return home, others losing touch with their heritage and allies. Most never actually expected to hear from the Lands again. But all that has changed. Events in the Lands have led to a need for the Orphans’ powers, and a small delegation was dispatched to retrieve those powers at any cost. In the wake of that mission’s failure, that delegation has been trapped on Earth, forced into a wary truce with those they’d so recently attacked. Now the two factions – so very much alike, and yet so different – find themselves menaced yet again. On one front, more warriors from the Lands have come through, and they’re not about to play nice. On the other front, Earth’s native magical traditions have begun to take an active interest in the goings-on, and some of them are willing to go to extreme lengths to steal the Orphans’ powers.

The course of action is obvious: Lands-born and exiles alike must work together to forge a mystic bridge which will take them back to the Lands, where they can unite against those who would threaten them. But lurking in the space between the worlds is an even greater danger, one which could spell doom for all involved if left unchecked. Can the Orphans and their erstwhile allies recreate the Nine Gates, defeat a mysterious evil, and outwit those who would steal the secret of their magic?

Picking up where Thirteen Orphans left off, and indeed opening with an action-packed sequence, Nine Gates continues the saga of the Orphans and their world. This time around, we meet more of the Thirteen Orphans, and learn how and why some of the branches have fallen away from the tree. We’re introduced to tragic downfalls, forbidden romances, bitter rivalries and fatal flaws. Balancing it out, however, are chances at redemption, heroic sacrifices, noble efforts and transcended limits. Weaving throughout the narrative are magic-infused action scenes inspired by Hong Kong martial arts films, and intriguing character moments.

Nine Gates is a wonderfully-told story, using the mythic resonance of the Chinese Zodiac along with elements of history, gamescraft and magical theory to build a world almost entirely divorced from the European traditions that make up so much of urban fantasy. It’s new and different, but not enough to create culture shock. In fact, in this book, we get to see how the magic system of the Orphans relates to what they term the “indigenous” traditions of Earth, and it’s an interesting contrast.

Unfortunately, Nine Gates isn’t perfect. The cast has become rather bulky, with upwards of two dozen players to keep track of at any given time, between the various factions. This means that Lindskold has to constantly work to maintain the balance of point-of-view narrative and screen time, without letting anyone fade away long enough to be forgotten. On the bright side, she has a talent for making many of the characters engaging, and giving them each their moments in the sun. A worse problem is that this is the second in a series, and suffers a little from that middle child syndrome. Neither a beginning nor an ending, it lacks a certain sense of completion, and leaves both audience and protagonists hanging, waiting to resolve things in future installments. And yes, I very much want to see how things turn out, the sooner the better. Two books in, and we have yet to actually make it back to the Lands, which have been in peril and upheaval the whole time.

Still, this series is easily one of Lindskold’s best efforts to date, blending urban and mythic fantasies into one great big adventure, and it’ll be great to see how it all holds together as a complete story someday. Nine Gates gets a thumbs-up from me, despite my quibbles.

New Tricks, by John Levitt (Ace, 2008)

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It was supposed to be just another Halloween party in the Castro of San Francisco, a time to cut loose and not worry about the supernatural, a time for magical practitioner Mason and his ifrit Louie to mingle and relax. That is, until one of Mason’s ex-girlfriends, Sarah, is found on a beach, alive but with absolutely no one at home inside. As Mason and his fellow practioners try to figure out just who or what could have ripped Sarah’s soul and essence from her body and turned her into a breathing corpse, they discover what might be a connection to other such incidents in nearby Portland. Enter crack practitioner Rolando and his sister Jo, called down from Portland to help crack the case. Rolando’s an old friend of Mason’s, and it’s almost immediately evident that Jo wants to be more than friends, something the relationship-deprived Mason sorely needs.

However, as Mason shakes down some of the most likely culprits, including the black practioner Byron, he discovers evidence which makes him suspect that his old pal Rolando may be up to no good. But who’s he to trust, the guy he worked with on previous cases of magical miscreance, or a guy who dabbles in the dark arts? Things are further complicated by some unsettling revelations regarding the true nature of the enigmatic fey, and some hints as to the origin of the ifrit which only a few, very lucky, practioners have as partners. Mason’s always wondered where Louie came from, and why he looks like a dog, and why some people get ifrit pets/partners and others don’t . . . but could the answer be a vital clue behind who’s sucking out souls and practicing illicit possession?

Levitt does an excellent job of maintaining the mystery that lies at the heart of the storyline, feeding the reader plenty of red herrings and vague clues along the way, even as he delves further into Mason’s background and Louie’s true nature. As with Dog Days, magic and music are heavily intertwined, and the very spirit of San Francisco gives this book a certain romantic-noir tone all its own. When Mason gets a chance to cut loose musically, such as with his guest session with the interestingly-named Dagger Dykes (an all-girl band who desperately need more screen time, in my humble opinion; they’re too good not to return), he really comes alive, and it’s clear Levitt’s put some real passion into that aspect of the character. (As well he should, being a musician himself.)

New Tricks has a lot of honest appeal going for it, in terms of atmosphere, personality, and mystery; it’s got this jazz-meets-noir tone that helps it stand out from others of its ilk, and Mason’s a hero worth following. My only complaint is that the book ends on a rather abrupt note, once the final problem is dealt with. That sharp fade to black may help to accentuate the underlying melancholy tone suggested by Mason’s point of view narration, but I’d have liked to see more of the aftermath and repercussions played out. As it stands, I’ll just have to wait for the next book to get more of my fix. Definitely give this series a shot if you like urban fantasy.

Monster Hunter International, by Larry Correia (Baen, 2009)

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When full-time accountant and part-time gun nut Owen Zastava Pitt discovers, the hard way, that his boss is a werewolf, and ends up winning the fight by tossing said werewolf out of a fourteenth story window to its death, he’s irrevocably plunged into a world where the strong and heavily-armed survive. It seems there’s a whole lot of monsters out there, including werewolves, vampires, zombies and sea monsters, and a thriving business in hunting them, thanks to the secret bounties paid out by a little-known government fund. Monster Hunters International is the oldest, biggest, best of the firms out there, and they want Owen to join the team, based on his ability to handle himself in a fight. It soon turns out that Owen was born for this sort of work. Slaughtering flesh-eating critters is a far better fit for his talents than accounting ever was, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s got a crush on the boss’s granddaughter, Julie Shackleford.

Before long, it turns out that monster activity’s up for a reason: something very old and very mean has been plotting for centuries, and all the pieces are falling into place. It’s your standard apocalyptic scenario, complete with Lovecraftian elder gods, a doomed expedition of Spanish conquistadors, unstoppable vampires, and prophetic dreams. Can Owen Z. Pitt kick some ass, shoot some monsters, and win the girl? Oh yeah. He’s got it. Provided he doesn’t blow up the world by accident, or break time and space.

Monster Hunters International is an over-the-top, gleefully loony homage to B-movie action/adventure, the sort of thing John Ringo might write on a slow day, or like what Nick Pollata did in his Bureau 13 series some years back. It’s a mixture of hardcore combat sequences and male wish-fulfillment power fantasies, interspersed with more violence and mythology gone wild, written by someone who very clearly knows his guns and action movies inside-and-out. (Though as convincingly as Correia writes the action, he fails to grant that same level of intensity or believability to scenes set in a mental institution. One can almost imagine him dismissing such intellectual things as so much froo-froo, and is it time to blow stuff up again, why yes it is…)

I’ll admit, I loved this book because it has a strange charm. It’s unapologetic in its gun-toting masculinity, and in many ways it’s a throwback to an era when all it took to conquer the universe was a jetpack and a strong sword arm. (Am I mixing my examples again?) It’s not refined, not polite, probably not politically correct, by no means sensitive or enlightened, and I’m pretty sure the author had a crush on the Baroness back in the ’80s (like so many of us did). Others might find fault in this book for those things it lacks, but nevertheless, it was a lot of fun. And, at a mere 700+ pages, it’s a supersized amount of fun. Toss this one on the pile of guilty pleasures, and I’ll see you for the sequel.

Magic to the Bone, by Devon Monk (Roc, 2008)

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Ever since people found a way to use magic in everyday life, it’s changed the way things are done in the modern world, much like electricity did for the previous age. It’s used in manufacturing, entertainment, fashion, medicine and so much more. But for every use of magic, there’s a price to be paid, in blood or energy or pain. Some people take that price upon themselves. Others Offload it, legally and illegally, letting others bear the cost for them. Allie, estranged daughter of an important businessman, acts as a Hound, tracking those people who illegally pass along the pain and suffering to the innocent and unwary. Determined to make it on her own, she takes low-rent jobs, living from day to day, risking her life one job at a time. Every time she uses magic, she accepts the cost, even though sometimes it steals bits of her memory as well. It’s a living.

Then Allie is hired to find who Offloaded a near-fatal amount of magic onto a young boy. When she discovers that the culprit was her father, the hunt takes her back into circles she’d much rather have avoided. Her father’s death soon after the confrontation, in which he claimed undeniable innocence, leaves Allie on the run from the law as a suspect, unable to rely upon anyone save an old friend. Oh, and she’s saddled with an untrustworthy new ally Zayvion Jones, who worked for her father but seems determined to save her from her own mistakes. Now they’re caught in a race against the clock, trying to find who killed Allie’s father and pinned the blame on her, before the authorities, or someone worse, catches up. Meanwhile, something decidedly strange seems to be going on with Allie’s ability to channel magic, and it might just kill her before external forces have the chance. Will Allie pay too high a price for what she has to do?

Devon Monk’s treatment of magic as an everyday resource bearing a high price is a great idea, one that she explores to great effect through the course of the book. She’s really put a lot of effort into constructing this world, and so it works out quite nicely. There’s a convincing mystery running through the plot, tied in to the more personal nature of Allie’s struggle for revelation and survival, and it kept me coming back for more. Allie herself is a fun character, though I felt bad for the amount of anguish and suffering she went through as a result . . . you’d think there’d be a law against how much you can torture a character sometimes. Her budding chemistry with Zayvion Jones added another layer to the human element, and it was easy to root for the two of them. Especially when things take a particularly devious turn near the end.

Every time I think the urban fantasy genre’s maybe, possibly been explored to its limits, along comes another author with another neat twist, and occasionally, I have to sit back and wish I’d thought of it first. Magic to the Bone is one of those books, and I’ll be looking forward to future offerings in the series.

Magic in the Blood, by Devon Monk (Roc, 2009)

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Ally Beckstrom’s last big job almost killed her; it put her in a coma, robbed her of a month’s worth of memories, and left her able to store magic in her body, something long thought impossible. It also killed the blossoming relationship she’d been building with the mysterious Zayvion Jones. In Ally’s world, magic has a price, and it’s usually a high one. But a girl has to eat, and what Ally does best is Hound – trace improperly used magic back to the source, tracking down those who’d abuse it for their own selfish and illegal purposes. So when the police ask for her help on a case, Ally takes the job.

Big mistake. Because things get weird in a hurry. Haunted by the ghost of her recently-dead father, stalked by magic-stealing phantoms every time she uses her powers, hounded at every turn by mysterious enemies and untrustworthy allies, and forever plagued with holes in her memory, Ally’s forced to draw more and more upon her own magic, an act which inevitably leads to pain and suffering. What she learns as she works the case is enough to shock her, and she’s been through a lot already. Everything she thought she knew about magic may be a lie. Her father may not be dead. Zayvion Jones claims to care for her, but does he have an ulterior motive? And what will the answers cost Ally this time?

Picking up some time after the events of Magic to the Bone, Magic in the Blood continues the trend of horribly abusing and torturing the hapless main character as she throws herself headlong into a never-ending series of deadly adventures. It’s a dangerous world out there, and Ally Beckstrom can’t help but see things through to the end, heedless of the price she’ll have to pay. Urgent and intense, chaotic and kinetic, the storyline doesn’t let up on our heroine one bit, knocking her down time and again until she fights her way to the end. Luckily, Zayvion’s there to act as an erstwhile ally, friend, and love interest, a man who knows Ally better than she realizes, thanks to her missing memories. It’s an odd relationship, and Monk took a gamble when she chose to erase her protagonist’s memories of the previous book’s events. It pays off nicely as Ally struggles to understand just what she’s lost, and work past it.

As always, the setting is an interesting one, full of potential and implications not yet fully explored. It’s nice to see a story where magic has a serious and tangible cost, and where every use needs to be weighed against the consequences. Ally’s own relationship to magic may be a bit worse than most, but it’s a neat setup, and as we see here, there’s more going on then meets the eye. With the introduction of a secret society dedicated to policing certain aspects of magic’s use, and the revelations uncovered here, it’s clear Monk is building towards a larger picture. Here’s looking forward to the next in the series and whatever new troubles it brings for the heroine.