HexedAuthor: Kevin Hearne Title: Hexed Series: Iron Druid Chronicles 2 Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/F Rating: Three Petals On the Author's Website: http://kevinhearne.com/books/hexed/ Summary: Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to “make nice” with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial non-aggression treaty—when suddenly the witch population in modern day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. The new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of WWII. With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch-hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the coven they picked the wrong Druid to hex. Maggie's Review:
The first book in the series, Hounded, ended the centuries-long fight that appeared to be central to the series. I wasn't certain how Hearne would continue from there when it felt like the plot was completed, but what Hearne came up with did work. The repercussions from killing Aenghus Og are much more far reaching that Atticus ever thought they might be. Other supernatural creatures and gods either approach him for aid--mostly to kill Thor--or fear that he might turn his power against them. Many want Atticus dead before he can choose to kill them. In the midst of defending himself against those attacks, Atticus realizes that all the witches that were killed in the fight against Aengus Og left behind a power vacuum and evil witches and other horrible creatures are moving into town. Atticus must fight them too to ensure the safety of those he loves. Unfortunately, the convergence of too many plot lines made this book feel jumbled. Atticus is forced to jump from one fight to the next without planning or preparation. He's like a man flailing in the dark, hoping to accidentally hit something with his sword. The problem is that every action Atticus takes only digs him into a deeper hole. The police are after him, a bunch of magical bullies/warriors want to kill him, and he manages to get even more gods pissed off at him. None of his actions feel like they fit with the character of a man that has managed to survive when all of his contemporaries died a thousand years prior. Hearne seems to have lost control of Atticus and the plot. I did still enjoy reading the book. Atticus' voice is funny and engaging. I thought the fight scenes were imaginative and well written. I finished reading the story and immediately started on the next one, which is the clearest indication I have that I do like this series. Maggie's Recommendation: Hexed isn't as good as the first book in the series. It feels jumbled as too many plot lines and too little forethought fight for control of the story. Atticus' humor helps alleviate some of those problems, so overall I did enjoy reading this story. I would recommend it.
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A Calling for Pleasure Author: JL Merrow Title: A Calling for Pleasure Series: Damned If You Do 1 Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/M, M/F, Bi Rating: Three Petals On the Author's Website: http://jlmerrow.com/my-books/paranormal-mm/damned-if-you-do/ Summary: If you summon this demon, he’s guaranteed to come! With a killer succubus leaving a trail of desiccated corpses, Detective Lars Thornsson of the Paranormal Enforcement Agency knows he shouldn’t be falling for a suspect. But a hot little piece of demon tail like Rael is impossible to resist. Slender, snake-hipped, and dark skinned, he swears he’s innocent—of murder, at least. Rael is delighted when a summoning brings him up to Earth, filled as it is with hot guys walking around like an all-you-can- eat buffet. He’s not so happy about the mean old detectives interrupting him halfway through his dinner—but he changes his mind after getting an eyeful of Lars’s muscular, Nordic charms. Now Rael has a vested interest in keeping Lars safe from the real killer, even if that means putting himself into the killer’s path. Maggie's Review:
This story was short and sweet, so sweet I think I might have gotten a cavity. When Rael, a rare male succubus, is accidentally summoned to the mortal world he takes advantage by going out on the town to find some fun. The only problem with that plan is that another succubus is already out playing and she's been killing her victims. The supernatural police are on the hunt for a succubus and they find Rael first. That's pretty much the extent of the plot. Overall, it was definitely well written. I enjoyed the police hunt even if it ended far too quickly. The world Merrow created was explained too briefly, yet it was very well developed. Magical creatures and humans live together knowingly sharing the same world. At the same time, there are other worlds such as Hell where the demons come from. I wasn't entirely certain how all the magical creatures fit together and whether all cops are supernatural ones or if Lars is part of a special division. Basically, I really want to know more about this world. The tiny window Merrow provided in this short story was only enough to whet my appetite. I found the romance itself disappointing. There wasn't enough time for any real feelings to develop between Rael and Lars beyond the lust any succubus inspires. Merrow compensates for that by having both characters come to the realization that they were practically made for each other, but it was a hard sell for me. It was inevitable that they would fall into bed, but while the sex was well written I didn't enjoy the characterizations that accompanied it. Suddenly tough cop Lars is a teddy bear and succubus Rael can't control his sexual urges. There just wasn't enough build up to the scene for me to believe it was true love and that both men were changed for the better because of it. Maggie's Recommendation: Overall I did enjoy this really short story. The world Merrow created was interesting and her characters engaging, but the story was too short to fully develop any of it. The romance in particular needed more time to grow in order to feel believable. I would recommend this story with the caveat that readers keep in mind the limitations inherent in a story this short. WolfsbaneAuthor: Patrica Briggs Title: Wolfsbane Series: Sianim 4 Genre: High Fantasy Pairing: M/F Rating: Four Petals On the Author's Website: http://hurog.com/books/wolfsbane.shtml Summary: Shapeshifting mercenary Aralorn leads a dangerous existence. Now she must return home for her noble father, the Lyon of Lambshold, has passed away. But when Aralorn and her companion Wolf arrive, they find he's not dead, but ensorcelled by the ae'Magi, using him as a conduit to destroy Aralorn and Wolf. She must overcome this mysterious mist or fall to the blackest of magic. Maggie's Review:
This is the only book in the entire series that must be read in a specific reading order. It is a direct sequel to Masques; without reading the world building and character introductions in Masques much of Wolfsbane will not make sense. In some ways I enjoyed Wolfsbane the most out of all the books in the series. It's purely an adventure novel with few ties to the later books in the series. Where Masques was the set-up book for Steal the Dragon and When Demons Walk, Wolfsbane feels like it diverged almost completely from that story line. That gave the plot more freedom to go where it needed to, which made for a great read. At the same time, there was considerable respect for the larger plot. Briggs included small details in Wolfsbane that help to give more depth to the sequels. Aralorn's father is dead, so she travels to his side to pay her respects before the funeral. She quickly realizes that her father is actually cursed rather that dead. The fight to save her father before it really is too late as well as find the person responsible leads Aralorn to introduce more of the magical world the books are set in. If I go into too much detail I'll spoil the twists in the story, so let me just say I really did enjoy reading this book. I also liked how despite the fact that the romance was solidified in Masques, Briggs doesn't allow that relationship to simply exist. It adds tension between the two main characters, which served to give the story more dimension and to, eventually, deepen their love. Maggie's Recommendation: I highly recommend this book, however I suggest reading Masques first. I enjoyed the adventure plot as well as all the small details that helped tie this book to the rest of the series. Soul Breaker Author: Clara Coulson Title: Soul Breaker Series: City of Crows 1 Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/F, Bi Rating: Five Petals On the Author's Website: http://www.claracoulson.com/#!books/cee5 Summary: There’s a hideous monster on the loose, crushing heads and taking names. But Detective Calvin Kinsey is on the case! Two years ago, Cal Kinsey was an up-and-coming cop in the Aurora Police Department. But during a fateful nighttime stakeout in search of a prolific killer, Cal witnessed the darkest corner of his dreams come to life. A rogue vampire slaughtered his partner—to put it nicely—and introduced Cal to the supernatural world he never knew existed in the shadows. Now, Cal is a newly minted detective at the often mocked Department of Supernatural Investigations. By day, the agents of DSI are called “Kooks” by local law enforcement. By night, they’re known as “Crows,” reviled by the supernatural underworld. Mere weeks out of the academy, Cal catches his first real case, a vicious murder at a local college. An unknown sorcerer has summoned a powerful creature from the Eververse, a realm of magic and mayhem that borders Earth, and set it on a dangerous warpath through the city. Between butting heads with his grumpy team captain, stirring up ill will with the local wizards and witches, and repeatedly getting the crap beaten out of himself, Cal must find a way to stop the Eververse monster and send it back to the hell it came from… …preferably before Aurora, Michigan runs out of coffins for the dead. Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved reading Soul Breaker. I thought the plot, the characters, and the setting were very well constructed and I enjoyed every moment of the book. The next one in the series can't come out fast enough. Cal's first encounter with a vampire doesn't go so well. His partner was killed and Cal was unceremoniously thrust into the magical world. He quits his job as a police officer and instead enrolls in the DSI where he is trained to fight rogue creatures like that vampire. On his first case he runs into a creature from the underworld and must find a way to save his friends before it's too late. There were a lot of twists and turns in the plot that kept me turning the pages. I tried to guess what was coming, but was constantly surprised by how different events occurred. The crafting involved was superb. Cal is smart, but he's a rookie. Coulson doesn't thrust him into a leadership roll and have him automatically excel there. He needs to grow as an DSI agent and the mistakes he makes help with that. It was nice not to have a Mary Sue character, which a lot of the time people like Cal quickly become. He is flawed, which makes him interesting, but he's also very intelligent, which makes the leadership position he's thrust into fit. The fact that he's bisexual was a nice addition and added some more depth to his character. Coulson didn't try to shoehorn any of the characters into specific stereotypes. The witches weren't evil or good, but a gray area in between. The underworld monsters might not be the bad guys in the story. I won't say anything more so I don't ruin the story, but let me just say I enjoyed how Coulson constructed her villains. There was a ton of research involved and it paid off. There were so many questions brought up in this story that weren't answered. Why does Cal keep breaking his rings? Who is Cal's father? Who is really the enemy? It allowed the story to stand on its own, yet at the same time connect it to the next book in the series. I think that's one of the main reasons I'm so anxious for the next book to be made available. Maggie's Recommendation: Soul Breaker was very well written, kept my interest, and has me waiting anxiously for the next book in the series. The research that went into the plot and the depth of the characterizations were extremely well done and I absolutely recommend this book. Web of Lies Author: Jennifer Estep Title: Web of Lies Series: Elemental Assassin 2 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Pairing: M/F Rating: Four Petals On the Author's Website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/books/web-of-lies/ Summary: I'm Gin Blanco. You might know me as the Spider, the most feared assassin in the South. I’m retired now, but trouble still has a way of finding me. Like the other day when two punks tried to rob my popular barbecue joint, the Pork Pit. Then there was the barrage of gunfire on the restaurant. Only, for once, those kill shots weren’t aimed at me. They were meant for Violet Fox. Ever since I agreed to help Violet and her grandfather protect their property from an evil coalmining tycoon, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m really retired. So is Detective Donovan Caine. The only honest cop in Ashland is having a real hard time reconciling his attraction to me with his Boy Scout mentality. And I can barely keep my hands off his sexy body. What can I say? I’m a Stone elemental with a little Ice magic thrown in, but my heart isn’t made of solid rock. Luckily, Gin Blanco always gets her man . . . dead or alive. Maggie's Review:
I was worried that this series would fall into a tedious repetition of the same story line: Gin the assassin is hired to kill someone, something goes wrong, and Gin works hard to survive and make sure her mark ends up dead. In some ways this second book in the series does fall into that trap, but there is more than enough extra added to the plot that I didn't mind. The biggest difference is the fact that Gin is retired, which breaks the trope of her needing to be hired. She can and does choose to help someone in need. I really liked that difference and what it eventually started to mean for Gin. She's been the bad guy for so long, killing people for hire, that she doesn't know how to be good. Yet, when she chooses her next assignment it's solely to help someone in need. That slow growth of a spark of good in Gin's life is what made this book unique from the previous one. Everything I enjoyed in the previous book was just as well written in this one. The magic system of elementals was explained with a little more depth. I didn't understand in the previous book that Gin is almost totally ignorant of her own powers, which explained some of the lacking details, so as she learns more I learn more. It will be an ongoing process to explain those powers with more depth that I am looking forward to. I also really appreciated the way Estep handled the romantic relationship in this book. Caine can't reconcile his strong morals with Gin's willingness to kill and it's tearing him up inside. I couldn't figure out how a relationship between them might actually work. It will give away the ending if I say how it ended up, but the way Estep carefully handled it was perfect. Maggie's Recommendation: I do recommend this book. I thought the plot was very interesting, the magic system given more depth, and the difficult romance was handled very well. I will be reading the next book in the series. HoundedAuthor: Kevin Hearne Title: Hounded Series: The Iron Druid Chronicles 1 Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/F Rating: Four Petals On the Author's Website: http://kevinhearne.com/books/hounded/ Summary: Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer. Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil. Maggie's Review:
Hounded was a lot of fun to read. I was literally laughing out loud at some of the scenes. The book is in first person with the main character, Atticus, narrating, and his sense of humor and how he perceives the world after two thousand years is lighthearted, but in such a way that it doesn't take away from any serious moments in the story. The world isn't entirely unique in that I have read other stories with similar world building, but I did enjoy Hearne's take on it. The gods walk the earth, which means Mary or The Morrigan could stop by for tea at any moment. Atticus is an ancient Druid whose purpose in life was to serve and advise the gods of the Celtic/Irish pantheon while helping to protect the earth. He is on the run because he commandeered a magical sword and the sidhe Atticus stole it from wants it back so he can finish conquering the world. I liked the premise and I thought it was very engaging. I didn't like the way women were portrayed in the book. Atticus has a problem that every beautiful woman he encounters has him immediately fall into lust. He has to wear a charm to protect him from women that enhance their allure with spells because it's too easy for him to fall into their trap. This means that any woman that approaches him for sex is immediately brought to his bedroom. For some reason, the female gods in his pantheon are particularly eager to have him, to the point that he gets approached in the middle of a battlefield, which I thought was very odd and off-putting. This also means that there isn't room for any romance in the story, which I was okay with. The plot was about fighting the sidhe that was after him. Adding in romance would have detracted from that, however I thought Hearne could have handled the sex with a little more delicacy. I also didn't enjoy how arrogant Atticus was. For example, a witch walks into his shop and his first reaction is that witches are bad and not to be trusted. Despite that, he agrees to a deal with her and his reasoning is that he's powerful enough to handle whatever evil she can dish out. That level of arrogance is repeated throughout the book. I also thought it was odd that Atticus was then surprised when the witch double crossed him, since he had blatantly stated that she would do exactly that. Luckily, those plot holes were minor enough that they didn't detract from the rest of the book. Maggie's Recommendation: I do recommend this book. Overall, it was well written and engaging. I enjoyed reading it a lot and immediately went to see about getting the next one in the series. The world building, while not unique, was well done and the main character's narration was funny and well detailed. I'm looking forward to reading the next book. What A Werewolf Wants Author: Kristin Miller Title: What A Werewolf Wants Series: San Francisco Wolf Pack 3 Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/F Rating: Two Petals On the Author's Website: (The author's website has not been updated recently, so this URL will most likely change in the future) http://kristinmiller.net/coming-soon/ Summary: Going to the chapel, and her sister is going to get married…no matter what. Josie Cole might be unlucky in love, but she’s a pro at matching other couples. When her sister gets married to the man of her dreams, it’ll be Cole Matchmaking Services one-hundredth match, and secure Josie a television special that would boost business. Private investigator–and werewolf–Ryder McManus doesn’t believe in marriage. Catching cheating spouses has taught him there is no such thing as happily ever after. But then he never expected to find his fated mate, Josie, at his best friend’s wedding festivities. When Josie and Ryder are together, the chemistry heats up. While he’s trying to stop the wedding, she’ll do whatever it takes to give the couple a dream day. But the secret he’s trying to expose might just ruin everything… Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is one of those books that I didn't like, but I also didn't dislike enough to stop reading. It had an interesting, if cliche, premise that I did enjoy. Ryder is a werewolf and he instinctively knows that Josie, a human, is his mate for life. There are no other women in the world for him and he wants her desperately because of it. Yet, at the same time he's been burned too many times before to be willing to take a chance on Josie. To complicate things, Ryder's best friend who is also a werewolf is very willing to take that chance with Josie's sister, a choice that Ryder isn't able to support. The push and pull as all of those dynamics interact and battle for dominance was very interesting. The rest of the book wasn't nearly as well composed. I didn't enjoy Miller's characterizations. I thought Josie was purposefully vapid to the point she started to come across as clownish. Ryder had a few layers to his personality that seemed interesting. His past experiences with women hating him because he's a werewolf and his job as a private investigator gave him much more interest than Josie, yet every single time his thoughts strayed to Josie he lost all of that. He became vapid, thinking with his dick to the point that his strong and assertive personality was lost amid the need for sexual gratification. Yes, this is an explicit romance book, but Miller failed to keep her characters in line whenever the romance portions began. She instead relied on the sex to carry the weight of the story. I was also disappointed with the werewolves themselves. I kept waiting for Miller to introduce me to the werewolf society or give some depth into the mating magic that let Ryder know Josie was his. Plenty of opportunities for explanation came and went until I was frustrated every time the word werewolf was mentioned because I didn't know what Miller meant by it. Admittedly, I haven't read the two previous books in the series, so that depth might have been there and I missed it. Yet, each book in the series is sold as a stand alone set in the same world, which means that leaving out needed description in this book should not have happened. Maggie's Recommendation: I am actually hesitant to answer this part. This book wasn't terrible, but I found it difficult to read because of the poor characterizations and the lacking details. Readers who don't mind vapid characters in return for werewolves and romance will enjoy this book, so I'll recommend it specifically to them. I cannot recommend this book to anyone else. HorsefeathersAuthor: Caitlin Ricci Title: Horsefeathers Series: Part of LT3's Devil's Land Collection Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/M Rating: One Petal On the Author's Website: http://www.caitlinricci.com/coming-soon.html Summary: Justin was sent to get a mare, and is helpless to explain to his unhappy boss why he came back with an untouchable gray stallion instead, but there's just something about the horse that wouldn't let him leave it behind. Of course, because an angry boss and a horse they don't need isn't enough, the horse goes missing—leaving a strange man in his place, a man who speaks in riddles and seems more than a little crazy, but he's also just as hard to refuse as the stallion... Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This story started out well. Justin's descriptions as he walked into the horse show and how he decided to choose which horse to buy were very interesting. Ricci took the time to introduce Justin as a character, giving him depth and interest. Unfortunately, that very short scene was the only good one in the entire story. The rest of the book was a jumbled, near-incomprehensible mess. I could not discern a plot. The summary laid it out for me, but I honestly couldn't find it in the story. Justin brings home the stallion and without any build-up, suddenly the stallion is a man. There is no description given about the stranger, the reactions to his presence are disproportionate, and within moments Justin is taking the man to a nearby truck stop. And then, BAM!, they're having sex in the car. It started so out of the blue I did a mental double take. The answer to the mystery of what happened to the stallion is told to the reader, but there is nothing further done with the issue despite what the summary implies. The story lacked emotional weight of any kind. Any worry about the missing stallion was short-lived and felt fake. The sudden appearance of a stranger in the stallion's pen brought a brief moment of surprise that was quickly lost. The sex was soulless and, quite frankly, the story would have been better served without it. Many other issues became evident as I continued reading. For example, a magical horse that has spent its entire life in the American wilds is calmed with a reference to an antelope. I can't figure out why an African creature would have any bearing on this story. It was very clear that very little research has gone into this book. Worst of all was the ending. The stranger says that Justin can be a magical creature too, Justin makes a decision on whether he wants to or not, and then the story ended. It felt like I had read a poorly written prologue and then the author decided to chop off the rest of the book with an axe. It was that abrupt. Maggie's Recommendation: I do not recommend this book. There was no plot, no emotion, and no real purpose to anything that occurred in the story. It was poorly written overall and very disappointing. Dangerous Territory Author: Cari Z. Title: Dangerous Territory Series: Part of the Devil's Land Collection Genre: Fantasy Pairing: M/M Rating: Three Petals On the Publisher's Website: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books... Summary: With his father barely in the ground and his sister married to a scheming bastard, Carter is on the verge of losing the family ranch. His only chance at holding onto his inheritance is to get his cattle to market before his brother-in-law. That means braving Mason Canyon, which on top of being snake-infested and easily flooded, is also shifter territory. Most clans would just as soon shoot humans as look at them. His only hope of making it is to trust the shifter who's agreed to help him, and pray that Rani won't double-cross him. If Carter doesn't go he loses everything, and if he doesn't make it there his family is as good as dead. Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I want to start this review with the issues I noticed because there were a lot. First was the fact that the summary implies more than the story actually contains. It states that Carter is about to lose his family ranch, but that's not true. He's already lost it before the book even started. His inheritance from his dead parents is forty percent of the cattle on the land, which he needs to sell before his brother-in-law gets to market in order to get top dollar. The money he then makes will be his inheritance, which he plans to use for some sort of plan that was never properly explained. Either he wants to buy his brother-in-law's portion of the cattle, or he wants to buy his own ranch, or something else vaguely described. I didn't really understand it. Next in the summary is the idea that a shifter would shoot instead of just tear Carter limb from limb. The book really fell short in describing the shifters in general. Their society is understandably hidden, yet almost no insight into their culture is given. The only concrete detail was that in times when they have plenty of children, partners of the same gender are allowed, which made it possible for the romantic pairing in the book to occur. There was so much more that could have been done with the shifters, which makes me hope that this is merely a short story set in a larger world. A full length novel expanding on the shifters would help this story stand on it's own. Dangerous Territory was too short to carry the weight of the world it was given. Last from the summary is the the statement that his family was as good as dead. I am particularly annoyed with this line because I don't remember his family ever being harmed. Certainly the brother-in-law is an idiotic ass, but the worst he ever does is threaten to force a couple out of their home on the ranch's property. Despite the fact that the entire point of Carter's journey was to "save" his home, Cari Z. neglected to have Carter return there to do any actual saving. There is speculation that the brother-in-law lost his cattle in a storm on the river, but we're never told if that's actually true or given even a glimpse into how Carter might take advantage of that. I felt like an entire chapter, or at least an epilogue, had been left off the story. Instead, the story ends when Carter sells his cattle and rides off into the sunset with his romantic partner. I was very disappointed that the rest of the plot wasn't also completed. With that said, there was also a lot to like about this story. Foremost was the sheer beauty of the world Cari Z. created. It was so detailed and full of possibilities. When the Europeans landed in the New World, instead of meeting with the Native Americans who were unfortunate enough not to have defenses against guns and smallpox, the settlers met with the shifters who fought and won the right to keep their land. The human towns and society that developed from there were very interesting, as was the interaction between the humans and shifters. I would really like to read more about this world, so I hope Cari Z. is thinking about writing a sequel. I also liked the characterizations. They were a little one-note in that Carter was determined and his sister was weakened by love, but I could see the distinct personalities of each and the deep feelings that made them who they are. Maggie's Recommendation: There were a lot of issues in this story. Events weren't explained properly, the society of the shifters was glanced over, and the ending was missing a conclusion to the premise of the story. Overall, however, I did enjoy reading it. The world was beautifully crafted and I liked the characterizations. I would recommend this book and if a sequel were written I would read it too. MasquesAuthor: Patricia Briggs Title: Masques Series: Sianim 1 Genre: High Fantasy Pairing: M/F Rating: Four Petals On the Author's Website: http://hurog.com/books/newMasques.shtml Summary: Rewritten from the original story of 1993. After an upbringing of proper behavior and oppressive expectations, Aralorn fled her noble birthright for a life of adventure as a mercenary spy. Her latest mission involves spying on the increasingly powerful sorcerer Geoffrey ae'Magi. But in a war against an enemy armed with the powers of illusion, how do you know who the true enemy is-or where he will strike next? Maggie's Review:
I can't tell you how many years I waited to get my hands on Masques. It was out of print and for sale on ebay for over a hundred dollars. I had easily found Steal the Dragon and When Demons Walk, the other two books in the series at the time, and desperately wanted to read their prequel, Masques. It was lucky that these stories can be read out of order without detracting from the plot because Masques wasn't reprinted until recently when Briggs gained a large following for some of her other works. Masques was worth the wait. Masques is the story that introduces readers to the world of Sianim. It's a place where magic is prevalent, but the magic Aralorn, the main character, uses is rare. That makes her an amazing spy. She is sent to infiltrate the ae'Magi's castle. He is the leader of the mages in the world and Aralorn soon realizes he is up to something sinister. If I describe any of the fight to stop him, I'll give away one of the many twists in the story, so let me simply say I found the battle to be interesting and well written. I have reread this book dozens of times since and still enjoy it. I also really liked the romance in the book. It's subtle as respect for each other became love before the book even began. However, because they're both scarred by life and focused on stopping the ae'Magi, romance has to wait. That doesn't stop Aralorn's lover (if I say his name I'll give away one of the twists) from heroically trying to save her. His frantic search for her as well as her regard of him is very clearly love. Had I been able to read Masques before the rest of the series I would have enjoyed the next two books even more. Masques sets up the world and the magic the reader is thrown into in Steal the Dragon, which stops some of the abruptness in that sequel. It also helped add more of the depth of plot I thought was missing in When Demon's Walk as it explains the larger world that was almost entirely absent in book three. Maggie's Recommendation: I do recommend this book and I recommend reading it before the other books in the series. It was a fun read with interesting magic and well crafted world building that served to bolster the rest of the series. |
Magnolia's Reviews
Maggie reviews paranormal and fantasy novels and novellas. She also interviews authors and hosts giveaways. Archives
April 2018
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