Sonya M. Black

Yaay! An adventure from Stasia's POV!

The one thing that strikes the reader immediately is that Stasia not only is capable of sensing magic at work (whoa!), she doesn't feel it like tendrils of threads that patch together like Brendan, but more like the change of smells in the air. Furthermore, different characters from Book 1 have distinctive smells. Brendan smells like pine trees and snow, other characters smell like chocolate, desert sand with spices, earth, or sulphur.

Similar to Book 1, our heroine/panther shifter is emotionaly blackmailed into accepting a difficult job that involves politically important people. Curiously, Stasia neither bargains for a specific fee (which seems rather out of character for her), and the person she has to find is her estranged grandmother Nana who is supposed to be the head honcho of all of the shifter clans.

We know from Book 1 Stasia is very tight-lipped about her past and Brendan is always very respectful, and Book 2 allows us to discover pretty much all of it. And yes, I can't blame Stasia for ditching her old life filled with rules to work alongside Brendan. The reader will also notice Stasia is an emotional wreck in this story due to a traumatic event that happens in the first book which is a bit hard to get used to. I like how the author handles her PTSD which comes with the ever present risk of Stasia transforming into her panther and killing someone.

Most of the old cast from Book 1 is back: Marcus the dwarf magic council guy, Elf Constable Priscilla, Brendan's dad Marcus, Stinky the Half-Ogre, one of the Triad shifters that helped Brendan in Book 1 named Ghost, and the ever menacing two-faced crazy siren/witch Lorelei.

And... wait... Lorelei has red hair? WTF??? Either I misread the scene that describes her in book 1 or my brain insists she has cyan blue hair.

We also get some new characters in this story. Most of the newcomers are different shifters such as a real sleazeball named Red (I don't like him, but in a way I understand why he behaves the way he does), a new enemy named The Wolf, and an enigmatic dragon mage named Drake (I find him to be a cool guy).

Now, I like the whole story about how Stasia has to help the clans before they run amok. Lorelei like usual is always pulling the strings to her convenience, aaaaand... well... I am beginning to wonder whether a lot of the "coincidences" of the book are plotholes conveniently disguised as the omnipresent Harry Potter writing technique: "I will tell you the bare minimum because I need you to run around a lot to make the word count longer."

The funny irony is that if Red had been fully cooperative from chapter 1 of the book and let Brendan help him, the book would have ended a lot quicker with far less hurdles. I am still a bit unconvinced by Red's excuses for not performing a Captain Obvious full-blown confession from the start. At least Book 1 was quite masterful in throwing curve balls because the supporting cast needed to defeat Melania with any means necessary.

You pretty much have a lot of chapters where Stasia hears a terrible new thing about the inner problems of the shifter clans, runs a lot, has a meeting in Marcus's estate with some of the clan heirs, they argue, she tries to strangle someone in her panther form, they formulate a vague plan, Stasia runs around some more, gets kidnapped, discovers another tidbit of information Red knew from the start, and then rinse & repeat for a good portion of the book.

Poor Stasia is so worn out running so damn much that she can't even have a cozy evening in her condo reading a book because sexy dragon boy Drake needs to talk to her. She really needs a freebie spa day.

I find it weird that Stasia doesn't pinpoint the importance of Drake as a very very very important member of the Dragon Mage Council. I quietly grumbled about this very same issue in Book 1 where Brendan doesn't recognize Lily's face even though it would have made sense they had attended at least 1 family party growing up and tried to justify it was because Brendan is very aloof when it comes to politics. It seems hard to believe because Stasia is so good at digging information from computers and has mingled with a lot of VIPs both in her line of work and at the night clubs she visits in her free time.

Oh, and Stasia, Lorelei plays dirty, so next time steal a Rod of Dominion and zap her. Stasia is forgetting her own rules. You can't trust Lorelei!

If you try to look the other way while Stasia runs more than Lola Rent, I still enjoyed the story. It looks like there will someday be a Book 3, and I do hope we get some chapters where Stasia can get her dratted manicure or something. She needs vacations ASAP.

Oh, and I loved the Stasia Rulebook addendum at the end of the book. Brendan, get away from the copy machine. I don't know what you did, but Stasia made a rule!… (mais)

I am surprised to find out this book participated in the SPFBO contest, which to me is great because I have found a lot of great reads.

Normally I am not much of a fan of fairytale retellings, but this book was a real treat to read.

Brendan Hunter is a recovered magic addict turned Private Investigator that works alongside his trusty (and temperamental) shapeshifter assistant named Stasia Weatherly. His daily life becomes overturned when the city's most influential dwarf named Marcus has shown up the door alongside his horde of bodyguards to hire Brendan's services. The job? He has to locate a young human woman named Lily whose body is enclosed in a magic coffin to prevent her death from a sleeping curse. The problem is that the person that cursed Lily in the first place is her sadistic witch mother-in-law Melania who is Marcus's political rival in the upcoming city elections. Which means that if Brendan gets involved, his life will be in danger. Before he could say no and kick everyone outside, Marcus gives him a bag full of valuable magic diamonds and the promise he will be paid handsomely if he fulfils the mission and pretty much forces him to say yes.

And just as we expected, Brendan's little quest to find this mysterious woman will be filled with danger. One thing I really like about the book is how Brendan uses magic. He doesn't use a wand or say words, the magic is like mentally moving threads from his soul that tighten into patterns in the air like a basket and once the knots are complete, their effect is ignited. Brendan is an extremely adept mage but he is now forced to wear a ring that has a reserve of magic he poured into it over a long period of time because using magic continuously can become very addictive and harmful for one's body. I like it how Brendan has moments in the book where his addictive cravings begin to flourish and his supportive assistant does everything in her power to snap him back to reality. Stasia knows about his health problem and is always very supportive. I really would have wanted the book to explain a bit further how these devices work.

The worldbuilding is very good. We have two sides of the city: Surface and Underground where all of the riff-raff and thugs are supposed to live. Brendan obeys the laws, but he has no issue traveling to the underground slums to talk to his trusted contacts or do research. It seems like a lot of book reviewers agree this aspect of the book was done very well.

Expect to see different races in this city: giants, sprites, pixies, trolls, sirens, golems, gnomes, elves and other human mages. Brendan might find her intolerable and definitely not the kind of person one would like to mess around with, but the siren mafia leader Lorelei was a very well written character. She can use magic as well and she is frighteningly powerful.

I enjoy the story overall, would rather not divulge a lot of spoilers. The ending is also great. One thing that I didn't like all that much in the book was how static Lily is once she finally wakes up. Instead of being an active participant of the story, Lily just mopes around, gives Brendan a hard time and sort of just seems like a walking lamp post without any real development. The changes she does have during the story are mostly precipitated by Brendan and Lorelei's actions and not really her own. Lily's lack of a personality is a very strong contrast to the sassy Stasia and cunning Lorelei, both of which have their own agendas and maneuver the plot in their own way. Melania doesn't get as much screen time, but we do get good glimpses of her personality although I would have wanted to see more.

I enjoyed the scene where Brendan speaks to his estranged father, albeit it was a bit of a letdown that afterwards their exchanges are all of a sudden so jovial and amicable. I would have liked to see some veiled lingering animosity from Brendan every time his father makes constructive criticisim as the story advances.

Still, very enjoyable read despite the plot holes. I'd like to read book 2 sometime.

SPOILER ahead!!!!

One thing that made me wonder if it was a plot hole was the fact Brendan had never even remotely heard of Lily before even though Lily's father was a close friend of his father. The book's plot wouldn't have altered much if Brendan had lingering memories of the girl growing up during his father's business parties and scoffed at Stasia's suggestions to visit his father from the start. It would have made a whole deal of more sense.… (mais)