I really liked this book. The pacing is great and the characters are very well developed, which is a weird thing to say given some of the things that are characters. "That's a totally believable thousand year old fairy witch" is a thing I actually thought. ( )

What can I say? I'm a HUGE FAN of Cargill.

The first book in the Dreams & Shadows was freaking brilliant, full of fae and magic, jinn and coyote. All the dark things were front and center. The eating and the eaten. Colby the little kid and Colby the adult was brilliant.

This second book carries Colby along his destiny. Extraordinary magician, keeper of Austin, TX, bane of the fae, drinker of the not quite great hooch. He does what he does for good reasons and yet he's proven himself one of the damned.

I feel for him. Every step of the way, I've felt for him. The wish from his best friend, the jinn, has brought him around the world to see all the magical things in it. He was also given the power to shape reality. This is no small thing.

In this book, we wrap ourselves in the Dreamtime. We hang out in Australia a bit. We get ourselves enmeshed in good friends and horrible choices and demons. Lots and lots of demons. 72 of them. And the best part? Solomon's Ring. :)

This book is SUPER rich with mythology. Like, you can wallow in it, love every magical reference, and sink your teeth into really great plot. And not only that, every character is a fantastic treat. :)

I think of this as a combination Gaiman (as per American Gods), Cat Valente (for her prose poetry) and even a bit of Kevin Hearne thrown in. And not just for his UF, but for the great mythology.

As such, I'm completely head-over-heels in love with it.

Mythopunk. :) Easily, this is gonna be one of my all time favorites. ( )