Robots and Vamps

Reviewed by Matt

Not sure what I was thinking when I picked up this book. From the description and other reviews this sounded kinda like a female version of The Dresden Files. The cover should have been a warning, but being the brave reader, I plowed forward. Actually it was a decent read but definitely from the female prospective. This novel fits in the paranormal romance genre. Luckily there is more paranormal than romance.

Dust Jacket Summary: Using magic means it uses you back, and every spell exacts a price from its user. But some people get out of it by offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent. Then it’s Allison Beckstrom’s job to identify the spell-caster. Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune-and the strings that come with it. But when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father’s signature all over it, Allie is thrown back into his world of black magic. And the forces she calls on in her quest for the truth will make her capable of things that some will do anything to control…

What I liked: The magic system created by Devon Monk is inventive and is the most interesting aspect of the novel. In theory, each time someone uses magic there are repercussions such as memory loss, physical pain, etc. There are ways to get around the consequences by offloading into another person with or without their knowledge. As with normal life, the rich and powerful use the system to their full advantage.

The two characters, Allie and Zayvion, are somewhat interesting. For my taste there is too much internal dialogue for Allie. She spends most of the book wondering about her feelings regarding Zayvion and she is continually saying one thing but doing another. That may be typical, but I did grow kinda bored with it after awhile.

Surprisingly, I found Zayvion more interesting as the secretive guy with a mysterious background. He continually shows up at the right time and place to pull Allie out of some desperate situations. We learn a little of his background as the story goes on and I hope he has a stronger presence in future novels.

What I didn’t like: In the end, I didn’t really care if Allie and Zayvion ended up together. I thought this storyline was pushed too much and at times over the top. For example, when Allie and Zayvion are discussing why their magic works so well together, Zayvion explains, “It is believed there is a Soul Complement for each person who uses magic.” Soul mates theory, really?

The plot is somewhat secondary to the novel. Essentially, Allie is blamed for killing her father. Each person has a magic signature that can’t be duplicated and Allie’s signature is identified as what killed her father. The rest of the story is spent running from the police and another Hounder (a magic specialist hired to hunt down other magic users). I will admit that the eventual solution is believable within the ground rules laid out in the book. There just happens to be too many coincidences that lead the main characters to the major clues.

Last word: Devon Monk is a fine writer and moves the plot along at good pace. In the end I moderately enjoyed the book, especially the magic system, but then again I was not the target audience. If you like urban fantasy with a touch of romance then you will thoroughly enjoy this novel.

Author’s website: Devon Monk, her Live Journal Wits and Pieces, and an interview at The First Book.

To discuss this book, please visit Robots and Vamps Book Club