Robots and Vamps

Reviewed by Matt

Devon Monk is back with her second installment in her Allie Beckstrom series. While I less than enthralled with the first novel, Magic to Bone, I decided to pick up the next novel to see which way Ms. Monk was going to go with this series. I am really glad I did as this novel is head and shoulders above the first one. It somewhat reminds of Jim Bucher’s The Dresden Files series. His first novel in the series, Storm Front, was very average and I couldn’t see what the fuss was all about. But the subsequent novels just got better and better turning it into a top flight series. I had the same feeling with Magic in the Blood; this is a far superior novel and I have very high hopes for continued adventures of Allie Beckstrom.

The time frame covered in this novel takes place over several days. Allie is recovering from the events in Magic to the Bone. She is still missing most of her memory from her time with Zayvion but on the good side, she has moved into a new apartment. Her day starts off with a visit from Dad. The only problem is that her Dad died in the last book and now he appears to be a ghost. He whispers to her “Seek” and is gone in a blink of an eye. Really not a good way to start your day, especially before your morning coffee.

Allie is summoned to the police station to make a statement regarding the events from the first book. As she is riding on the bus she is accosted by recently a released hardened criminal, Trager, who injects a syringe into her thigh and extracts some blood. In the magic world blood is all important and can be used against you. Trager is looking to get revenge on the Hound who put him behind bars and is going to use Allie to help. Allie’s day just keeps getting worse.

At the police station Allie is hired by MERC (Magical Enforcement Response Corps) to hound a job for them.  Several young women have disappeared by magical means and they want Allie to see if she can determine who the culprit is.   There is only problem, Hounds used by MERC have a bad habit of getting killed. After leaving the police station a legendary Hounder, Martin Pike, meets up with Allie and explains that he is head of a group called the Pact. The Pact is an informal group that keeps watch over the city’s Hounders and they want to recruit Allie as a member.

Lastly, before lunchtime, Allie is attacked by the Watercolor People. Now, whenever Allie uses her magic the Watercolor People suddenly appear, like ghosts, and attack her. Not a good start to your day by any standards.

The above plot summary only covers about the first 50 pages of novel. As you can see this story is much more plot driven, therefore, in my opinion, is much more enjoyable. Zayvion does not even make his first appearance until after 100 pages and is essentially regulated to minor character. There is also a lot less of Allie’s internal dialogue that did not appeal to me in the fist novel.

The story moves a breakneck speed as Ms. Monk introduces so many threads that need to be tied by the end of the story. Overall, she did excellent job of keeping me engaged in the story and keeping the sense of “what is going to happen next?” flowing from chapter to chapter. The plotting is much improved over the last novel.

I also think that many of the new ideas introduced, such as MERC, the Authority and the Pact, are brilliant and will be an enjoyable thread to follow in the subsequent novels. Ms. Monk also introduced several new characters, especially Hounder Davy Silvers and Detective Paul Stotts, which are interesting and I look forward to seeing them also in subsequent novels. Plus there is a twist at the end of the book that will play havoc on Allie in the future.

I am very happy that I picked the second novel as I can see nothing but good urban fantasy entertainment coming Ms. Monk in the future. I suspect that the third novel, Magic in the Shadows, will be even stronger and the Allie Beckstrom series will also become a premier series that everyone will be reading. My advice is to start reading the series now instead of waiting and catching up later.

Author’s website: Devon Monk and Deadline Dames.

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