Robots and Vamps

Reviewed by Matt

Disclosure: This novel was purchased by the reviewer’s own hard earned cash.

Introduction: Magic on the Storm is the fourth book in the Allie Beckstrom urban fantasy series.

Author’s bio: Devon Monk has one husband, two sons, and a dog named Mojo. She lives in Oregon and is surrounded by colorful and numerous family members who mostly live within dinner-calling distance of each other. When not writing, Devon is either knitting, remodeling the house-that-was-once-a-barn, or hosting a family celebration. Devon has sold over fifty short stories to fantasy, science fiction, horror, humor, and young adult magazines and anthologies. Her stories have been published in five countries and included in a Year’s Best Fantasy collection.

Dust jacket summary: “Magic stirred in me….I closed my eyes, wanting to lose myself to it. Wanting to use magic in every way I could. But that would be bad. I had enough magic inside me; I could burn down a city. And I didn’t want to do that….”

Allie Beckstrom knows better than most that when magic’s involved, you always pay. Whether the price is migraines, amnesia, or muscle aches, she is committed to her work as a Hound, tracing illegal spells back to their casters. But her job is about to get much more dangerous.

There’s a storm of apocalyptic force bearing down on Portland, and when it hits, all the magic in the area will turn unstable and destructive. To stop it from taking out the entire city, Allie and her lover, the mysterious Zayvion Jones, must work with the Authority–the enigmatic arbiters of all things magic–and make a stand against a magical wild storm that will obliterate all in its path.”

Thoughts & analysis: I am usually not a big fan of urban fantasy novels but Devon Monks’ Beckstrom series has been able to keep me enough entertained to follow the series and highly anticipate future volumes. That being said, the fourth installment, Magic on the Storm, is the weakest story so far.

To me, Magic on the Storm just seemed like long lead into the next novel, Magic at the Gate. One of the hallmarks of urban fantasy is that each novel is a self-contained story with a few series arcs that flow through each book. The first half of this is book was pretty much stagnant with the second half of Magic on the Storm picking up the pace but it ends in a serious cliff hanger that will lead directly into Magic at the Gate.

One of the elements that I have enjoyed in this series was that each novel built upon plot elements introduced in the previous books. But Magic on the Storm really stood pat in this area. Yes, we explore further the magical group known as The Authority and learn all about the pending war between the two factions but there is not really much new content that is introduced.

Ms. Monk does really hit the whole Soul Compliments plot thread pretty hard. It supposed to be extremely rare occurrence in this universe but is seems that every other person in this story has a Soul Compliment. Personally, I believe Ms. Monk has overplayed her hand with respect to Soul Compliments and now it has lost the uniqueness that it was supposed to represent.

Final verdict: Magic on the Storm felt like the filler episode of a really good TV series. The diehard fans will certainly enjoy it but the average viewer will be less enthralled. Since I lean more towards diehard fan, I enjoyed the novel but I just wish the book would have started about half-way through the story and then move forward.  The story only really picks up and becomes interesting in the last quarter of the novel.  But, I will be picking up Magic at the Gate because I just have to know how the story will end.

Author’s website: Devon Monk and Deadline Dames.

Reviewed by Matt

Disclosure: This novel was purchased by the reviewer’s own hard earned cash.

This is the third book in the Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk. I was very lukewarm on the first book, Magic to the Bone, but I really enjoyed the second novel, Magic in the Blood. So I decided that Magic in the Shadows would be the deciding novel if I will continue on with the series. The first quarter of this novel was alittle slow but the rest of the story was very fast paced and really held my interest. In addition, Ms. Monk continues to build on events that make the overall story interesting and has me wanting to come back for more. So yes, I will be looking forward to the next novel in the series, Magic on the Storm.

As with the previous novel, the events of this novel take place over several days.  Allie and Zayvion are back together and trying to set up the ground rules in order to establish a possible long term relationship. This is the beginning parts that did not hold my interest all that well. I am not sure I really like these two together as they are somewhat a boring couple. Again, there is a lot of discussion of Allie and Zayvion being soul complements. Ms. Monk does better job this time around building on the mythos of soul complements but it is still kinda corny.

Allie is also receives a visit from Nola. Nola is her friend from the first book that lives in the country and away from magic. Nola is on mission to adopt Cody. Cody is the boy from Magic to the Bone that caused alot of havoc and Nola believes that she needs take care of him and move him away from the city. We also learn some interesting tidbits about Cody’s lineage at the end of novel.

Detective Paul Stotts and his MERC squad are lightly touched upon along with Allie taking over the protection of the Hounders as she had promised Martin Pike in Magic in the Blood. This novel focuses more on Allie’s initial introduction into The Authority. The Authority is an ancient group that has put themselves in charge of overseeing magic use in society. For thousand years they had kept magic a secret but when Allie Beckstrom’s father invents a method to allow the general population to have easy access to magic then it becomes common knowledge. The Authority is now regulated to taking care of the more horrific magical users and beasts that are starting to crop up.

Lastly, Allie still has her father’s voice inside her head and he is able to control her actions at times. This seems as it would put a crimp in your sex life?

I am now effectively sold on this series as it is getting more and more interesting with each novel. I like the fact Ms. Monk made Allie  a neophyte in the ways of magic when compared to the long standing members of The Authority. Allie has a lot of raw power but has never been properly trained to use her talents and this really becomes a burden when attempting to fight off demons.

Ms. Monk is also very adept at juggling multiple story lines during the course of her novel. She introduces numerous problems for Allie at the beginning of the story plus some left over from the previous novels. Ms. Monk is a talented enough writer to rap of some these plot threads or combine them with others seamlessly without interrupting the flow of the story.

I really like the direction of this series and feel it has a very bright future. This will sound corny but as I finishing up this book there was a huge magic battle scene and a strange thought came into my head, this is like Harry Potter but for adults. This is series is becoming that good  and easily becoming one of my favorites.  Again, I highly recommend this series in every way possible.

Author’s website: Devon Monk and Deadline Dames.