Author: Devon Monk
Publisher: ROC
Publish Date: May 2009
Format: Paperback
This is the second book of Monk’s Allie Beckstrom series, after Magic to the Bone. Magic always has a painful price and most magic users choose a method of Disbursement that will allow them to pay it themselves at a later time. Depending upon the strength of the magic cast, they can get headaches, fevers or other ailments. Unfortunately, not all magic users want to pay those prices and they can Offload that price on another person, usually without their consent. Allie is a Hound, she traces illegal magic used back to the user – solving crimes and helping the authorities capture unscrupulous magic users. Unfortunately for Allie, her last adventure ended in a permanent magical tatoo and a magically induced coma that took away pieces of her memory, including many of the man she fell in love with. Just barely getting over that trauma, she is asked to do some consulting work with the police force’s magic enforcement department. What seems to be a straightforward kidnapping pulls Allie into some of the darker paths of magic.
As if Allie’s life isn’t complicated enough, she ends up in more and more strange situations. She receives a visit from Zayvion Jones, the mysterious and powerful man who she thinks she is in love with but can’t remember much about. Her father’s ghost decides to visit her, an old Hound friend wants her to join in with a group of other Hounds, where everyone has a backup in case of emergencies, and a nasty criminal who should still be in prison for his despicable crimes, steals some of her blood.
Allie has been in tough situations before, a Hound has to be tough as they generally work alone and she has spent a good deal of effort to ensure that she can stand on her own two feet. This time, however, she is in a situation where help may not only be a comfort but a need. Blood magic is dangerous and addictive and people who use it do not scruple to follow any rules they don’t like.
When I read the first book in this series, I was very impressed with Monk’s magic system and characterization. I was certainly not disappointed in this second installment either. Her characters are realistic and individualized, giving the story a very readable realism that should make this a very popular series. It has action, magic and a plethora of mysterious threads that keep you turning the pages. There are no true cliffhangers here but each book leaves some things as mysteries that we may or may not discover the answers to in the next book. I find this helps tie them together and keeps readers interested. We may not have to wait too long for the next one either, according to her blog, the author is working on the rewrites for book three as I type. I’ll be waiting.
