Spellbent

Spellbent

*****
Lucy A. Snyder

This is one of those books that I bought solely on the reviews of others. I normally look inside, as well as read reviews. With all the great reviews though, I just bought it without looking or thinking much about it.

This is fresh take on magic and demons. The main character, Jessie Shimmer is helping her teacher/lover Cooper cast a spell when things go very, very wrong. Cooper is pulled out of this world into another dimension. Spoiler - (highlight to read) Jessie is horribly injured while fighting a demon that ends up in this world, and can't get enough help to heal. Jessie ends up with only her familiar (a ferret) to help her on her quest to save Cooper. Suddently she's being treated like an outlaw and has to figure out why.

The book starts off with a bang, though there seems to be a lot of explanations throughout the first section. Okay, we need to learn about the world and the magic Jessie lives in. Dialogue is pretty good, the first few action scenes are kick-ass....Then there is more explanations. Sometimes in the form of her narrative, sometimes in the form of her conversation with another character. The book is exciting, with intense action - but it keeps stopping for explanations. One minute Jessie is on her way to find some things for a spell, or to combat a demon and suddenly I realize I'm reading information, like I would get in a lecture hall. Then -hey! now Jessie is on the move again - What? Oh Yeah, she's fighting a demon here. Things go along, the major info-dumps seem to be over. The information is good, explaining the magic, but it interfered a lot with the action sequences. Later there's a section where Jessie is interacting with a human and in the guise of conversation and questions, I feel like I'm in a magic class, listening to a professor. It's all interesting, just not as interesting as the story it interrupts. That is the only complain I have about the book.

The rest of the book was kick-ass. Jessie sticks up for her man and will move heaven and earth to find him. She does some things she's not too proud of, she's not perfect but she's getting her man. Jessie's voice is also refreshingly different from the normal UF female. There's a scene in the end that is Righteous. No other word for it. Jessie is angry on the behalf of some innocents and she lets the villain know how she feels, with Righteous Rage. It's a great scene to read. I could feel my blood pressure rising, my heart was pounding....It was a good read.

There is a sequel, an excerpt is at the back of the book which leads me to one last little concern. The book ends with a certain scene, but when the sequel excerpt starts, it's supposed to be just minutes or so after the final events, and yet there seems to have been some changes in what Jessie and another were doing right then. It's minor, and doesn't take away from the basic story, but it popped up and smacked me in the nose, enough that I thought Huh?. I went back to read the last page again, then the first page of the excerpt....and I don't think it quite matches. Whatever.

The main thing is, the story, the plot and most of the narration were very well done. I will still buy the sequel when it comes out. I just hope the information imparted to me as a reader is a little less, or flows a little better within the story. At least I hope it doesn't repeatedly interrupt intense action sequences - so much that I forget I'm reading an action sequence.

Final Word - Good Book, looking for the sequel and I'll probably pass this one along.

Reading Challenges:
2010 Reading Challenge
Speculative Reading Challenge