Magic in the Blood

Magic in the Blood

Magic in the Blood by Devon Monk is the second in the Allie Beckstrom series. Having read and enjoyed the first book in the series, I was happy to read this second novel. The title of the book relates to the plot in that much blood magic is being tossed around by a whole pile of villains.

Working as a Hound – tracing illegal spells back to their casters – has taken its toll on Allison Beckstrom. But even though magic has given her migraines and stolen her recent memory, Allie isn’t about to quit. Then the police’s magic enforcement division asks her to consult on a missing persons case. But what seems to be a straightforward job turns out to be anything but, as Allie finds herself drawn into the underworld of criminals, ghosts, and blood magic.

The story continues, more or less, where the previous novel had finished. Characters from the first book, such as Zayvion, Violet, and Kevin feature in this book as well. One of the things that I liked about the previous novel was the concept of magic that Monk created. Magic is a really common element in urban fantasy, so if an author wants to keep my interest, they had better come up with an interesting take on it.  I liked how it is something akin to a municipal utility.  Some of that seems to change in this book, as we meet several characters who are able to operate using magic without it acting in the typical municipal utility sort of way.

Ghosts appear in this book. They are not actually ghosts, though – which I found to be a relief. The last thing urban fantasy needs is some hackneyed, silly ghosts running around.  However, what Monk really does well in this book is to write the parts involving Allie’s father.  The scenes involving him are really creepy.  Again, at the end – was Mr. Beckstrom a good guy or a bad guy? I’m okay with the developments of this plotline.  By that I mean, we learn that Mr. Beckstrom was a member of the secret, powerful society called the Authority and Allie finds out that her father’s widowed girlfriend is pregnant.

Overall, I was satisfied with the book. There are times when Allie gets repetitive, though. I mean, I know it’s important for the reader to recall key details – but the reader does not even get the chance to forget. I think Monk needs to relax a little bit – readers are not complete idiots – we can handle remembering a few key points for a few chapters. Also, I really hate how Allie just swoons and gets ridiculous whenever Zayvion is in the room. I dunno if women really act like that or not, but it does serve to reinforce the notion that women are silly, emotive airheads.  On a positive note, I absolutely love Allie’s addiction to coffee!

3 stars

Magic to the Bone

Magic to the Bone cover

I finished this book last night. It was published in 2008 and is Monk’s first novel. Its also the first in the Allie Beckstrom series. From the back of the book:

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…

First of all, the reader can tell that a woman wrote this novel. One of the things that makes me leery of reading female authors in pulp fiction is that they fill their novels with sex.  Why is that? Males are supposed to be the sex-driven gender. But in novels, female authors seem to confuse sex for romance. There’s vast amounts of psychological speculation we could get into with this point. However, the last “urban fantasy” book I read was co-authored by a male and female author – and there was no sex in it. There were some vague innuendos and a few hints, but no sex. In this book here, Magic to the Bone (entirely authored by a female), there are at least two lengthy sex scenes. I’ll be honest – I don’t read them. I skip ahead a few pages.

I like some of the concepts that Monk is playing with in this novel because they are fresh and interesting. There are no vampires (thank God!) and there are no werewolves (thank God!).  Instead there is this concept of turning magic into something like a municipal utility. You know, like electricity and water. This is cool. And sure, there are hints that maybe there are magic users that preceed this sort of utility and that operate outside of this municipal faculty. But these are interesting concepts, to be sure. There is sort of a “conservation of energy law” that ties into the story. I think there is some work to be done with all of these concepts…. but this is Monk’s first book and, well, its not Scientific American. Its pulp urban fantasy.  Still it was nice to read something that didn’t involve vampires.

The main character can be amusing at points. (I don’t know how many more times she could say “Hells!” when exasperated, though.) Allie Beckstrom is not as assertive and intelligent as some of the typical female heroines, though. I mean, she’s stubborn and catty, but sometimes she’s pretty daft. There are times that she does some dumb things. For the first quarter of the book, I was slightly frustrated because she makes retarded choices and seemed to be really running in circles. Literally. However, by the end of the book, she seemed to develop a bit more, which is to be expected. I liked the other characters fairly well. The villains were a little underdeveloped, but I suspect Monk was just laying the foundation for more books.  I was interested in Violet, Allie’s stepmother, and Cody, the real victim in the book. And there is a cute kitten in the book that stole my heart.

Overall, this is a solid first book. And I would read further in the series.

3 stars