Pearl's World of Romance - Reviews with a Passion: Shadow Magic

July 15, 2008

Shadow Magic - Cheyenne McCray

3:02 PM |

BACKCOVER:
THE SINS OF THE PAST
When Hannah Wentworth flees her life in San Francisco to join her sister D’Anu witches in Otherworld, she vows to help them conquer the evil bent on destroying the human realm. But the only one who can help her happens to be the king of the Dark Elves. The father to her nemesis, Rhiannon of the D’Anu. And the one man Hannah can never, ever trust...especially because of her dangerous attraction to him.

ARE COMING TO LIGHT…
Garran knows that the beautiful, headstrong Hannah is wary of him for having banished his people to a life underground. But now Garran can right that wrong by helping her and the other gray witches in their dangerous battle in San Francisco—even if doing so means sacrificing the passion he’s found only in Hannah’s arms…

IIn this fifth installment of the Magic Series the battle against the demon god Balor, demon goddess Ceithlenn and the black magic warlock Darkwolf reaches a turning point that can only be called mind-blowing. It forms the background for a love story that unfolds between Garran, king of the Drow (Dark Elves) and Hannah Wenthworth, gray witch of the D'Anu. How is Hannah to trust a man who has betrayed her sister witches in the past and how is Garran to prove to Hannah that he is willing to do what is needed to right his wrongs of the past? Their journey to the answers for these questions and to their happy end is filled with dangerous battles, resistance from friends and family, sacrifice and unconditional love.

Hannah is the witch of the Coven who is the most distant and detached from the others, she always keeps her distance and the only other witch who can push her buttons is Rhiannon (the reason for this becomes clear in this book). With Hannah everything is about being in control of her life and her emotions. This is caused by her loveless childhood.

Garran is the king of the Dark Elves and though he made some appearances in previous parts of the series, in this one you really get to know him and his motivations for previous actions.

Both Garran and Hannah are complicated and intricate characters due to their personalities, responsibilities and history. They both need someone strong to understand what drives them and what their desires are. They find that someone in each other.

There are more scenes for the secondary characters and multiple points of view (POV’s) are employed. In the other books this was also the case but much less frequent and less in volume. The amount of pages Darkwolf, Ceithlenn and Jake McGregor (captain of the human Paranormal Special Forces) have is considerably higher than in the previous books. This, however, is never bothering and their POV's are needed for the completion of the plot.
There is no separate POV for Rhiannon (the heroine of book 3) but because of her connection to Garran she has an important secondary role in this one.

Darkwolf remains an ambiguous character. Every time I thought I had him figured out, he surprised me with actions I did not see coming. He's fighting his own battle and his only allegiance, despite that it sometimes may seem different, is to himself, his own quest for power. He remains an enemy who's a power to be reckoned with and I can only guess what he has in store for the Alliance in the last book.

The way McCray builds this world and plot and lets her characters roam around in them is praiseworthy. It's fast-paced, action-filled, unpredictable and compelling throughout the entire book, but especially in the last half.
The romance between Hannah and Garran fitted in nicely, providing variation to the exciting, nerve wrecking plot.
The love scenes are very explicitly erotic but again fitting perfectly with the story and the characters. Also they are well dosed into the story, not too little, not too much. Just like in the previous books.
The fighting/battle sequences are amazing. McCray combines the witches' magic, the Fae warriors' swords, the Dark Elves' arrows and the human guns into scenes that came of the pages so lifelike that they are absolutely exhilarating.

Again I immerged myself in the world of the D'Anu witches, the Fae Warriors of the D'Danann and this time another group was added to the mix: the Dark Elves (Drows). Again I immensely enjoyed reading the ongoing plot in the series, the battle against the evil goddess Ceithlenn. The direction the ongoing plot takes at the end of the book didn't quite take me by surprise but I do wonder how everything is going to be worked out at the end of the series.

With every book this series gets better and more intriguing. Existing storylines are expanded, new storylines are woven in, questions are answered but at the same time new questions are raised. This book in the series is clearly setting up the ending of the series with a bang. More alliances are formed, allegiances change sides, actions are taken that puzzle me but I'm sure everything will be explained in the next and final installment.

Though this book fits right in the series with the ongoing plot and the romance and the eroticism, it had a slightly different feel to it compared to the previous books.
One thing is the multiple POV's I mentioned before but also the tone and setting is more grim and there's a lot more action. For me this all contributed to the overall impact of the book. I liked this one the best in the series so far, though I think (hope) the final book in the series will close it with a blast. The ongoing plot is building to an amazing climax, one I'm both anticipating and fearing.
Anticipating because I really want to know how this battle is going to end.
Fearing because I know that with the next book the series ends and I won't be able to loose myself in this wonderful, magical, erotic world Cheyenne McCray has created.

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