2010 urban fantasy, third of the trilogy. After the events of the
previous book, Evie Scelan is getting by, just barely, but things are
gradually getting worse. Even her power to track down lost objects
seems to be fading.
This is very much a continuation of events from the earlier
books, so it's probably not a good place to start the series; there's
some recapping, but not in much detail. The basic environment is the
same as before: Celtic myth, modern Boston, and the ways they
interact. (And this time we do get back to some actual Boston
landmarks, to my mind rather missing from book 2; in particular quite
a bit of the action happens among the islands in and near the
harbour.)
As before it takes a while for things to get going, or rather for Evie
to work out the direction in which they're going and try to do
something about it. But there's rather more personal and social
development than before, or rather it can finally be allowed to
happen: Evie has friends who are willing to help her, and she ries to
find a balance between not letting them in at all (her previous
approach) and getting them too deeply involved in a magical world that
seems to dirty everything it touches. Or rather, once you get a sniff
of magical power you tend to want more or at least to keep having it,
and the things you do for that aren't entirely compatible with living
a normal life; which is awkward when the young niece of Evie's
boyfriend is clearly developing power of her own…
It's still not the shock to the system that the first book was, but
it's a step up from the second and a solid conclusion to the series.
It's urban fantasy done right rather than falling back on exotic
sexiness. Recommended by Tim
Emrick.
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