Thursday, July 22, 2010

CBR Book#53: Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong


There will probably be spoilers about the first two books in the series in this review! BEWARE.



This is the third book in Armstrong's women of the Otherworld series. Unlike the first two, this book revolves around young witch Paige Winterbourne. Paige was introduced in the last book Stolen when she made werewolves aware that there were other supernaturals in the world. Since the events in the last book, Paige is struggling to raise an orphaned 13 year old witch named Savannah while attempting to modernize the Coven she belongs to so that witches can gain more respect in the supernatural world. Neither endeavor is going too well for Paige.

The Coven is unhappy about Paige honoring her mother's wishes to raise Savannah in the coven and the Elders want the child gone. Savannah is young but extremely powerful and her mother was considered a dark witch. As if this isn't enough, Paige is greeted one morning by paperwork suggesting that Leah O'Donnell would like custody of Savannah. Leah is a half-demon with telekinetic powers introduced in the last book. After meeting with Leah and her sorcerer lawyer, Paige is stunned to find that the real petitioner is Savannah's father, Kristof Nast. Nast is a powerful sorcerer and part of a Cabal, which is like the Mafia of the supernatural world. The Cabals have legitimate businesses and interests, but they exclusively hire and are run by supernaturals. They also follow their own laws when it comes to dealing with other supernaturals and Cabals. This is not good.

Luckily for Paige and Savannah, Lucas Cortez appears and inserts himself into their lives as lawyer. Cortez's father is the head of the most powerful Cabal in the world and he has the information and skills to help Paige when the Nast Cabal gets creative in their attempts to gain custody of Savannah. Sound complicated? It is a bit complicated, but Armstrong does an excellent job of explaining the supernatural world and the hierarchy of its inhabitants. I didn't enjoy this novel as much as the first two in the series, but I believe that has more to do with my attachment to the werewolves than anything wrong with the characters or story here. Lucky for me, I have two more novels centering on the werewolves here, just waiting to be read.

3 comments:

  1. This is waiting at the library for me to pick up. I'm going to give the non-werewolf ones a go, but I really want to follow their story. I just read the short story 'Beginnings' in Tales From the Otherworld and that goes into the early days of Clay and Elena's relationship. Really liked it and now want more of them! Might have to skip ahead in the series.

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  2. And now I need to put a hold on Tales from the Otherworld! I'm totally skipping Industrial Magic and going straight for Broken and Frostbitten. I love Clay and Elena!

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  3. I adore Paige and Lucas, and while "Industrial Magic" is good, I prefer "Dime-Store Magic". If you like the werewolves (Elena, Clay, Jeremy), they feature rather a lot in "Industrial Magic" as well, though, it's probably the most "ensemble" of the Otherworld books Armstrong has written. So you might want to check that that one out as well.

    Also, congratulations on finishing your 52 books!

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