Jayne Faith

Ah, QuarantineBrain™. I'm going to miss you. That casual, passive acceptance of the way the days blended into each other, and the passive way I could let books flow over me without engaging. Despite finding a number of interesting elements in the first Ella Grey book, Stone Cold Magic, Dark Harvest Magic took everything that was redeemable in the first and threw it out the window.

How badly? Well, once again, serious consequences miss the Scooby Gang, except that this time we've roped in show more Red Shirts to show there are high stakes, although they presumably matter to someone. Ella's low-level magic and low-level job become powered up here, giving her Super knowledge and Super capabilities. The easy, clear cut lines between evil demons and non-evil magic workers is blurred by Ella and a friend using small demons to send a message to each other (so much for her work as a demon-catcher!), without any serious introspection. But most serious and damaging to my enjoyment was a scene where Ella is magically forced into doing something she doesn't want to do, with serious consequences.

Digression. What's the point when you cut your losses on a book or series? I've figured for awhile that I generally want happy endings, with protagonists who aren't generally stupid or thoughtless, but I can live with it if I'm given decent writing, an interesting world and interesting side characters. Start playing too much with that and I get more than a little kvetchy. Then commit an authorial trespass and I'm done. In this case, it was a character binding Ella into a coven in such a way that it had physical, financial, emotional and social consequences. Sounds like rape to me (there are no secrets in the group; there's tithing; there's mandatory practice). To make it worse, though Ella sort-of struggles with it, she ends up 'going along' with it. Her bestie Deb has a hard time seeing how it is a bad thing, because now they are 'together.' It's funny, because for some readers, this won't be a big thing; they'll see it as Ella adapting, or another challenge, or whatever. But for me, it was the choice that broke my enjoyment. I was done.

I should also note, for those who have been following and who have noted that this book is described as a 'paranormal romance,' that in this installment, Ella makes steps forward in one of her relationships... but there's heavy black-out curtains drawn over the scene. Nothing to see here, kids!

She continues to be super-selfish, particularly in taking her partner Damien for granted. When he shares his fears about his family with her (after hearing about her family all the time), here's her reaction: "I shrugged a shoulder. “Eh, let’s not worry about it unless they find a way to press the issue. You’re an adult. You have your own life. We’ll figure it out, right?”

The power-ups in abilities, the TSTL moments, the super-selfish moments, the authorial condoning of an unacceptable behavior all add up to a series I'm comfortable abandoning.

Oh, and as an aside, I don't recommend reading the Goodreads blurb, unless you also plan on forgetting it, because it spoils some of the events in the book.

one and a half stars, rounding down because even writing this is irritating me. show less

Well, Quarantine Brain™ has gone offline, perhaps gearing up for the stress of return to a New World. Still, before it powered down, a Certain Arthropod’s review pointed me towards this book, and I found my eye caught by two more unusual ideas, that of the reaper and a gargoyle. Intrigued–and cheap–I borrowed it and found it full of intriguing ideas, and interesting ensemble cast and a problematic plot, or problematic lead character. Sometimes with these books, it’s hard to tell show more which. Still, it was written well enough that I found it interesting.

So, what makes it better/different? The writing is competent, and a step above the average urban fantasy. The author(s) don’t waste time describing everyone’s eye color (that I remember), how many ab muscles show (despite the front cover), and don’t have a habit of ‘smirking,’ my personal pet peeve. It really isn’t a paranormal romance. Our main character, Ella, is a hetro female who has had a number of dalliances in her past, so she appreciates a cutie, but in this book at least, there isn’t anything significant going on. And, interestingly, it ends up being more of an ensemble cast, which I feel isn’t very common in a genre prone to the lone wolf trope (sometimes literally). The world-building is also intriguing, if somewhat murkily overshadowed by anti-corporation sentiment (and who can’t get behind that?).

The bad? Well, a guilt complex over a missing family member is a major motivator, as always. There’s also the trope of assuming excessive responsibility for which a person has only limited obligation. I appear to be somewhat deficient in both of these genes, because although both I and the protagonist have jobs where we help people, I am almost never tempted to bring those people home. I also recognize that I am not responsible for other people’s bad choices. But where’s the story in that, you ask? I don’t know, maybe Faith could find a better one.

Furthermore, Ella is kind of a jerk, in that she frequently bends the rules–I do that too, I’m not criticizing that part–in such a way that she ends up involving her friends, either to ‘help’ her cause or cover for her. But in some ways, this is definitely BookWorld™, and consequences aren’t severe. You can take home strange dogs, strange children, break the rules at work, invade the compound of all-powerful men, exhaust yourself into oblivion, and everyone will forgive you and still love you.

There’s enough of QuarantineBrain™ functioning that I’m on board with that.

Two and a half stars, rounding up for half-hellhounds and gargoyles. There's a lot of fun stuff here that essentially gets wasted, but overall, not a waste of time. show less

Decently written and constructed, Edge Of Magic's focus on the fae helps to distinguish it from the more vampire and werewolf dominated paranormal fantasy. For me at least.
The characters are solid and their strength, along with the book's strength, is best on display in the more human conflicts, specifically the poverty Tara and her family suffers and the fear and stress that poverty infuses in the characters and the narrative. The strength of the narrative is somewhat weakened by a savior show more near the end.
A minor pet peeve I had is that the book fails to justify our MC using medieval weapons in the modern era, and it may have been explained in the author's previous series, but still.
The actual plot is slower and more mystery based, and a lot of it seemed focused on setting future conflicts and plot points from the series. show less

It was a very well put together, solid SciFi story. The story moves along at a wonderfully fast pace, introducing lots of characters, yet explaining each one so that they have their own voice. The main character of the book is a youg woman, just coming of age, named Maya; who lives with her mother and disabled (blind) sister-who she protects. The Selection is a process, whereby those who come of age must be presented to the Over Lord and certain select women are picked to “service” the show more Lord however he see fit. The woman who was selected from Maya’s clan, dies suddenly and Maya is named in her place to be presented to the Lord and to do whatever he desires. She’s questioning many things in her life and the story continues to tell her saga, through the process of living with the Lord. I think this books is suitable for audiences ranging from young adult to older. Perfectly written and the author writes in such a wonderfully descriptive manner, you grow very fond of the characters in this book very quickly. I would highly recommend to any SciFi/Fantasy fan. show less