Sacrificial Magic

Sacrificial Magic blew me away. The book blew my mind, or I guess Stacia Kane did. I am not sure I even have enough brain matter to write up my thoughts. What got to me in this book is not just the pure awesomeness of the world created by Ms. Kane, or the desirableness of Terrible or the clever mystery woven through the emotional grenades going off in the story. What got to me is that Kane gets how adults act in sexual and romantic relationships. Readers and fans of the Downside Ghosts series will not be disappointed with Sacrificial Magic. Kane writes a meaty and rich mystery and she gives readers more details about the Church and its history. Additionally, we get some character and relationship progression with both Chess and show more Chess’s relationships with Lex and Terrible.

Chess is fucked up in Sacrificial Magic. She is taking drugs and she hits what I thought was rock bottom. What I was hoping was rock bottom. But despite this pain and difficult subject matter the book is also funny, so damned funny. “The door opened with a creak right out of a horror film. For fuck’s sake, was the school budget really so tight they couldn’t afford a can of fucking WD-40?” Or this one, ” ‘Green tea. It’s unsweetened, it’s good for you. Cleans the blood, gets rid of impurities.’ For fuck’s sake. She didn’t spend most of her income on drugs so she could have clean fucking blood.” Or how about this one, ”She probably wasn’t supposed to smoke there, but what the hell. The kids were.” Funny, right? Despite crying for Chess or cheering for Chess, I spent a good deal of time laughing in this book.

Okay, back to the relationship aspect. Chess makes some bad choices in Sacrificial Magic and we could say that this happens, because well Chess is messed up. But I am not sure that is entirely the case. At the start of the series, Chess is involved with Lex. Then she becomes involved with Terrible. Then she is with both of them. Ultimately she chooses Terrible. In most romances and in most books in the urban fantasy genre, writers would have us believe that by simply making the choice to be with one person the desire to be with anyone else goes away – it disappears. Doesn’t it? Yeah, in a perfect world or in a fantasy romance novel those feelings go away. I think the reality is that as adults in relationships we make the affirmative choice to not be with people other than our partner. It is a daily choice, sometimes an hourly choice. The liking of other people and the good memories we have in terms of our past with other people do not just disappear. Isn’t that more of an act of love? To affirmatively choose to be faithful and honest everday? I think so. So Chess is still learning this. She is learning that she has choices and she is learning how to make those choices. Kane captures this tension between wanting to do what is right by a partner and the remembering of desire. I love that she is brave enough to write this into a character and into a female character. Beyond just this tension of making the right decision, Kane writes the ups and downs of a romantic relationship pretty darned well. Most of the readers are likely not hitting rock bottom like Chess and they are not making crazed drug induced decisions. And hopefully we are not in relationships with people who are acting like Chess. But, many of us have disagreements with our partners. It just seems that in the romance genre, when couples fight and they get back together there is this immediate simpatico and acceptance; but is that real? Yes couples make up, but the residual of what we went through sticks with us. Kane gets this. So I don’t think this is a spoiler – Chess and Terrible fight and they reconcile (and they fight and they …) but once reconciled all is not perfect. Chess and Terrible bring different experiences and different expectations to their relationship and to each disagreement. When they walk away form a resolution – they are walking away with those different informed understandings. I love that Kane did not wave her magical writer’s wand and fix everything to be perfect. There are rough patches because that is what real life is and I love reading Kane’s interpretation of how messed up adults navigate this.

Sacrificial Magic gives readers quite a bit of history on Chess’s past and her childhood. These experiences are there in her memories and the past is painful, horrible stuff. Poor Chess, I wish I could hug her but well, I think that would make her uncomfortable, “What was the last time anyone other than Terrible or Lex had touched her? Kind of odd, really. How often did people touch each other? Was that normal, to just touch someone like that?” Chess I cry for you and I cry for people who are hurt like you. Some excerpts of thoughts from Chess’s running commentary in her head:

“Nothing in the world was permanent, especially not happiness.”

***

“That was the way normal people felt when they were trying to move up, when they’d found someone to love who loved them back. Not the way Chess felt, like she was trying to stem an arterial bleed with her fingertip.

But then, normal people didn’t start their relationships by fucking people over, and normal people weren’t convinced that at any moment the person they were with was going to realize how completely worthless they were and run away as fast as they could. Normal people didn’t deserve to have the person they were with run away as fast as they could. So that might make the difference.”

“Hadn’t she known pretty much all of her life that her only real value came from what hid between her legs?”

The entire book of Sacrificial Magic is supremely satisfying to read. Yes, there are parts that will make you mad at Chess and parts that will make your heart weep for her childhood. But there are parts that will give us hope that Chess may find her way (if she could just lose that damned bottle of Cepts …)

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I have just finished Sacrificial Magic and put myself on the waiting list for the next book in the Downside Ghosts series. This series defies characterization. It is a a post-apocalyptic tale, a detective story, and an urban fantasy (but no typical vampire/werewolf stuff, yawn -- the main character is a drug-addicted witch who battles malevolent ghosts). This has quickly become my favorite series, and I cannot wait for more. Here is why:

The world is captivating, original, and carefully built. The reader believes that ghosts have risen and destroyed the world as we know it, and that a new, damaged but resilient neighborhood like the Downside (complete with its own slang & music), has developed. The world-building is awesome, and the show more world created is unique, fun, scary, and original. I want to spend more time there.

The characters are real people. Chess is damaged. She has good reasons for being damaged, but she is addicted, has a terribly self-image, and finds her self worth in her work. She is a good, powerful, witch. She protects people from ghosts, and is an astute investigator - she saves her employee from claims of false hauntings. But still, she feels inadequate and cannot believe anyone loves her, despite two strong Downside characters, Terrible and Lex, who both seek her attentions.

Sacrificial Magic has high powered romance, but not a fairytale, pretty, Harlequin-type romance, but real does-he-love-me, how-do-i-do-this, heart-achingly bittersweet painful romance. Just like in real life, in Chess's world, it is complicated.

The writing is great. Clean, clear, descriptive, sometimes lyrical (but not so much that it gets in the way of the story). A sample: "Church theory was that ghosts killed out of envy, because they hated the living simply for being alive, because they wanted to steal that life for themselves and would never give up trying no matter how many times they failed. Chess agreed. But she also wondered--wondered a lot--if it wasn't simply that without the pressure of society, with nothing to lose, the cruelty and viciousness of the dead were simply the cruelty and viciousness of the living permitted finally to surface."

The Downside Ghosts series of books by Stacia Kane are simply incredible; it is a captivating, unique series which I cannot recommend highly enough. This is the fourth book in the series. If you missed the first three, go and get them. You are in for a treat. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

Fans of the Downside series live for the emotionally devastating scenes between Chess and Terrible, the most unlikely and yet addictive couple in urban fantasy. Well find something to bite down on before reading SACRIFICIAL MAGIC and prepare to be gutted. Ms. Kane is going to rip your still beating heart from your chest and shred it. And then she’s going to douse it with gasoline and set it on fire. That’s the best way I can describe it, but it doesn’t come close to what actually happens in this book.

I listed a few similar titles to try if you like the Downside series (or if you already like the series below, then you should try Downside), but there really isn’t another series like show more this or another character like Chess (except maybe Cass from Sophie Littlefield’s Aftertime series). Chess wears her shame like a second skin. She can’t tear it away so she numbs it instead…with a lot of pills. Chess is such a trainwreck…so broken, so fragile beneath her untouchable exterior. I love and hate her. I want to punch and hug her. I want to know that she’s going to be okay somehow, but I also don’t want her to change at all. And Terrible…to be loved by a man like him would be about the most amazing/frightening thing ever.

Everything about the Downside series pulses with paranormal perfection, not the least of which is Downside itself. It’s like New York from Escape from New York overrun with murderous ghosts and deadly magic. Gritty doesn’t begin to describe it. There is a wonderful contrast between the residents of Downside with their slang/dialect way of talking, and the hyper formality of the Church of Real Truth, the ruling entity that protects humanity by magically banishing ghosts. Seriously, everything about this series is so finely nuanced and realistic, frighteningly so in some cases, but always intensely gripping. I can’t wait for my next Chess and Terrible hit when CHASING MAGIC is published on June 26, 2012.

Sexual Content:
Several scenes of sensuality. One moderately graphic sex scene. Vague references to sexual abuse. show less

FINALLY!

I think I'm just dancing around the campfire because Chess finally sorted something out. Sort of. Kind of. Maybe. Maybe not. She's got such deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy, though, that she's just not sure how to handle something real.

Wait. Hold the phone. Back up. I don't even LIKE romances, and here I am grabbing for the next book because I'm desperate to know the outcome of relationship drama? Yes, yes I am. Here I stand, loud and proud, wanting to know how the heck Chess's relationship drama has sorted itself out.

And the truth is, it really hasn't. Which is fair. Chess has issues. She's got subscriptions. No, no, she has junk mail. Stuff's just pouring in through the mail slot. And yes, there were times that my heart show more just broke for her, because she's just so terribly earnest about not wanting to mess things up, and she messes things up simply because of that.

Pair up one majorly damaged heroine that we all root for, because if Chess can manage to sort herself out, any of us can, really, with some majorly messed up ghosts and a brewing turf war, and we've got one of the best books from Stacia Kane yet. show less

Chess is probably the most broken protagonist I've read, ever. I want her to succeed and be happy, but I want to grab her and shake her too. I don't want a miracle, though, I want her to genuinely get better. Also, I just really, really love Terrible. He's a bone-breaking enforcer for a drug lord/pimp/general bad dude, he's depicted as pretty-much-totally-ugly, he wears bowling shirts (although I will admit to loving the rockabilly aesthetic, like, a lot), and he uses violence as therapy, but good lord, he is the hottest thing since Jericho Barrons.

Reading these books can be really uncomfortable but I can't stop either. I intended to take a break from them, give myself a couple of weeks, maybe read something about kittens and rainbows show more and smiling babies, but I found myself on Amazon, one-clicking away for the rest of the series. Someone, halp. show less

No sabìa que era posible , pero estoy enamorada de Terrible . Tan enamorada que en realidad por su culpa estoy arruinada para cualquier hombre real .

Terrible !! I'm book-stalking you .

Te voy a estar mirando de cerca :)





Si existieras , para impresionarte te llevarìa al cine ... a ver una pelicula porno . Si eso te asusta y salìs corriendo , entonces al otro dìa me aparezco en tu trabajo y me agarro a las piñas con tus compañeros .





Si eso no es suficiente , no me queda otra que raparme la cabeza al estilo mohicano y salir con un arma a matar a unos cuantos fiolos y salvarle la vida a una prostituta menor de edad .

¿Te parece bien? ¿Es suficiente? ¿Eh? ¿Què decìs?








Ahora en serio ... este es el mejor libro de la serie , lejos . show more Stacia Kane conoce la calle , conoce las adicciones , sabe de lo que habla , sabe crear una heroine tan imperfecta , tan insegura , que es ideal .


Hubo momentos en este libro que me sentì tan tocada con las discusiones de pareja , que hasta se me piantò un lagrimòn .

Gran escritora . Con conocimiento de causa , la ùnica que sabe de verdad como se construye una relaciòn y lo difìcil que es querer a alguien cuando no te querès ni a vos mismo.

Emocionante fantasìa urbana con elementos muy realistas. show less

This series has become an addiction for me. Chess is a completely broken heroine who almost gets on ones nerves at times with her severe, disabling insecurity, yet you can't help but love her, from her sarcastic inner monologue, her drug-addicted head, to her fully obsessed heart in her relationships. She is starting that slight character change that is inevitable in a series - a character must change someway, for better or worse, or it becomes stale.

She has no end in sight mentally about drug addiction, though, and instead the drugs are taking their toll more and more, especially in one good scare scene. Terrible is more concerned than before, and there are changes in this book about their relationship (big ones) which will be show more fascinating to read about in the following story.

The plot for Chasing Magic almost reminded me of zombies! The folks of Downside are mindless half the time on drugs anyway, but in this case it's notched up big-time when magic makes a play. Chess again is recruited by Bump to make things all well again, and Terrible still struggles with the after effects of the psychopomp and illegal steps Chess had to take which saved his life.

Personally this one is quite sad as Elder Griffin withdraws with Chess after she reveals the truth, and this affects the character pretty badly. I'm curious if they will make up in the future or if he will always stay distant and withdrawn. I'm even more curious if anyone in the church will ever notice her drug addiction! Also, will Chess ever see something bad about the church she so respects, opening her eyes to the possibilities of what some of the poor people in the area are saying is the truth instead?

The romance aspect of this series has become very intense, especially for an urban fantasy. There's still some hot steamy sex but it's mainly interrupted and kept short when it occurs. I was especially touched by the sweet ending with the roof! Violence is here as usual but again more as an after-effect while Chess explores crime scenes and tries to prevent them. The mystery isn't a deep one, but the suspense (especially at the ending) is strong. The villain is another worthy one for the books; they are always totally dark and demented.

Lex takes a turn in the hearts of some readers in this one. He's still the same as ever but in his new position has to take steps against a beloved character, Terrible, which may turn some against him, Chess included. I feel less and less from her in regard to Lex on a romantic basis and hope that triangle is firmly buried now that it's been played. I do dig their friendship, though, and am curious how that will eventually play itself out as the two drug lords are battling due to their territories.

It's completely yummy how Kane is able to dish out a book that's both action-filled with a rich, detailed plot while keeping it heart-clenching on a relationship level as well.The third book is still my favorite of the series, but this new release is a close runner-up. Highly recommended :) Now just having to wait for the next one's release! The fourth and fifth followed each other quickly enough, so hoping the same for the sixth. show less