Magic in the Blood

Magic with a twist. Devon Monk's second 'Allie Beckstrom' book, "Magic In the Blood" is just as good as the first. This world is filled with magic available for those who can use it...provided they're willing to pay the price. That price is pain. Small magics? Maybe a headache, fever, or a light rash and a few old memories. Big magic? Bad flu and broken bones and gaps in the memory. Blood magic? Death.

Allie's mostly recovered from the coma caused by her use of alot of magic to save a guy she supposedly fell in love with that she can't remember now. Sound confusing? Well, that's Allie's life all right. With bills to pay (sure she COULD use her Dad's money, NOT) she's out looking for a few 'hounding' jobs--tracing the source of illegal show more spells or magic use. So a job for the police department could be just the thing...if it didn't involve a cop with a 'curse', an old enemy out for Allie's blood (literally), and the ghost of her dead father.

How can I tell you how good this series is? Devin Monk's imagination has come up with a realm that's distinct and unusual. I only needed a few pages to find myself right back in Allie's world, with all its logic and mystery. The plot jumps into action and then accelerates through to the ending without a pitstop. My heart was racing (along with Allie's, I'm sure) as she tracks from spell to ward, trying to locate some missing children before they turn up dead.

This isn't romance per se. Instead it's Allie's life with all its mysterious twists and memory holes. There IS romance, but the series isn't built on the romance, it's built on the mystery of a woman's life as it spirals out of control and her efforts to snatch pieces of reality. As far as I'm concerned, Devon Monk can't write fast enough and I'm already anxious for the November 2009 release of "Magic in the Shadows" to see where Allie's headed next. show less

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Magic in the Blood

Allie’s memory has been torn apart by magic, causing her to forget chunks of time and the people she spent it with. But despite the pain magic has caused her, she still has a job to do. When the police come looking for a Hound, she takes on a missing person’s case. Yet despite what her nose is telling her, Allie feels like something is off about the crime scene. As she digs deeper into the oddly familiar scent of magic, she finds herself caught up in magic steeped in blood and death.

Magic in the Blood allows readers a closer look into the lives of Hounds and the struggles they face. While Allie has mentioned their penchant for substance abuse, being introduced to an show more entire group of hounds brings her revelations to startling clarity. But when Allie is faced with new Hounds, she’s quick to judge despite personally knowing what they deal with. The reader is also given a new cast of characters to remember, most of which do not play an integral part in the story.

Despite additional characters, the story remains fast-paced and filled with action. And Devon Monk ups the ante by adding in a race against time. When Allie pulls on magic, a new enemy stalks ever closer, threatening to drain her magic. If Allie can’t cast quickly enough, it puts all she works toward at risk.

The world is ever expanding as new magic is introduced in this second novel. And the depths to which death magic is used show a disturbing reality if certain characters attain their ultimate goals. Allie will be placed in compromising situations that will embed themselves in her psyche and leave her feeling violated. These situations are meant to unsettle the reader and at first, do just that. But there are multiple callbacks to the events throughout the book, making them lose their intended emotional baggage.

While there may have been some bumps in the road with Magic in the Blood, I know there is a lot more to come from the series. With such a unique magic system, I’m eager to revisit some of the heavier magic-slinging fights I know are on the horizon. And I can’t wait to be reintroduced to some of my favorite characters along the way. show less

This is an urban fantasy book - which is to say, the plot goes like this: Single (and hot) Woman Magician, its her against the world - gets pulled into some sort of magical problem - and saves the city/country/world etc. There is usually a male love interest that is secretive and stays away for the protection of the protagonist.

This book follows the typical path before. I believe its second or third of a series, and our heroine is recovering from something that happened in the previous book, does it matter - probably. My biggest problem with these books is they are like popcorn. After awhile, they all feel the same. This one is no exception. I read this a few months ago, and really don't remember the plot outside of female magic user show more with a chip on her shoulder and missing parts of her memory inthe previous book, and gets pulled into missing person case from the police.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't read it. It's competently written, with a world that makes sense (I'd remember if it wasn't) and that it is a fairly generic addition to the genre. It works well on a beach, or in an airport, but great literature, it is not. show less

After losing her memory of the terrible events of the last month, as well as everything about the man she supposedly loves, Allie is trying to pick the pieces of her life up and put them back together. She accepts a job tracking kidnappings for a special police division called MERC, and as a result finds suspicion in a fellow hound. Once again Allie finds herself in the middle of a dangerous plot and if she's to survive she must trust more than just her magical instincts.I found the major backtracking of the relationship between Allie and Zayvion to be rather frustrating. I can only hope this was done to build a better foundation for them to have a more solid and meaningful relationship since in the first book everything was rushed and show more built on sex rather than love. After finding out a little more about the mysterious Zayvion and who he really is, I found him all the more intriguing. Sometimes when a character's unknown background is revealed they lose some of their mystique, but not Zayvion. He is the type of character that will always be a little mystery. I find her father's continued "influence" on her to be a little aggravating, but I also feel the need to say the phrase: "And the plot thickens." In the next book I hope to see more of Allie and Zayvion together, strong, and full of love, as well as Allie finally being able to rid herself of everything to do with her manipulative father once and for all. show less

Magic in the Blood (Allie Beckstrom Series #2) RATING: 3 stars (almost 3.5)
 
I've read book 1 of this series way-back-when so I wasn't really clear on the details. I knew there was a heroine who uses magic and I remember liking the magic system in these books because in Monk's world everyone (as far as I can tell) can use magic (some are more talented than others, though) but magic requires a price and that makes most people think twice about using it. It can be a simple headache but it can also be something a little more serious.
 
Anyway... I remember (I went to check my review, ahah) liking the world building but not being crazy about the stereotypical characters. Still, I bought some more books of this series a while back so I show more decided to give it another chance.
 
This second book was fast-paced and there was a lot happening at the same time.
 
I was enjoying this book immensely (a lot more than the first) but the ending was rushed and the mystery underdeveloped. I mean, Allie is a Hound, she should be investigating and drawing conclusions but I felt the book was too focused on her and that too much happened to her. The mystery plot suffered because of it. We arrive at the climax with only vague ideas about what is going on and the way everything was resolved just didn't seem... plausible. The villain was almost absent until the end, also due to this. The author gave us no time to feel anything for him.
 
On the other hand there was a lot more world building and character development in this one. Allie was a lot more likable; unfortunately Zayvion Jones is still a walking stereotype. But... there is no love triangle in sight, which is great.
 
So, overall, it was a nice read, better than the first one but I feel it still needs more. There's too much and too little happening (I know I sound confusing but that's how it seemed to me) and some things were explained in a really implausible manner.
 
I will be reading the rest of the series though, since Monk got me interested in her world and her magic system (again). show less

The final third of this book is really good, fast moving and engaging. The first hundred pages, though, are slow. The next hundred are quicker, but not as engaging as I expected. The problem is that, while this is the second book in a series, we still have hundreds of pages of world building, and it's nitty gritty world building without the engaging wonder of coming into a brand new universe that we got in the first book.

As readers of Magic in the Bone know, Allie Beckstrom suffers memory loss from using magic,and as this book begins she has forgotten many of the events of the first book. This should be intriguing, but combined with the dozens of new characters we are introduced to in the first pages of the novel, it is frustrating. It show more could have been intriguing if handled differently, I think, but it just ended up feeling like we needed to rehash past events as well as keep present ones straight. That said, the last hundred pages were good enough that I'm looking forward to the third entry. Monk's world is a scary, intriguing place, and Allie is a flawed, fascinating heroine who gets her butt kicked as much as the reverse. show less

How to review this book - I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it, so we'll see how this all plays out...

I liked the book, maybe even 3.5 stars worth of like, but there were just a few things that are holding me back from rounding up (again).
Allie Beckstrom is fighting to retain as much of her memory as she can, if she can only remember to set a Disbursement. You would think that someone who is as good as she is at Hounding and magic, she would be able to remember, but... Allie is asked to assist a special unit in the police department hound a series of abductions. She is being threatened by a very bad man - drug lord, kingpin of the underworld - Trager. She is trying to save the life and reputation of a fellow hound and trying to show more decide if she likes her almost boyfriend from the last book - Zayvion.
I liked the tension, the mystery, the world in which Allie lives - But, I have such a hard time with her repeating certain things throughout the book. I have a hard time with Allie's constant mouthy comments that seem to want to be snarky, but just come off like a teenager trying to look cool, but can't quite get there. She also drives me crazy because of her forgiveness of Zayvion even though she doesn't trust or forgive anyone else. And she always ends up in the hospital - okay, I know this is only the second book, but I hope it isn't a trend - too predictable.

With all of that said - I liked the book. I stayed up late again reading and I can't wait to jump into the next one. But, I still get frustrated as I read them because of Allie's comments and the repeating of certain phrases (which of course I can't think of right now and I don't have the book with me to look them up).

I would recommend this to others. show less