Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Magic on the Line-Devon Monk

Magic on the Line


Devon Monk

Roc, Nov 1 2011, $7.99

ISBN: 9780451464286



In Portland, Hound Allie Beckstrom adheres to the strict rules of the overseeing of magic Authority while risking her life and soul in support of the practitioners (see Magic at the Gate and Magic at the Hunt). Allie and her cohorts find the corpse of rookie Hound Ant Bell. When Davy Silvers takes a closer look at the body, Ant bites him before dying again. Davy is dying from the bite.



Other dead Hounds have arisen to kill peers and the innocent as a plague epidemic devastates the city. Allie informs the new Authority chief Bartholomew Wray that she believes magic is being deployed by a serial killer. Bartholomew rejects her theory while warning her to strictly adhere to the rules. While Bartholomew fiddles with a power game by isolating Allie from her friends and lover Zayvion Jones, she believes she will have to break the rules of the Authority making them fugitives in order to end the magical plague.



This is a terrific entry as for every action (the Life Well battle) there is a reaction (Bartholomew seemingly the righteous by the book bureaucrat), which leaves Allie, Zay and others trying to do what they believe is right to end a magical borne disease at a great personal cost. Filled with action and strong characterizations, readers will appreciate Devon Monk’s latest urban fantasy as the heroine must choose between ignoring the truth and crossing the outlaw line.



Harriet Klausner

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