Saturday, April 7, 2012

Royal Street-Suzanne Johnson

Royal Street


Suzanne Johnson

Tor, Apr 10 2012, $14.99

ISBN: 9780765327796



As Katrina begins its assault on New Orleans, Gerry St. Simon the city Sentinel orders Junior Wizard Sentinel Drusilla “DJ” Jaco to leave the city, which she does. As the storm loses its fury, the aftermath has left a wrecked region as more than the levees were breached when the border with the Beyond crumbled too.



With her mentor having vanished, the Congress of Elders directs DJ to return to New Orleans because all hell is walking the streets. Upon her return, Jean Lafitte tries to kill her, but Alexander Waring an FBI terminator arrives to dispatch the pirate for now. DJ thinks her new partner has the body of an Adonis and the brain of an anchovy as he comments she looks more like Glinda than Merlin. As she searches for her teacher, a serial killer haunts the already devastated city while the enemy from Beyond grows in power forcing DJ and Alexander into seeking strange bedfellows as allies.



Royal Street is a great urban fantasy that uses Katrina to create a breach between realms. DJ’s tour of the city shows more than just the cost in lives and property as psychologically New Orleans seems down for the count. The movement of paranormal species from Beyond into the city is deftly handled as DJ, Alex and others find themselves in a fight against a powerful essence who uses the no longer Big Easy as a springboard for power while the elders (mindful of classic Green Lantern silver age comic books insist on adhering to the rules (the means vs. the end argument).



Harriet Klausner



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