Thursday, January 1

Kim Harrison: A Fistful of Charms

A witch and her pixie partner set off to save his son, who has run away with her ex-boyfriend and ended up in trouble with a conglomerate of werewolf packs. Once they find and save the young pixie he tells them that her ex has located an artefact that could change the balance of power in the world in favour of werewolves (which is a bad thing) and since he won’t hand the artefact over they are holding him prisoner.
She helps him escape from the werewolves but nothing short of his death and the artefact’s destruction can deter them from hunting him down. Owing him her life she comes up with a plan to fake his death and the destruction of the artefact, giving him his freedom back.
A lot of double dealing and dishonesty ensures that the plan goes pear shaped but with some quick thinking the witch manages to set everything to rights-convincing the werewolves that her ex is dead (although he isn’t) and the artefact destroyed (though she actually keeps it in her possession).
This is an edited summary of the highlights of a very intricate plot.
The fourth book in a series, this instalment contained all the action and danger elements that readers have come to expect but at the same time had a more introspective angle than the previous books.
The development of some of the secondary characters was great to see, though it didn’t really make up for the main character’s lack of development. Four books into the series and she’s still making the same mistakes as she was in the first and in spite of a token step is really no closer to resolving her feelings towards her room mate than she was in the first chapter of book one, a situation that is getting old quickly now. As is the growing number of suitors, potential suitors and devoted friends she’s gathering without effort along the way. What’s wrong with having one or two love interests and moving on from there? Why does everyone the heroine meets have to fall under her spell in one way or another? Sadly this seems to be the way of urban fantasy and is an issue I have with the genre as a whole rather than particularly with this book.
These flaws are forgivable here because of the terrific world building and the great plot that kept me guessing until the end but I do hope to see some resolution or forward momentum with relationships soon.
Don’t get me wrong I really did enjoy this book; it was a rollercoaster ride of action and a well woven plot that tied up points from earlier works while introducing new threads for future works. I simply don’t want to see a good series go bad from a steadily weakening main character.-Lynn

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