When sent to Italy to trace the whereabouts of a very old and dangerous artefact a retriever finds herself in a dire situation. The artefact turns out to have been one of a collection of unstable black magic pieces that have been stored for centuries by an order of ‘monks’.
The trail ultimately leads her back home to a city full of magical creatures on the brink of war with each other. Undoubtedly the artefact is feeding off the discord. She just needs to decommission it and collect her cheque before all hell breaks loose.
This she manages but in the final showdown she is forced to choose between helping her long time partner and new lover or an old friend. She is left devastated by the casualty count and the increased political unrest, which is edging its way slowly towards open war, left in its wake.
I enjoyed this book just as much as the last one.
This story was more of a vehicle to showcase the developing romance between the main characters but it did not neglect plot in favour of that. I particularly like that discovering their love has not changed the personalities of the protagonists. The heroine’s conflict over wanting to be with her new lover but craving her own space is realistic.
A great plot overlays the ongoing political intrigue. The story offers greater insight into a believable and coherent magical world, including the downside of being a magic user. And again the seeds of future works are sown discretely into the story.
I see that there are several more books in this series (just as I had predicted/hoped) and I am tempted to read them all back to back but glutting rare does any series a favour so I will hold off on the next instalment for now but look forward to reading it next year.-Lynn
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