Customer Reviews

Forbidden Magic (Magic Series, Book 1)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

The plot has been neatly summarized elsewhere, so I'll just cut to my own thoughts on this book. The heroine, Silver, is very one-dimensional. She spends every minute either as an emotional, barely-functioning basketcase in some ethical crisis (she's so tempted to go to the dark side, she's usually crying or hating herself) or she is relaxedly happily bonking the hero, Hawk. The two extremes is too much to make the character believable. Hawk is cardboard hero fare - strong, handsome, kind, loving. The only thing that distinguishes him from other heroes is that he has beautiful wings and likes cookies. He is strong and loving, but he is so plain in his personality that I wouldn't be interested in meeting him in real life. The chemistry between them was not very good, and the story lacks the tension between the characters that I find in other paranormal series (like Aisling Gray, Anita Blake, Kim Harrison, Sherrilyn Kenyon, etc.). They quickly fall in love, quickly fall in bed, and when she's not a crying wreck or they're fighting demons, they're busy bonking again. Their dialogue is very wooden.

The demons are the bad guys. There's a parallel plotline with a demon named Junga who inhabits a human woman's body. There are long sex scenes where Junga is involved in (a) a threesome, (b) a foursome, and (c) a sadist-masochistic scene, with other bad demons and warlocks. Hm, didn't the author start out in on-line erotica? This may explain the graphic, repeated and pointless sex scenes between the villians. The ending is very open-ended. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was that there was absolutely nothing humorous or mischievous about the characters. It was all straightforward how-do-we-kill-the-demons and bonk-me-now. The characters were all one-dimensional, and I wasn't really interested in any of them.

I note that there are some very polished and glowing reviews on amazon.com. So polished and positive... I can only assume that those reviewers aren't acquainted with the more interesting paranormal novels out there.

On the good side, the story is imaginative, there are various animals kept as familiars, there is lots of fighting and death and the cover is nice. I think the author needs to downplay the crude and graphic sex scenes, and work on having some interesting/humorous/memorable dialogue in her stories.

I finished "Forbidden Magic" and the book didn't live up to the glowing comments of the other authors on the front page of the book, not by a long shot, and those comments were the reason why I bought the book. No way is this book comparable to the ones by Kelley Armstrong or Kim Harrison in regards to engaging the reader in the characters and the story's universe.

The author threw in some Celtic mythology buzzwords, but I didn't get any sense that it was more than surface research. The world building was superficial and rather formulaic, the dialog was rather silly at times (a dying spouse says haltingly, "You've always been the witch of my dreams"), the primary characters are stereotypes, the secondary characters are underdeveloped, and the author seems to follow the maxim, "when in doubt, throw in a sex scene". I lost track of the number of them by the end. It didn't seem to matter what was happening or what was about to happen, every time the hero and heroine got within three feet of each other he hardened and her juices started flowing. I just started to roll my eyes by the second third of the book.

The book ended in an obvious lead-in to a sequel, but I won't be buying it because the author failed to make me really care if the heroine is ever going to find her sister, or if the demons are going to take over San Francisco.

Amazon kept recommending this based on other books I've bought (Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, and Patricia Briggs, to name a few), but after reading a number of crummy Amazon recommendations, I checked it out from the library to try. Thank god that I didn't buy it. I love this genre, but unfortunately this book is a classic example of poorly done supernatural fiction. I am loathe to write bad reviews, as each book is a very personal part of an author, and presumably a labor of love, and therefore I usually simply don't review books that I don't like. But it seems that SO many mediocre books are coming out lately, plastered with jacket blurbs from good authors, that reviews are sometimes the only way to avoid another $7 mistake.

What the previous reviewers have pointed out is true--the story starts out with an interesting premise, and the characters have potential, but then the train stops abruptly before it ever gets out of the station. The characters become (or remain) two-dimensional at best, there are gaping plot holes, inexplicable behaviors, and a pretty unsatisfactory ending which obviously sets us up for a sequel. It's basically impossible to suspend your disbelief throughout the book--you keep getting jerked back to reality thinking, "WTH? Why did he/she/they do THAT? That makes no sense" or "Why are they able to do that? Oh, I see, Yet Another Convenient Magical Power".

The sex scenes are for the most part pointless, doing nothing to further the plot and very little to titillate the reader. While I'm not a fan of Barbara Cartland-esque euphemisms for genitalia, I don't want to read repetitive scenes that sound like they were lifted from letters to Hustler, either, especially between the hero and heroine. Even LKH at her porniest writes more interesting sex, although she's gone over the top as well. The sex should drive the plot, not attempt to fill the crater-sized holes in it. When you find yourself flipping through pages to get to the end of a sex scene, you know that the book has some serious problems.

If one is looking for really well-written supernatural fiction, I highly recommend the authors that I mentioned above, and also Marjorie Liu (Tiger's Eye, Shadow Touch), Robin McKinley (Sunshine) and Rachel Caine (her Weather Warden series). Other good but not Buy In Hardcover authors--the second stringers-- are J.R. Ward (Lover Eternal and Dark Lover), C.E. Murphy (Urban Shaman), and C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp (their second book, Moon's Web, is far better than the first one, but it's a series so read both).

This book, much like the last book I read, started off with an interesting plot, somewhat interesting characters. Well interesting enough for me to turn the next page and read on. But much like a great amount of books out today, the author fails to actually make sense. I get so sick and tired of books, especially in this genre where the main focus in on sex. Like the plot is simply thrown in as a stepping stone to sex and lots of it, which is why the plots have so many holes in them.

I'm sorry, but I want more action and adventure with my romance and sex. There are very few authors that can actually pull this off. D.N. Simmons is now on the top of my list, a great author. Another one is Kelley Armstrong.

LKH used to be good, but now she's jumped on the same bandwagon as a lot of other authors and that's to fill up each book with mindless sex to substitute the action/mystery in the plot. I always said it's harder to write action than sex and this author just joined the ranks of other authors taking the "easy way out".

This is a story of romance between a grey witch and a member of the Fae. Hawk is a winged warrior of the ancient Tuatha D' Danann, descendants of the Fae who have lived in Ireland for thousands of years and now reside in Otherworld, who is able to travel out of the Otherworld with magical help from the Elves. Since he has lost his wife he has not been able to love another. But, he is immediately drawn to Silver.

Silver Ashcroft is a white witch who has practiced grey magic on several occasions. She works with the Paranormal Special Forces to bring down those who are practicing black magic. When otherworldly creatures, the Formorii, descend on San Francisco, it is up to Silver Ashcroft to stop them from taking over the city.

The Formorii attack Silver's coven, the D'Anu, taking most of them prisoner. These ancient beings escaped from their Underworld prison with the help of a Balorite high priest named Darkwolf. Darkwolf is the keeper of Balor's Eye, a powerful talisman belonging to the ancient leader of the Formorii who was killed by the Dananns. He needs Silver to bring more of the demons back from Underworld and tries to lure Silver to dark magic.
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The Formorii are creatures that remind me of the Goblins in the Merry Gentry Books by Linda K. Hamilton. But, McCray does not possess the storytelling that Hamilton does. This book did not lure me in, in fact I found myself skimming many parts in hopes that the ending would get better. I stuck with the book and found it ok in the end. But, don't let this be your first book into this genre. I would recommend any of the Merry Gentry books by Linda K. Hamilton, or any of the Rachel series by Kim Harrison much faster.

First of all, if you've never studied witchcraft, practiced it or even read anything remotely about Ireland and their mythology, you're going to need a dictionary to understand what in Goddess's name Cheyanne is talking about.
Silver Ashcroft is a D'Anu witch who's part of the Paranormal Special Forces. She's blonde, petite and handy with blades, not to mention she has a snake for a familiar. Sound's like a cool girl, huh? The author started on the right track. But a word of warning. Silver has serious issues with her powers. Granted, I know the author has labeled Silver's character as a grey witch, but Cheyenne beats you over the head with it. A word to the wise, Cheyanne should have done a little more research before writing this book, like actually speak to a grey witch about the issues of dealing with black and white magic. But other than that, I liked Silver's character.
The hero is Hawk, a Twatha D'Danann warrior, who looks very much like a fallen angel. Dark good looks, a rebel attitude and black wings. The black wings is what got me. I liked it. Not to also mention he's got telepathic powers. But he's really not so much a bad boy as he is head strong. I liked his character and I think him having a daughter gave his character the balance that it needed. However, his character suffers from the loss of his wife. So whenever he's faced with the fact the he's attracted to Silver, he feels guilty, although the evidence in his pocket says differently.
What brings these two together is a bad guy warlock named Darkwolf who's the leader of the Balorite Clan. The Balorites are kidnapping witches and children to sacrifice them to Balor, the one-eyed god of Death, to bring over the Fomorii.
To give you the 411, Balor led the Fomorii, who were dark sea gods that were banished to the Underworld after being defeated in battle to take Ireland against the sun god, Lugh.
Anyway, after Balor was defeated, the D'Danann then defeated the Fomorii. When the Fomorii were stripped of their god status, they were turned into demons.
(Before I go, I just want to make it clear that there is no such thing as a warlock. A male witch, yes. But warlock is a term stemmed from the Scottish term 'warloga', which means 'heathen' or 'earth-dweller'. Which I think Websters needs to change their meaning for the word heathen, because it means someone unenlightened, irreligious, but another meaning is given that I find appropriate. Pagan.)
Anyway, to close my review I just want to say that this book in no way comes close to being anything like Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan books or Charmed like the book suggests. Kim Harrison's Rachel Hunter is a far more in depth character, but she's strong enough to deal with her issues, especially power wise, unlike Silver. The cover is intriguing and it's what drew me to the book, and the little write out on the back. But this book has a high XXX factor in the mix, lot's of spice. Keep a glass of water handy, or maybe even a cigarette. But you know, after reading Laurell K Hamilton's, Virginia Henley and etc., for so long, I'm kind of burnt out on writers who want to fill their books with nothing but raunchy sex and not stick with the story. Oh, well. I guess it's what I get for picking an author I'm not familiar with.
Honestly though, if raunchy sex and witchcraft is your thing, this is the book for you. But a word of warning, if you're hoping for something like Kim Harrison's books, you're looking in the wrong place. Happy reading.

I disliked this book. I bought it while waiting for the next L.K. Hamilton book to come out, but I had to force myself to finish reading it. There were huge holes in the plot, and there really wasn't a satisfying ending. The "love" scenes were crass and vulgar. I regretted buying the book, but I couldn't see wasting the money on it without reading the whole thing to see if it got any better. It did not.

Several reviewers talk about "something missing" or "can't put finger on" what's wrong with this book. The pieces are all there- great story idea, etc. But it's missing the "magic" can't-put-down quality that I find in a Charlaine Harris or Kim Harrison or early Laurrell K. Hamilton. Those writers just exude the tone and backstory in their work, as they've truly immersed themselves in other great works and research and it shows. So much of "Forbidden Magic" is repetitive, i.e. "Silver uses her witchcraft". It's really sort of a standard romance novel with some "paranormal" thrown in. Which is a shame. I'm left scratching my head about all the great national reviews from writers I can't get enough of.

If you're craving the next Mary Janice Dickinson et.al, and can't wait and are contemplating reading this...understand it's kind of a Grade C book and either buy it used or, better yet, check it out from the library.

I really wanted to like it but I found myself skipping the silly, almost identical sex scenes which came along about every 20 or so pages.

I am truly mystified by the good reviews this book has received. As soon as I finished it (I am of the I-paid-for-this-book-and-I-WILL-finish-it school of readers), I pitched it across the room in disgust. The characters were one dimensional and unengaging (I truly didn't care, at the end of the book, whether the hero and heroine remained together), the schools of magic, though well thought out, actually managed to be boring and the "erotic scenes", though trying to be cutting edge and titillating (i.e., lots of "naughty" words and the inclusion of a demon "warrioress" in human form with a penchant for poorly written D/s) seemed formulaic. If you must read this book, buy it used or borrow it from a friend or library. Better yet, I'll give you my copy. I certainly won't be selling it at the used book shop or on half.com as I do most of my books; given the quality, I couldn't live with my conscience if I made someone else PAY to read it.

I was truly looking forward to this book. The cover (ala Kim Harrison) and the description, urban fantasy and romance within a framework of Irish mythology, were intriguing.

What a disappointment. My daughters and I all read this book and the best description we could come up with is repetative. The plot only moves forward because the main characters have lapses of judgement and I tired of the constant references to the bulging musculature of the hero; I won't even get into the muffins and cookies. There are more adjectives available and more interesting things to describe. More plotting and less repetative description would have made this easier to read.

I give this 2 stars only because I read most of it and it certainly sounded good.