Customer Reviews

Magic In the Blood (Allie Beckstrom)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This new urban fantasy series from Devon Monk is good in a lot of ways. The heroine, Allie Beckstrom, comes from an incredibly rich (in money and magic) family. Unfortunately, Allie's father is a major control freak with delusions of magical world conquest. Allie strikes out on her own and picks a career as a Hound. Hounds do detective, Private Eye, work by using their magical powers to sense, taste and track spells on criminals and "people of interest". The problem is using magic in this new world Allie lives in creates physical illness, pain and memory loss for the user. A "disbursement" spell can be used before casting magic, so that the magic user can pick their "own poison" so to speak - in other words, they can decide if using magic will cause them a migraine later, a case of the flu, body aches, etc. Without the disbursement spell, things can get quite rough.

In Allie's life, there are entirely too many people interested in her and following her - and not just because of the family money. Allie is just now finding out that she is incredibly powerful (in fact, she still hasn't got it, just the reader and everyone around her), and there are various factions wanting to either use her or contain her.

Allie's love interest is Zayvion Jones. He started out watching her, but in this book has gotten to the point of loving and pursuing her. The problems between the two are many - but a huge lack of trust and memory loss on Allie's part has certainly compounded the problem.

I have enjoyed both books, but Magic in the Blood will be my last of this series. While the writing is excellent, the mysteries cool, Zayvion is beyond awesome and Allie's buddies are great, there is one glaring, overwhelming problem. I hate the memory loss that goes on with Allie everytime she uses big magic. Hours later, she literally has not a clue what happened in the most pivotal moments of her life. She carries a notebook to write down daily events - when she remembers. She comes to terms and grips with Zayvion and other people in her life over and over. She is in constant danger, but is blindly wandering around trying to figure out who to trust, what to do, what was said and who to watch out for. Quite frankly, the memory loss has become a huge detraction to the series and one I can't continue to deal with. I was annoyed with it in the first book, but thought there might be some kind of resolution for it in Magic in the Blood. Not so. If anything, certain critical things have happened to actually carry the annoyance into dislike.

Perhaps other readers will have more patience with this "fatal flaw", but I'm done.

If I could, I would've given this book 3 1/2 stars. I like and care about what happens to Allie and really enjoy the world Monk has created. I am looking forward to reading the next book. However, the book did have some major flaws.

Like some of the other reviewers, I'm tired of the memory loss angle. The fact that Allie can't seem to remember pretty much the whole first book makes me wonder why I even bother reading it. Also, Monk left some dangling threads from the previous story that was never picked up in the 2nd book.

I got a bit tired of all the angst. I am ready for Allie to do some major butt kicking and hope that she develops some trust, esp with mysterious Zayvion. I say let the angst go and the trust, love and lust begin. I also got impatient with the way Monk portrayed Portland. As someone who previously lived in Eugene, OR and who was a frequent visitor of Portland, I felt that Portland got the shaft. Sure it rains alot in Oregon but it's also green, lush, beautiful, especially in the summer time. In the next book, I hope to see growth in Allie and to have the story takes strides forward otherwise, Allie and I might just have to break up.

After the last installment of this series, Allie is experiencing massive memory loss due to the amount of magic she used at the end of the last book. She no longer remembers dating Zayvion, along with a lot of other things. A division of the police department asks for Allie's help in tracking missing teenage girls. Around the same time, a crime lord that Allie helped put away is threatening her.

Let me start by saying a lot of people really like this series, however I do not seem to be one of them. This book wasn't great. There were a lot of times where I felt like people were not talking to Allie when they should. I am getting tired of the secrecy. I have to say that I was not overly impressed with this installment and will probably be skipping any future books.

I am tired of the characters, for some reason I haven't connected to Allie or to Zayvion. There are some interesting plot developments (like the magic enforcement division and Stotts, as well as learning more about the Authority and meeting some of them. Also, I am tired of her father. Basically for some reason this book didn't reach out and grab me and so I will not be reading any more of them. All in all, I would recommend skipping this book and this series, although this book does have more going for it than the last one. Also, even though I didn't enjoy this book, a lot of others did - so they must have seen something I did not. Whatever you read, enjoy!

Plot Summary: While on her last job Allie's brain was fried, and she lost about three weeks worth of memories due to the magic backlash. It's really a shame, considering that she's forgotten all about the man she used to love, Zayvion Jones. So, our professional Hound puts her nose to the ground and takes a job tracking missing girls for the police. Unfortunately for Allie, there's a long line of people who want to use her or kill her, and she can't remember enough to know who to trust.

This installment in the Allie Beckstrom series was both frustrating and pleasing. Let's say the nice stuff first. I am still enamored with this magic-drenched world, and the Portland, Oregon setting is always gloomy and wet in my mind (although the residents of that fair city may object - let's just call it literary license). This series features one of the best urban fantasy constructs I've ever come across, and I love the idea that using magic always extracts a toll. Too many authors give their leads all the powers with none of the pain, and it feels realistic when the scales are balanced between good and bad.

I also thought that Allie's character was more developed, and she's firmly rooted in my mind as a tough, terrified, stubborn like a mule, woman. She's not much in a fight though, and Devon Monk might want to get her girl some tai-chi classes or something. It seems nuts to me that Allie relies on magic so often, when it obviously hurts her so badly afterwards. She needs to take down foes with a few kicks to the head every now and then.

Okay, so I've come to the part where I got frustrated. I'm not sure I want to follow a character who can't remember a darn thing. Since she's forgotten all about her relationship with Zayvion, they're essentially starting over at square one in this book. That sounded good to me at first, but as I kept reading and reading, they never had any time together. Hmmm, it looks like their reunion is going to be drawn out over several books, and I've lost patience.

There are also a few parts where Allie or Zayvion are unforgivably stupid, and while I understand the need to drive the plot forward through a few missteps by the H/h, there's also a difference between an error in judgement and being dumber than a rock. Some of Allie's decisions had me questioning whether she was truly brave, or just clueless like Forrest Gump.

The third book in the Allie Beckstrom series, "Magic in the Shadows" will be released on November 3, 2009.

So when I got this book, I had a moment of deja vu confusion in which I thought I might have read it before and it was so forgettable that I accidentally got it again. But, no, this was the sequel, though you'd never know from reading it. Allie wanders around minding her own business, but everyone and their French grandmother bother her anyway. She Hounds a case in which the Villain of the Week forges the glyph signature of somebody close to her. She blindly indulges her infatuation for Zayvion Jones at inappropriate moments and, of course, forgets to write critical events down so she could remind herself later. The climax involves an awesome magical battle in which Allie forgets the most important aspects of everything that just happened. Then she goes home to her hovel to convalesce with some very strange changes in her body that'll be a great plot fulcrum for the next book, when she has to do it all over again. Sound familiar?

I almost feel sorry for anyone who paid money for this, when they could have just read the first book over again for the same, somewhat better, story. At least in the first novel, Allie actually plays an active role (though I recall feeling a tad disgruntled by her then, too) instead of allowing herself to be tossed about like a volleyball by all the people who want to either help or hurt her. The girl is seriously ineffectual; she can't fight, she doesn't know how to handle her magic, she's not that quick on the take, and she doesn't know how to use her alliances to her advantage. I'm trying to remember one thing she did that wasn't controlled by the power and/or wisdom of someone else and I'm coming up blank. Clearly, being the sole perspective character does not a heroine make.

Finally, no less than five times did I correctly predict an upcoming plot twist - likely because I've pretty much read this before.

I wanted to stick with this story for several reasons, including: A) the give-and-take magical system is very original, interesting, and well-described, and Allie's corresponding tattoos are awesome, B) the whole concept of the Hounds and their enhanced senses, addictive tendencies, and general dysfunction is fascinating, C) Zayvion Jones is cool, smart and talented, not to mention he's a non-white love interest, which is uncommon in this genre (though less and less so), D) Allie's complicated family situation and a devoted, eclectic circle of friends, which adds a personal note to the general supernatural hijinks of the story.

But after this sequel, I'm going to have to take a pass on the rest of the series. Maybe I could have stomached the regurgitation of the previous book's plot points, but Allie's uselessness was the last straw.

Then again, there's always a chance I'll forget how annoying it was, just like Allie, and repeat the same mistakes all over again.

This was another fantastic installment. The book picks up a few weeks where Magic to the Bone leaves off. Allie is still recovering from the physical and psychological trauma she experienced. Thanks to Allie's father being an overprotective tyrant, Allie is extremely unprepared for the new life his death has thrust her into. It seems that the secrets he fought so hard to conceal from her are violently coming to light. Allie hasn't taken a hounding job in a while and decides to accept an offer to work with the police. The job seemed pretty basic, trace magic that was used to abduct girls back to its caster. Too bad the cop she's working with is cursed and anyone who works with him seems to bear the brunt of the misfortune. Allie involuntarily gets thrown into the underbelly of blood magic, violence and magically gluttonous ghost. I don't think Allie could be more unfortunate. She's in love w/ her ex-stalker Zayvion but doesn't remember loving him, but knows this by secondhand accounts and the chemistry between them. Every time she uses her magic she gets attacked in one of the most spookiest of ways (sorry no spoilers). Zay is no longer stalking her but lots of other people are....including her dead father. Good news, Allie's life is no longer as heartbreakingly empty and lonely as it was. Even though hounders are notorious loners by nature, most hounders (including Allie) are now coming out of the woodwork and networking with one another. Zay has taken his rightful place in her heart and she now has her stepmom as family. I love Zay and Allie together. They seem to make the perfect couple. They are both too willfully stubborn and mysterious for their relationship to ever fizzle. I highly recommend this book and the entire series. I also look forward to Magic in the Shadows due out 11/3/09.


I also recommend:
Spiral Hunt (Evie Scelan)
Ravenous: The Dark Forgotten
Sins & Shadows
Spell Games
The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, Book 1)

Magic with a twist. Devon Monk's second 'Allie Beckstrom' book, "Magic In the Blood" is just as good as the first. This world is filled with magic available for those who can use it...provided they're willing to pay the price. That price is pain. Small magics? Maybe a headache, fever, or a light rash and a few old memories. Big magic? Bad flu and broken bones and gaps in the memory. Blood magic? Death.

Allie's mostly recovered from the coma caused by her use of alot of magic to save a guy she supposedly fell in love with that she can't remember now. Sound confusing? Well, that's Allie's life all right. With bills to pay (sure she COULD use her Dad's money, NOT) she's out looking for a few 'hounding' jobs--tracing the source of illegal spells or magic use. So a job for the police department could be just the thing...if it didn't involve a cop with a 'curse', an old enemy out for Allie's blood (literally), and the ghost of her dead father.

How can I tell you how good this series is? Devin Monk's imagination has come up with a realm that's distinct and unusual. I only needed a few pages to find myself right back in Allie's world, with all its logic and mystery. The plot jumps into action and then accelerates through to the ending without a pitstop. My heart was racing (along with Allie's, I'm sure) as she tracks from spell to ward, trying to locate some missing children before they turn up dead.

This isn't romance per se. Instead it's Allie's life with all its mysterious twists and memory holes. There IS romance, but the series isn't built on the romance, it's built on the mystery of a woman's life as it spirals out of control and her efforts to snatch pieces of reality. As far as I'm concerned, Devon Monk can't write fast enough and I'm already anxious for the November 2009 release of "Magic in the Shadows" to see where Allie's headed next.

I complain sometimes about urban fantasy heroines who keep racking up more and more improbable powers over the course of a series, eventually becoming such spectacular demigoddesses that it would take a small army to give them so much as a black eye.

That's one problem Allie Beckstrom doesn't have. I'm beginning to think Allie needs *more* powers to deal with everything Devon Monk is throwing at her. Monk is great -- maybe a little *too* great -- at describing the agony of trekking all over Portland in the rain with a blinding migraine, and by the time I'd followed Allie through this ordeal a couple of times, I found myself wishing she'd start trusting Zayvion again just so he could Ground her.

_Magic in the Blood_ begins as Allie is recovering from the events that took place in _Magic to the Bone_. The reader remembers everything that happened, but as a result of a magical backlash, Allie doesn't. Specifically, she doesn't remember much about her relationship with Zayvion. The fragile trust that had just been developing between Allie and Zayvion is in a shambles now, and she's back at square one, trying to figure out whether to let him back into her life. She also doesn't remember meeting her stepmother, Violet.

(An aside: I'm beginning to think Violet is my favorite character in this series. I'd love to see more of her. If Devon Monk were to write a spin-off book telling Violet's story, I'd be in bookworm heaven. I'd love to get inside her head.)

Further complicating Allie's life, she is being threatened by a crime boss just released from prison, haunted by the ghost of her dead father, and stalked by a horde of terrifying beings who are drawn to the magic she carries in her body. Every time Allie uses magic, she attracts these creatures, and has to use more magic to fight them off. As a result, she spends most of _Magic in the Blood_ suffering from one magic-induced ailment after another.

The principal villain of _Magic in the Blood_ is truly creepy. This character has mastered a horrific magical art, and to make things worse, it's such an obscure skill that everyone thinks Allie is hallucinating when she describes what's going on. I did figure out pretty quickly that this character was bad news, but I wasn't able to put all the pieces together until Allie did.

_Magic in the Blood_ didn't grab me quite as insistently as _Magic to the Bone_ did. When I try to put my finger on why, I think maybe it's just that it feels like _Blood_ is treading some of the same ground again, both in terms of the romantic subplot and in terms of the sequences in which Allie travels around the city while feeling ill. I think this "retread" feeling was probably inevitable, though, given Allie's amnesia and the way magic works in Monk's world.

I look forward to seeing what happens in the next ALLIE BECKSTROM novel. Allie's growing alliances with other Hounds promise to be interesting (as long as she writes them down and makes sure to remember them!), and I always enjoy an urban fantasy heroine who develops more friendships as her story progresses rather than becoming more standoffish. And the cliffhanger ending! I can't wait to find out where this is going.

Allie Beckstrom, bad-a** Hound in Portland, Oregon, is back! She might not remember her last adventure but she's definitely living with the consequences. Something in her remembers Zayvion Jones but can she trust the thought that they were more than just friends? He's a hard man to read but Allie might have to trust him and his advice about some powerful people who police the use of magic. People her father was involved with.

But there isn't time to dwell on her missing memories because the police's magic enforcement division needs her expertise on a mysterious kidnapping case. As the case leads her into the dangerous realm of blood magic, Allie may have to question the motivations of one of the only Hounds she might call a friend.

I know, I know! My synopsis is a little lacking. I really didn't want to give too much away. This second installment in the exciting new Allie Beckstrom series is just as carefully woven as the first. You'll just really have to read the plot description provided on the back of the book (or if you're shopping online in the product info) and maybe look at some other reviews who have shared other points. I was scared I might spoil something if I said anymore.

So how was the book? A bit slower paced and not as action driven as Magic to the Bone. Because Allie is just getting back on her feet after the body breaking and memory wiping adventure of the first book it's understandable she might just be trying to get her life back in order. With her father dead she has a lot to deal with on that front. The wife he left behind, legal matters and maybe even his ghost! The ghost angle is definitely what drives this story this time around and adds a really interesting element to the magic system Monk has built for this series.

Throughout Magic in the Blood, Monk introduces us to more of the magic using community. From the corruption of blood magic users to a group of Hounds working together to protect their own, the lines between good guys and bad continues to be blurred, twisted and remolded. I especially wanted to read more about the other Hounds and how they dealt with the negative side affects of being magic users. Alcoholics, pill poppers, coke heads and cutters being presented in this different world and situation may bother some readers who might take it as glamorizing addiction but I felt it made a really good point about paying the price and suffering the consequences for having magical power.

Frustrating but adding to the romantic tension of the relationship is the interaction between Zayvion and Allie now that she can't remember them being together. This relationship has thus far been a mysterious one and fans of interracial romance who also like urban fantasy should really be reading this series! I have to say that thus far Zay has become a personal favorite 'hero'.

All in all Magic in the Blood was a great, if a little slower paced, follow-up to Magic to the Bone. I think if you enjoyed the first you'll really like the second... especially the 'oh-no-she-didn't' cliff-hanger ending Monk left us with. It's gonna be a tough wait for the third installment!

Magic in the Blood is fast-paced and original (for an urban fantasy novel). The idea of magic and lost memories makes for a very interesting book. These books become more and more intriguing as Monk adds depth and detail to this fictional world.

I liked the main character a lot more in this book than in the first one. She seemed stronger, more impressive, and less selfish.