26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My humble opinion, November 15, 2009
This review is from: Magic in the Shadows (Allie Beckstrom, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
I liked this book enough to decide to write my first web review about it but I have to admit I was intimidated by the length of the other reviews that are posted. Ultimately I decided to go ahead and forge ahead even tho I feel I'm a bit out of my depth. The "Magic to the..." series has become one of my favorites. I'm just your normal run-of-the-mill reader and don't really look at books critically, I look at them for the enjoyment they give me. Allie Beckstrom is a smart, intrepid main character with a distinctly vulnerable side that I find appeals to me. When I am reading Devon's books basically my life goes on hold because I don't want to do anything else except find out what's going to happen next. She has slowly developed Zayvion's character in such a way as to make him unutterably appealing as well, which makes him and Allie as a couple all the more perfect. The situations that girl gets herself into crack me up and keep me on the edge of my seat at the same time. And speaking of cracking up - the saracasm and wit woven into tne book provide just the right amount of balance to all the danger and tension. I love that there are many Portland landmarks prominent in the books, which gives it a certain credibility in the midst of the fantasy. Who knows what the future holds? Maybe magic might truly run beneath our feet someday....! I appreciate all the new characters that were introduced in this book and look forward to seeing where she's going to take all of them. Anyways, it's my humble opinion that these are great books and I would heartily recommend them to anyone as a very good read. I'm anxiously awaiting the next one!!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely Flawed Character Maybe TOO Flawed For My Enjoyment, October 28, 2010
This review is from: Magic in the Shadows (Allie Beckstrom, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
I've read both the previous books, and really love the way the author describes magic. It's utterly fascinating worldbuilding, and Devon Monk deserves every kudo for it. But this book only gets two stars from me, because it was terribly thin on plot, being mostly Allie's squicky internal struggles with the dead father who has possessed her. As in the previous two books, I can guess the whole "mystery" by the end of the first few chapters. And, most of all for me, because of the failure of the author to make a sympathetic, compelling main character.
Unfortunately, Allie Beckstrom is really starting to ruin this series for me. I don't believe I'll be continuing the series after this offering, because Allie just seems to get more annoying with every book. And since the books are written in the first-person POV, it's just impossible to get away from the increasing stupidity of this girl. There's no escape. We're stuck in her head along with her ol' dead daddy, and it is a frustrating, exasperating, and silly place to be. I like an urban fantasy heroine to have a little intelligence to go along with her (inevitably) hot body. She doesn't have to be some kind of uber-tough psychopath anti-hero, like Anita Blake has become, but an out-an-out ditz? It wouldn't annoy me so much if Allie was presented as being IQ-challenged by the author, maybe a little retarded, but the implication is that she's hot stuff on all levels, and she just doesn't demonstrate much intelligence in her actions. Also, her internal dialogue is just TOO cutesy-snarky. I know the author is trying to be funny, but it just makes Allie sound even sillier to me. Frankly, I have no idea what a hot, smart magic-user like Zayvion Jones sees in someone like her, other than her looks. I guess the whole Soul Complement thing trumps all--he's stuck with a ditzy, immature, impulsive, suicidally stubborn know-it-all who seems determined to kill herself in some spectacularly dumb way. And it's too bad, because the Soul Complement concept, and the way Devon Monk describes Allie and Zayvion's growing relationship, would have such potential for excellence and enjoyment for me...if only Allie wasn't one half of the Complement.
Since the books are first-person, it's no wonder that I can guess the solution to the mystery way before Allie. Bless her heart, she just is not very bright.
I like it when a main character is flawed--it makes for a realistic story. But in a series like this, one hopes that the character will grow over the course of the stories, and in Allie's case, one wishes she would develop a little as a supposedly adult character and grow out of her childish stubborness. Maybe all the Hounding doesn't just strip away memory, but IQ points. Allie seems incapable of learning anything, and doesn't seem to want to, anyway. I have now come to expect that every time Zayvion or some other more knowledgeable person tries to warn Allie against some course of action, she will do it anyway and endanger herself and everyone else in the vicinity because her daddy issues won't let her listen to anyone but herself.
For such a promising premise and world, it's too bad we couldn't have a better main character. Sadly, this is the end of the series for me.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wasn't convinced, but now I am., November 17, 2009
This review is from: Magic in the Shadows (Allie Beckstrom, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
I wasn't entirely convinced I would continue reading the Allie Beckstrom series after this book. I liked Book 1, but was frustrated by Book 2 (I don't want to say anything more specific because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I think those who have read through Book 2 will understand what I'm referring to).
Anyway, today I missed my bus stop because I was so sucked in to the climax of the book, I didn't even realized I was two stops passed where I needed to be. Needless to say, I will continue reading this series and am very interested to see where the author is going to take the storyline!
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