Poison Sleep (Marla Mason, Book 2) [Mass Market Paperback]

T.A. Pratt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2008

The bad girl of the magical underworld is back and badder than ever

Someone wants Marla Mason dead. Usually that’s not news. As chief sorcerer of Felport, someone always wants her dead. But this time she’s the target of a renegade assassin who specializes in killing his victims over days, months, or even years. Not to mention a mysterious knife-wielding killer in black who pops up in the most unexpected places. To make matters worse, an inmate has broken out of the Blackwing Institute for criminally insane sorcerers—a troubled psychic who can literally reweave the fabric of reality to match her own traumatic past.

With her wisecracking partner Rondeau reluctantly in tow, Marla teams up with a “love-talker” whose dangerous erotic spells not even she can resist. Together they’re searching the rapidly transforming streets of Felport for a woman who’s become the Typhoid Mary of nightmares, infecting everything—and everyone—she touches with a chaos worse than death itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Marla Mason, guardian mage of the east coast city of Felport, returns in her second major magical challenge (after Blood Engines): catching a psycho, and psychic, dream "reweaver" before the psycho turns into an endless nightmare. Genevieve Kelley, a former apprentice sorcerer, vanishes from the Blackwing Institute for Criminally Insane Sorcerers after laying catatonic for 15 years, having put herself into a protective deep sleep after being raped. With the ability to "reweave" physical reality, the terrified psychic is trying to escape Reave, king of nightmares, the avatar of her rapist. Marla, drawn in and out of Genevieve's dream reality, hires Ted, a former street bum turned skeptical personal assistant, and Joshua, a delectable "lovetalker," to help her put a lid on Genevieve as an important sorcerer assembly approaches. A rival sorcerer, Gregor, also seeks to eliminate the marvelous Marla by hiring Zealand, a "slow assassin." Pratt keeps the action lively in this wonderfully whimsical urban fantasy as the adventure of Genevieve takes some wonderfully imaginative twists and turns. (Apr.)
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Review

“A wonderfully whimsical urban fantasy.”—Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Spectra; Reprint edition (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553589997
• ISBN-13: 978-0553589993
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.9 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #449,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

T.A. Pratt is the author of the Marla Mason series of urban fantasy novels.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marla is back and strong as ever., April 2, 2008

By 

C. A. Hyams - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poison Sleep (Marla Mason, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

A girl who can change reality into her dreams, a nightmare come to life that seems to be invincible, assassins following at every step, a sorcerer who is avoiding coming out of his lair, not to mention the city full of innocents who have no idea what or who lurks in the shadows...

This is the second Marla Mason novel and the first that is set in her beloved city Felport. Marla is a straight shooter with a clear head for leadership and instinct. She is also Felport's Head Sorcerer and now once again has to save the city from some interesting characters before it is too late and everyone gets stuck in their worst nightmare.

Pratt is incredibly inventive in her plot and characters. Sorcerers are specialized, new beings emerge and new tricks are introduced all through out her novels. Her heroines and heros have an edge that gives a depth that can be lacking in the genre. Poison Sleep is a great read and I look forward to the next book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Magical Power Struggle, August 11, 2009

By 

Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poison Sleep (Marla Mason, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I found this better than the first book because it was less about trying to shock the reader, and more about telling a good story. Pratt still finds times to reference obscure porn, but it's more like an interesting footnote than a major chapter arc.

The book is set inside the city of Felport, though which state Felport is located in is unknown. Marla wasn't the deus-ex force of nature that she was in book one, and really glad that vibe was toned down. In this book she has a bit of romance, which I found rather silly, but it wasn't emphasized and so was bearable.

The plot revolves an insane sorceress who can reweave reality, and who is having a mental breakdown after being woken from her fifteen year long coma in an insane asylum. On the side we have some assassins, personal assistants, divination, and chaos magic. I really like how creative the author is in terms magic specializations, and unlike the first novel, the interesting mages aren't immediately killed off after they get introduced.

Overall what really put this into the 'I like it' territory were the quirky, unique ways of doing magic described inside this novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No sophmore slump here. This is as good or better than her first., July 3, 2008

By 

Lisa M. Mims (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poison Sleep (Marla Mason, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Wow. Wow. Wow. It's so nice to find an author that you can't put down. This book is as good or better than her first. For those of you who haven't read the first, the pacing in this book is very well done. Also, if you're interested in the medical/legal issues that surround mental illness, this book will give you a lot to think about, in the context of an action-filled, surreal fantasy. Pretty neat.