The Magick of Dark Root. April Aasheim
In August, I reviewed Book 1 in The Daughters of Dark Root series. I liked the book so much, I threatened to buy the box set of four. Well, I did. And I just finished reading Book 2: The Magick of Dark Root.
This is Maggie Mae’s book. In book 1, Maggie came home to the small Oregon town of Dark Root to join her sisters in caring for their ailing mother. Sasha Shantay, the matriarch of this witchy clan, is aging fast. Now Maggie has officially left Michael, because of his affair with Leah, and is falling for Shane Doler, a handsome cowboy/restaurateur who has a few magick powers of his own. She’s also brought home another surprise.
The quest for a strong wand—hopefully from the Lightning Willow as was her mother’s—and the management of her power are focuses for Magdalene in this book. “The willow cannot only heal people, but extend their lives, indefinitely, perhaps” says Larinda. Though she’s one of the antagonists in this series and not to be trusted, Maggie wants to believe a lightning willow wand will bring her mother back from the dead.
Necromancy is one of the themes in this book. Birth and Life meander through this story in many guises. While Maggie is carrying new life, she discovers she has the power to take life. This deathtouch is something she believes she inherited from her powerful, rebellious father, Armand.
I’ll confess. This was one of the creepiest parts of this story and I had a hard time with it. One night, Eve and Maggie go out to a local bar to make some cash hustling pool. Eve (like her biblical man-wasting counterpart) is dressed in a “tight, black, knit number that sat low in the cleavage and high on the thigh.” She’s also wearing a dash of her mankiller scent. She targets a middle-aged man who’s sitting alone and pours on her charm. Then her pool hustle begins. “Last game. Winner takes all,” Eve says, promising more than cash. All the while, Maggie is watching and managing the shots with her witchcraft. The man, who is now “drunk on alcohol, drunk on desire” starts moving in on Eve and the women get frightened. When Eve tries to leave, he objects and comes after her. Aggressively. Triggered by her own bad experiences with men, Maggie charges at the man, her power running full throttle and kills him. Shades of Thelma and Louise?
“For every spell there was an anti-spell. For every power, an opposing power. If I had the deathtouch, then someone out there had the lifetouch.“
This is not what creeps me out. It’s when they resurrect him and he rises as this giant zombiesque man-baby that they have to care for while they figure things out, that I start feeling yucky. The creepiest part for me is that Maggie suddenly becomes his mother. She treats him like an infant and tells him she loves him. It’s like some strange rehearsal for when her own baby is born. Except he’s not her baby. He’s a creepy guy that would have raped Eve if he had the chance and now he’s not even a guy.
But that’s just me. See what you think.
What will eventually happen to the resurrected Leo? Read to find out.
There are three books left in this series. Will I keep reading? You bet.
In Restless Dreams by Wren Handman
I bought the paperback edition of In Restless Dreams from Wren Handman in March 2020. We read together at an Author Reading in B.C. and she was so funny and entertaining, I had to buy her book. (Mini-spoiler: Wren read the part where Sylvia eats “the brownie” at a party—an act that shows her hero’s innocence.)
Written in casual first person, we spend the whole book in Sylvia’s head. She’s a normal teen with some extraordinary problems. Her parents are separated, so after her mother almost commits suicide, Sylvia and her thirteen-year-old brother, Eric, are sent to live with her rich attorney father in the Upper East Side, New York. Oh, to have such problems—a mansion, a father who doles out credit cards, and a hot chauffeur to shuffle you to and from prep school!
The first half of the book follows Sylvia’s challenges adjusting to the rich privileged, ofttimes, cruel kids at her new rich prep school. About half-way through the book, Sylvia eats “the brownie” and suddenly starts seeing things she shouldn’t—even given the nature of “the brownie.”
The back-half of the book chronicles her adventures as the new Phantasmer—a being who can change Fairy with her thoughts. She’s introduced to The Stranger from the Unseelie Court and the hot, blond green-eyed knight from the Seelie Court, and we are entertained with the history and complications of Fairy.
There’s a thread of Alice in Wonderland running through the text. My favorite quote: “Artists and thinkers imagine so strongly, they warp bits of the world to match their creation. Lewis Carroll dreams of Jabberwocky and somewhere a fae is born who truly hates Vorpal swords.” Sylvia’s entry into Fairy is much like Alice’s into Wonderland, and this is exactly what Handman’s done in this book—dreamed a Phantasmer and so she is born.
Judging by the lengthy set-up, I’m assuming this is a series. Hurray! There’s already a hint of a love triangle between Sylvia, The Stranger, and the Green-Eyed Knight.
Teen & Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Virtual Author Reading Today
Join us this afternoon from 3:00 – 5:00 pm Pacific time for this Virtual Launch.
I’ll be introducing one of my favourite gods during the Open Mic Event (starting around 4:15)
For more info and to register go to Event Brite or, if you prefer, just join through this Zoom link
Impossible Choices …
Cainsville by Kelley Armstrong
I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve been binge-reading Kelley Armstrong’s Cainsville series. I’m impressed. I decided to try it, as I love her Rockton series and I had the chance to meet her at Creative Ink in March. This series is exciting and devilish and very clever. It’s also the closest series I’ve read to my own Hollystone Mysteries. Elements are similar. We’re definitely in the realm of sexy urban fantasy with a twist of murder. It’s also mythic and arises from Celtic folklore. Faeries. Where I write of the Irish Sidhe (shee), Kelley writes of the Welsh Tylwyth Teg, the Cŵn Annwn, and something called the Sluagh. Same powerful and mysterious Celtic beings. Two different islands.
Right off the top, let me say that the one thing lacking is a Pronunciation Guide. It’s frustrating having to guess at the proper way to say a Gaelic word, even in your mind. Welsh is as tricksy as the fae. The author mentions that Cŵn Annwn is sounded as Coon Anoon, but as for the others, I know my inner voice is mispronouncing. In Book 5, when the Sluagh appear, I thought it could have been pronounced slow or slew with a silent gh, but no. The word is apparently spoken as sloo-ah. (I had to google it.) I’ve been pronouncing Tylwyth Teg as till-oo-ith teg. I know that w creates an oo sound. But that might be wrong too. Thus, the need for a guide.
Two of these fae factions have their own kings. For the Cŵn Annwn, it’s Arawn, King of the Underworld. He presides over spectral hounds and directs The Wild Hunt. Gwynn ap Nudd is King of the Tylwyth Teg AKA King of Faerie. These are creatures associated with the Welsh Mabinogion tales and early Arthurian legends.
The spooky town is brilliant. Cainsville. Located just outside Chicago, Illinois, it’s in seemingly sleepy small town America. Most people know the biblical story of Cain and Abel, who were the first two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the farmer, and Abel, the shepherd, both made sacrifices. God favored Abel’s and rejected Cain’s. Jealous and bitter, Cain killed his brother and was then cast out. Apparently, he made it as far as Cainsville. If you’ve read Beowulf, you’ll know that Cain is the father of all monsters, including Grendel, the beast our Anglo-Saxon superhero comes to slay. Since the Beowulf poet was Christian, those monsters involved anything pagan, including faeries. In Irish myth, the fey have been called “fallen angels”—they who fell from God’s grace along with Satan. Knowing this, opens up the series and the town to all kinds of shenanigans.
In Book 1 (Omens) we are introduced to Olivia Taylor-Jones (born as Eden Larsen.) She’s a heroic misfit like all of Kelley Armstrong’s leads. A strong woman with mystical skills because, of course, she has fey blood. Almost all the characters are fey in some way. Liv sees and interprets omens. As Liv, it’s hard to sympathize with her. She’s grown up pampered and proud in a wealthy Chicago family, studied Ivy League Victorian literature, specializing in Sherlock Holmes, and has a mansion and a mother to return to when she’s done slumming it in Cainsville. The twist is, Olivia began life as Eden Larsen. When her serial-killer parents were convicted for ritually murdering four couples, little Eden was adopted by the Taylor-Jones. In Omens, Liv’s secret is exposed and she becomes fixated on learning the truth. Are my parents really serial killers or were they framed? This thread weaves through all five books.
To uncover the truth, Liv connects with the handsome attorney who defended her parents. If he wasn’t so emotionally stunted, she’d be sleeping with him in Book 1. Like his namesake, Gabriel Walsh, is indeed Olivia’s angel. And, one can only hope, her someday lover. Walsh (which is Irish for those fellas from Wales) is an intellectual white-collar bad boy and self-made man, whose mother was an abusive drug addict.
Just to stir the pot, in Omens, Kelley throws in two other potential mates for Olivia. Young Ricky Gallagher, heir to the Satan’s Saints motorcycle gang, and James Morgan. James is a man of Olivia’s class, a politician who has her life as a senate wife all mapped out. Fortunately, she’s far too edgy for that life and knows it. She’s more interested in the blond, leathered biker.
Omens is tame. In Visions, Olivia takes a ride on Ricky’s motorcycle and … Well, it’s “grass, gas, or ass.” The sex scenes are inventive. When I met Kelley Armstrong, I thought, “Wow. She wrote those sex scenes!” Then I look at myself and wonder how many people think the same thing about me. Sex is an expectation of the Urban Fantasy genre and Kelley writes it well. Very well.
I liked the story in Book 2 (Visions) but I’ll be honest. I skimmed the descriptions of Olivia’s visions. Not because the writing was bad. It’s not. Kelley Armstrong is a fantastic writer. But the visions are so horrific and vivid—reminiscent of Stephen King—I didn’t want them in my head, especially at bedtime.
In Book 3 (Deceptions) the story deepens as the old Welsh rivalry between raven-haired Gwynn ap Nudd and the golden boy Arawn is revealed. They both love Mathilda. But who will she choose? This question forms one of the major series questions. Arawn is Ricky Gallagher, thundering the highways on his motorcycle rather than through the fields on his horse. Still he’s on the hunt. Naturally, Gabriel is Gwynn—dark, mysterious, grave. Both are willing to do anything for Mathilda, our Olivia. The author clearly explains that these characters are not reincarnations. They do not follow a fated pattern, and they have free will.
SPOILER: In the myth, Mathilda chooses Gwynn and the couple betray Arawn. But not so here. In Visions, Olivia chooses Ricky Gallagher and by Deceptions, she is officially his girlfriend, having been to the clubhouse and been somewhat accepted by Ricky’s father. Still, she has moments where she dreams of being with Gabriel. Ah, the old love triangle arises.
A second major story question revolves around Olivia’s birth parents: Todd and Pamela Larsen. Did they really ritually kill four couples, and if so, why? In Omens, Gabriel and Olivia solve one of the crimes. So that leaves six murders still unaccounted for. In Deceptions, we discover more about Todd and Pamela, possible motives, triggers, and liaisons, and a new story emerges about Eden Larsen AKA Olivia Taylor-Jones.
This series is addictive because of all the unanswered questions. Kelley Armstrong is clever with the cliffhangers and even more clever at weaving action and emotion.
The fourth book is Betrayals. This one really stopped me in my tracks. More horrific visions involving the savage murder of young fae girls. I couldn’t handle it. I wanted to read every word but I just couldn’t do it. I’m very visual and I found it too graphic. I ended up skimming most of this book because I just wanted to know who Olivia chose … Ricky or Gabriel? Because by then I’d decided who I wanted her to choose. It’s a hard choice for the reader. Ricky and Gabriel are two very different men from two very different worlds, but both are handsome knights who’d give their life for their beloved.
I read every word of Book 5 (Rituals). Kelley does an amazing job of tying everything up in this, the final book. The addition of the third fey strain—the horrid unforgiveable Sluagh, who steal souls and turn them into blood-crazed birds—really ups the stakes.
Was I satisfied with the ending? Yes. Was everything explained? Yes. This is an epic series: part horror, part romance, and all thriller. I hope it gets optioned for the screen.