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jaceyThe fourth Raine Benares book and Raine is still having major trouble with the Saghred, the soul-sucking stone of limitless power that she accidentally bonded with in book one. Sarad Nukpana, onetime evil dark mage and inhabitant of the Saghred's soul-prison is free again and trying not only to regain his power but to take more for himself with the ultimate intention of killing Raine and taking back the stone. Unfortunately he's incorporeal, so he sets about sucking the life force - and knowledge - out of important men and mages about town.
The fourth in the setries, this is more of the same, but Raine's enemies are not only evil soul sucking dark mages, there are goblins and mages who should be on her side who can't see further than their noses and true to form Mage Sylvanus and high ranking Elven officials seem to be batting for the bad guys without meaning to.
At last we discover something about whiter-than-white Guardian Paladin Mychael Eiliesor - who is not quite what he seems. Raine finally makes an important decision between Mychael and Tam, semi-reformed Goblin dark mage on the side of the good guys, but it's never simple and when Tam is in danger Raine is still riding to the rescue.
It may be more of the same, but hugely entertaining. Lisa Shearing doesn't let the pace drop and the stakes remain about as high as they can be. The big finish is tight and exciting, but last section is a bit anti-climactic and feels like an over-long build up for the next book, but knowing that Lisa Shearin likes to start novels with a bang, it's opening the way for a corker of a book 5.
The fourth in the setries, this is more of the same, but Raine's enemies are not only evil soul sucking dark mages, there are goblins and mages who should be on her side who can't see further than their noses and true to form Mage Sylvanus and high ranking Elven officials seem to be batting for the bad guys without meaning to.
At last we discover something about whiter-than-white Guardian Paladin Mychael Eiliesor - who is not quite what he seems. Raine finally makes an important decision between Mychael and Tam, semi-reformed Goblin dark mage on the side of the good guys, but it's never simple and when Tam is in danger Raine is still riding to the rescue.
It may be more of the same, but hugely entertaining. Lisa Shearing doesn't let the pace drop and the stakes remain about as high as they can be. The big finish is tight and exciting, but last section is a bit anti-climactic and feels like an over-long build up for the next book, but knowing that Lisa Shearin likes to start novels with a bang, it's opening the way for a corker of a book 5.
