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jaceyFun, fast-paced and sexy, this is the sixth and possibly final outing for Raine Benares, elf and magical finder who found one thing too many and ended up getting magically hitched to a soul-sucking stone of immense power, called the Saghred. Books one to five have involved variations on Raine trying to divorce the stone without dying in the process, alternately trying to lose it, trying to keep it and trying to reclaim it (all while trying to keep herself, her family and her friends alive) while some of the supposed good guys make life difficult and before evil goblin mage Sarad Nukpana finds a way to use the Saghred to make himself goblin king and an immortal, invincible, evil semi-god. Oh, yes, and while she's at it she's about to take part in a goblin political coup to exchange an evil king for a slightly less evil one.
At the end of the last book Nukpana had succeeded in getting the stone, but while Raine is alive and still connected to it magically he can't use it. He needs Raine dead. Nothing new there, then. Except that since losing the stone Raine's magic has taken a holiday - not just the mega-magic that came from the stone - but all the magic she ever had.
Raine; her lover Mychael, captain of the Conclave Guardians on the magical Isle of Mid; her friend, Goblin dark mage Tam; Tam's son, Talon; Imala, head of the Goblin SS. and Raine's little-brother-figure, Piaras, are thrown in at the deep end risking everything to retrieve the Saghred from Sarak Nukpana in the Goblin capital and put Prince Chigaru on the throne. To make life more complicated than it already is they're accompanied by Carnades Sylvanus, talented Mirror Mage, but currently on probation for betraying the good guys in the last book.
Because this takes place in the goblin kingdom we shed some of the usual supporting characters – Raine's nefarious pirate relatives and her recently restored father, for instance – and have a much tighter focus on Mychael and Tam, the two (once competing) men in Raine's life.
The plot leaps and lurches from one near-death experience to the next, always keeping the reader breathless. Raine is well drawn and since everything is in her first person viewpoint we get a very up-close-and-personal view of events.
Unlike the other six books which always have an obvious hook into the next adventure there's a definite and satisfying conclusion. This could be the last of Raine Benares adventures, but there are enough promises of future storylines that if the author so chooses she can continue. I've looked on her website but there's no indication of what she's currently writing. I guess I'll just have to wait, but from my experiences with Lisa Shearin's books so far the next one will be a 'buy-on-sight'.
Just one disappointment and that is that this book was not immediately available on kindle.
At the end of the last book Nukpana had succeeded in getting the stone, but while Raine is alive and still connected to it magically he can't use it. He needs Raine dead. Nothing new there, then. Except that since losing the stone Raine's magic has taken a holiday - not just the mega-magic that came from the stone - but all the magic she ever had.
Raine; her lover Mychael, captain of the Conclave Guardians on the magical Isle of Mid; her friend, Goblin dark mage Tam; Tam's son, Talon; Imala, head of the Goblin SS. and Raine's little-brother-figure, Piaras, are thrown in at the deep end risking everything to retrieve the Saghred from Sarak Nukpana in the Goblin capital and put Prince Chigaru on the throne. To make life more complicated than it already is they're accompanied by Carnades Sylvanus, talented Mirror Mage, but currently on probation for betraying the good guys in the last book.
Because this takes place in the goblin kingdom we shed some of the usual supporting characters – Raine's nefarious pirate relatives and her recently restored father, for instance – and have a much tighter focus on Mychael and Tam, the two (once competing) men in Raine's life.
The plot leaps and lurches from one near-death experience to the next, always keeping the reader breathless. Raine is well drawn and since everything is in her first person viewpoint we get a very up-close-and-personal view of events.
Unlike the other six books which always have an obvious hook into the next adventure there's a definite and satisfying conclusion. This could be the last of Raine Benares adventures, but there are enough promises of future storylines that if the author so chooses she can continue. I've looked on her website but there's no indication of what she's currently writing. I guess I'll just have to wait, but from my experiences with Lisa Shearin's books so far the next one will be a 'buy-on-sight'.
Just one disappointment and that is that this book was not immediately available on kindle.
