Friday, August 19, 2011

Review: _Hexed_

Urban fantasy is a popular subgenre of fantasy with magic and mythical creatures existing in our world. Many of these books are gritty, have strong female and male characters and some with romance elements. Hexed is an urban fantasy book with four novellas featuring side stories to some popular series by four entertaining authors. The themes of the stories revolve around hexes and curses.

The first story is “Magic Dreams” by Ilona andrews set in the Atlanta, Georgia of her “Kate Daniels” series. This story tells the adventure of shapeshifter Dali Harimau who is very intelligent but is small statured and possesses poor vision She comes home to find Jim the shapeshifter security chief sleeping in her bedroom. He is suffering from a psychic magical attack from a dangerous, mysterious force. Dali must find out who is responsible for the attack and save him in this interesting story. Ms. Andrews adds an entertaining side story to her series.

Next, Yasmine Galenorn provides a journey to another world with “Ice Shards.” Iris was a house sprite destined to serve her goddess until she supposedly killed her lover. She was cursed and cast out from the temple. Six hundred years later, she returns to discover the truth by getting her memory back and destroying the monster her ex-boyfriend has become. Iris travels with three companions to the magical Northlands so she can clear her conscience and win back a chance to marry her new boyfriend. Ms. Galenorn gives readers a memorable story with vivid images and likable characters.

Magellan, Arizona is surrounded by magical vortexes that are doorways to dangerous worlds. Janet Begay owns the hotel near the crossroads. She has powerful magic and a dragon boyfriend. Janet and several of her magical friends become trapped in the hotel in the story “Double Hexed” by Allyson James. A spell curse imprisons the characters within the hotel and becomes double in power when they try to escape. Janet and company try to solve the mystery before it is too late. Ms. James delivers a suspenseful, gritty story that readers will enjoy.

The book finishes with the story “Blood Debt” by Jeanne C. Stein. Anna Strong is a modern day bounty hunter and vampire living in San Diego. One of her witch friends calls her for help. The witch asks Anna to save her brother. Beings from an astral plane want to trade the brother, Stephen, for her life because she violated their laws of sanctuary. Anna ends up in a struggle to save Stephen with a creature named Samual. Ms. Steine gives readers an interesting story of other world struggles and some romance.

Hexed contains four novellas that are entertaining, suspenseful urban fantasies. Written by four of today’s popular urban fantasy authors, the book’s themes of hexes and curses provide four action stories with touches of romance set in well-liked series. This is a gripping book that readers can enjoy.

No comments: