Monday, December 19, 2011

Early Review: Shadow City by Diana Pharaoh Francis

Shadow City
Author:Diana Pharaoh Francis
Release Date: December 27, 2011
Publisher: Pocket
Horngate Witches Book #3
ISBN:  1451613857
ISBN13: 9781451613858
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Publisher


The world is falling apart. The magical apocalypse has come. Now is the time to guard the covenstead against both raiders and refugees. But Max has been stolen by a powerful demi-god who is determined to force her to find a way to use a magical power she never knew she had—even if it kills her. Meanwhile, back in Horngate, a Fury is birthing. When the creature breaks free of the fragile bonds that enclose her, her rage will scour the covenstead from the earth.
Max finds herself in the Shadow City, a place of mysteries and magic, where she must battle for her freedom or become a slave to creatures of dreadful greed and power. Back in Horngate, Alexander must swallow his anger and pride if he hopes to defeat the Fury, a creature that no one has ever successfully fought before.
In the end, it will be courage, friendship, faith and loyalty that win the day. Or else so one will live to see tomorrow.

I honestly had no clue what to think of the situation at the end of CRIMSON WIND. I didn't think Scooter was out to get Max hurt or do anything bad with her but I never expected he was looking for her help in saving his life either. I was very frustrated that Max and Alexander hadn't hooked up, the sexual tension was seriously at an all time high, and I couldn't imagine how book 3 was going to play out with her being gone from Horngate. I really thought that some of my favorite characters might not be in SHADOW CITY.  What I ended up getting in CRIMSON WIND was worth the frustration of my ever turning thoughts. It brought the same amount of action that I loved from the previous books. The romance was HOT, finally went somewhere instead of around in frustrating circles. Unfortunately we do lose some more characters =( I hate when that happens. We gain a few new friends and Diana brought us a whole new world to explore. 

Alexander and the rest of the crew left at Horngate are on their own for a good portion of the book while Max is off with Scooter. The POV switches back and forth to keep us up to date on what is going on in each situation. It was kinda nice seeing Alexander take control of a dire situation without Max there. We got to see another side of Alexander as the "Alpha" and I think them together will continue to make a great team on more of a balanced field in the future. Surprisingly the witch we love to hate ends up making some changes to herself and her beliefs and we see a whole new side to her as well. I liked Scooter before now but I really enjoyed getting to know his past and learning about his world and the people in it. The world was creative and really complemented the situation that Max was put in. I also liked seeing Max work with someone else (don't worry just as friends). In the previous two books she started fitting herself in a little more instead of trying to be a loner and it really helped her with the situation she is in in SHADOW CITY. The whole Horngate team with their new allies finish off the book with some great action. I'm excited to see where Diana takes Max and the gang next. We got some great leads at the end of the book pointing us towards what might come. The Horngate Witches series is a favorite on my book shelf.

I gave it 4/5 stars

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