Deborah Blake
Release: November 17, 2015
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Since Witches came out of the broom-closet in the early 21st century, they have worked alongside humans as police officers, healers, stock traders, and more. But they aren’t the only paranormal entities in our world…Review:
Police officer and Witch Donata Santori spends her days interrogating dead witnesses by summoning their spectral forms. Normally the job is little more than taking statements and filing reports. But when she’s called in on the case of a murdered art restorer, she finds herself suddenly in possession of a mystical portrait that both the human and paranormal communities would kill to get their hands on.
Unable to take on the forces hunting her alone, Donata seeks help from two unlikely and attractive allies: a reluctant shape-changer and a half-dragon art forger. But as the three of them hurry to uncover the truth about the powerful painting, Donata realizes that she’s caught in the middle of not one but two wars—one for possession of the painting’s secrets and one for possession of her heart…
Witch Donata Santori is a Witness Retrieval Specialist for the police department. She summons the ghosts of murder victims to find out who killed them. While that's not a completely original idea, it's also not one you see all that often in UF. What makes this world unique though, is the wonderful assortment of other supernatural characters. Veiled Magic features kobolds, dragons, shifters, and obviously witches, all done just a little bit differently than usual.
The paranormal world consists of five major races, of which witches are the only ones known to the public, along with several minor races, or sub-species. The races are governed by the Council, made up of representatives from each race, like a supernatural UN. Each group also seems to be based on a different mythology, the witches Roman and the shifters Norse, which I thought was an interesting touch.
Donata runs afoul of the Council, and her boss, when her latest murder victim asks for her help keeping a magical painting out of the hands of the Cabal, a secret society within the Catholic Church out to destroy supernaturals. She enlists the help of an art forger, who may be the only supernatural in the world who doesn't know that his father is a dragon, and her shifter ex-boyfriend, an expert fighter. The potential for a love triangle is there, but the romance isn't a big part of the story. I had a lot of fun with this action-filled adventure, though I felt like it slowed down a bit in the middle.
Veiled Magic wants to be the start of a series, and I hope that it will be. I really like the cast of characters and I'd like to see more of this world. There are still some unanswered questions at the end of the book. And Donata's position as one of the only police officers with knowledge of the supernatural has great potential.
Recommended for fans of: SPI Files and The Underworld Detection Agency
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
4 stars
Here's a comment: SMOOCHES! I'm so glad you liked the book. (And yes, there is a second one waiting in the wings, if this one does well...)
ReplyDeleteYay! Hey everybody, go buy this book so I can get another one!
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