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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Review: The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells

The Mage in Black
(Sabina Kane #2)
Jaye Wells
Release: April 1, 2010
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Sabina Kane doesn't have the best track record when it comes to family. After all, her own grandmother, the leader of the vampire race, just tried to kill her. When she arrives in New York to meet the mage side of her family, the reunion takes the fun out of dysfunctional.

On top of that, the Hekate Council wants to use her as a pawn in the brewing war against the vampires. Her mission will take her into the bowels of New York's Black Light district, entangles her in mage politics, and challenges her beliefs about the race she was raised to distrust. And Sabina thought vampires were bloodthirsty.
Review:

The Mage in Black is the second book in Wells' Sabina Kane series. This gritty and exciting series is urban fantasy to the core, complete with a heroine who can and will kick your patootie.

In the first book in this series we watched as Sabina's whole world came down around her ears and she was forced to grow and adapt. In this sequel, Sabina's growth continues and I really like her character. She's a tough bitch who would fight to her death, never one to give up. But her exterior is steadily, if not slowly, cracking in the presence of handsome mage Adam and her mage sister Maisie. Some readers are apparently on the fence about how likable Sabina is, but I actually love her toughness and appreciate how author Jaye Wells shows us small changes in Sabina without compromising her true character as the series continues.

In The Mage in Black we finally meet Sabina's long lost sister, who has grown up as a mage. I liked the different setting of New York and exploring the world of the mages. We even get to meet some werewolves! The new setting and characters make the story feel fresh and, as was the case in the first book, the plot is pretty darn fast-paced.

Adam, the sexy mage Sabina is trying like hell to fight her attraction to, is absent for a while in the middle of the book and while I missed his presence his space was filled by a new character. Don't worry, I don't smell a solid love triangle or anything, but this new character is *quite* likable. I'm looking forward to where Sabina and Adam's sort-of-relationship goes in the future. I have a feeling book three might give them some more time together.

I'm really enjoying this urban fantasy series and highly recommend UF fans give it a go!


And if you've read the first two books, join us tomorrow here on this blog for the Sabina Kane Read-A-long second discussion, co-hosted by Jennifer at TheBook Nympho and Jenese from ReadersConfession!

Recommended for fans of: dark urban fantasy, heroines that shoot first and ask questions later, mage politics, sexy vampire trysts, the Dreg City series by Kelly Meding, the Shaede Assassin series by Amanda Bonilla, and the Charlie Madigan series by Kelly Gay.


    
  4 / 5 stars

My reviews of other books in this series:
Red-Headed Stepchild (Sabina Kane #1)
Read-A-Long Discussion Book 1




2 comments:

  1. I really like this series, it's a really fun one with many twits and turns. I hope you'll like the others as much.

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  2. Started the first book of the series. Parts are written really well and other parts I found dry and boring and unnecessary. Interesting plot though.

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