Format: EBook, 289 pages
Release Date: July 31, 2020
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Children are disappearing.
With Purity growing in political power and bigotry on the rise across the Realms, Alex’s short-term goals are to stay under the PTF's radar and as far from the fae Courts as she can. But her plans go up in smoke when May, the younger sister of her good friend Emma, goes missing.
The fae are involved.
Alex will do everything she can to find May, but to mount a rescue she'll have to avoid PTF raids, conquer old ghosts, and risk coming face to face with her fae grandfather again.
War is coming.
Lines are being drawn. No one is safe. To survive, Alex will have to choose a side.
Casting Shadows, by L.R. Braden, is the fourth installment in the authors The Magicsmith series. Alex Blackwood has her hands full in this installment. As this is the fourth book in the series, it's become increasing hard to keep spoilers out of my review. But, I shall try anyway. As the story opens, Alex is worried. The new governor of Colorado is a racist who hates paranormals. He's using the Paranormal Task Force (PTF) to round up those suspected of being paranormal and sending them off to detention camps. This means that everyone that Alex knows is in trouble.
From James, her vampire boyfriend, to Chase and Jynx her shifter roommates, to Emma who is a practitioner, to Sophie who belongs to the werewolf pack she's had ups and downs with from the beginning of this series. On top of this comes news that Emma's sister May has gone missing and she's not the only one. It appears that the children who have gone missing are all talented. If you've read this series to this point, you know that Alex has been told that she's going to have to make a choice on which side she stands. In fact, she's been told to have an exit strategy ready to go in a minute's notice. Well, that time is now.
Since she's a halfie who can tolerate iron and tests as human, she can swing either way. Alex knows that her grandfather, Lord Bael of the Land of Enchantment, may be the one itching for another war between fae and humans since humans are openly breaking the treaty under the new governor of Colorado. If the children are the opening salvo to a new war, Alex must use all of her resources in order to save them from being used as pawns. This story really puts pressure on Alex from all angles. The PTF especially has a hard on for Alex and desperately want her to explain something that she revealed in the previous installment.
Alex is pretty much a fugitive who can't return to her own home with everything going on. She's been betrayed by her alleged friend David and Uncle Sol who meant well. But, her relationship with James is going strong and things seem to be heating up rather nicely. He doesn't try to control or push Alex into seeing things from his perspective. He allows her to make mistakes and fix what she doesn't succeed at. For the first time, she visits the realm of the Shifters and meets Lord Anika. Her relationship with her grandfather Lord Bael gets a second look when Alex, Emma, Chase, and Haru travel to fae to help the children escape. Alex also has to face a new villain as well as learning to control her ever expanding magic which comes with so many questions about her heritage.
There's two things about the ending that worry me. First, it is obvious that Alex is homeless. She can't go home. She can't go to the vampire den. She can't ask the fae on Earth for help. She really can't even stay in Fae for fear of being used to further a much larger agenda. So, what's a girl to do? I guess we shall find out in the next installment!
oh yeah. i love vampires and seeing this series has been so good to you, i'm going back to the beginning and checking it out.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental