#Review - Realms of Mist and Ash by J.S. Malcolm #Fantasy #Paranormal

Series: Fae Witch Chronicles # 2
Format: Kindle, 251 pages
Release Date: October 31, 2017
Publisher: J.S. Malcolm
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Fantasy / Paranormal

Getting into Faerie is risky enough. Getting out again may prove impossible.

Entering Faerie is enough of a risk, never mind trying to free a changeling. That’s never been done before, but that’s exactly what has to happen if I’m going to rescue my best friend. So when I run into a half-blood thief who offers to help, I can’t exactly say no. I mean, the guy seriously hates the fae. After all, one of them knocked up his mother.

Digging deeper into the labyrinthine fae city kingdom, we soon start to unravel a mystery I never could have imagined. Namely, how it came to be that just a few fae now control all of the magic in their world. We also learn that some of the missing humans have been spotted. Not my friend, but we must be getting closer. But when I get waylaid by fae slave traders, find myself stripped of magic and held captive in a noble house, and discover a secret that might turn the tables of magical power in Faerie, I end up with way more than I bargained for. But I also seem to have caught the eye of a stunningly handsome fae lord. Hard to resist. And who knows? Maybe he could come in handy. Because right now it’s down to me and I’m up against a ticking clock. It’s either escape or die knowing that the next stop for fae magical conquest is the human realm.

Realms of Mist and Ash is the second installment in author J.S. Malcolm's Fae Witch Chronicles. 26-year-old Cassie, a veil witch who spent 15 years sharing a body with someone else before reclaiming her own body recently, is still reeling from the aftermath of her confrontation with the changeling known as Grayson, who she got caught up with most because of curiosity. Julia, her closest friend, has become one more casualty in the sinister changeling invasion that has swept over Richmond. 

A stranger’s eyes are staring out from behind her familiar face, a trait too similar to the Vamanec P’yrin for Cassie to stay on the sidelines. Julia kept Cassie from being just another ghost lost for eternity after her body was taken so yeah, Cassie owes a life debt that puts her on a path to confrontation. She has handled witches and vampires, but can she handle what's to come? Veil witches are supposed to keep others out of the human realm. Cassie's desire to find Julia ends up with her being chased into Faerie itself. A place she's not supposed to be able to travel to. 

Here she meets Cade who is a Half-Blood and his very curious if Cassie can help bring someone from Faerie back to the Human world. Cade schools Cassie on all things fae. Namely, how it came to be that just a few fae now control all of the magic in their realm and how several missing humans have been spotted around town. Meanwhile, Cassie finds herself captured by slavers, and given to a powerful Seelie couple who already has a few formerly humans who were stolen from their families. The “Shining Ones” aka the Seelie, are ruthless overlords who control the flow of the realm’s magic with an iron fist. 

Cassie finds that her magic has been diluted and she has no idea but to bide her time while trying to escape. But one good thing is that she finds a girl named Ellie that she promised that she would bring her home, as well as the son of the Lord who seems to know Cassie. In this realm known as Silvermist, humans are at the bottom of the local food chain, and there is a brutal trafficking of both stolen humans and the fae of mixed heritage. The prohibition preventing the Seelie from crossing over to Earth is the reason behind the use of changelings. It’s the only way they can gain a set of eyes on the happenings outside their territory. 

There are apparently 6 books in this series which I absolutely do plan to read now that I am invested. There's so much more to understand. What does Cassie have to do with the so called prophecy? Will Cassie find Julia before it's too late? What happened to Grayson, and how did the boy from Silvermist know Cassie's named?

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