Author: Suzanne McLeod
Series: Spellcrackers 2
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
Publisher: Ace (April 26, 2011)
Price: $7.99
Language: English
Genre: Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 9780441020393
Review Copy: Provided by Publisher
Cover and Description:
Making Magic Safe. But her own life is anything but safe!
‘The ghost grasped her shift and ripped it open. The three interlacing crescents carved red-raw and bleeding into her thin chest didn’t look any better than the last dozen times I’d seen them. The wounds weren’t lethal – they weren’t even recent; she’d been dead for at least a hundred and fifty years – but my gut still twisted with anger that someone would do that to a child.’
Being haunted by a ghost is the least of Genny’s problems: she’s also trying to deal with the witch neighbour who wants her evicted. Finn, her sort-of-Ex – and now her new boss – can’t quite decide whether he wants their relationship to be business or pleasure. And then there’s the queue of vamps inviting her to paint the town red; how long before they stop taking no for an answer?
Just when it seems things can’t get any worse a human friend is murdered using sidhe magic. Determined to hunt down the killer and needing help, she turns to one of London’s most capricious wylde fae and the seductive vampire Malik al-Khan.
But all too soon she realises she doesn’t know who she can trust – and now Genny’s the one being hunted, not just by the police, but by some of London’s most powerful and dangerous supernaturals. From Suzanne McLeod's Website.
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My Thoughts:
The Cold Kiss of Death is the second book in the Spellcrackers series by Suzanne McLeod. It's a wild ride filled with intrigue, mystery, and surprises. By the time I got to the ending few chapters, I was on edge waiting to find out what would happen. I had to read the last few chapters more than once, not because I didn't get it, but because I rushed the first time. I absolutely had to know what happened. I found the ending of the story quite emotional.
Genny is a terrific main character. She's smart and determined, but not perfect, which makes her all the more believable. She works for Spellcrackers.com, a company that takes care of magical problems often by cracking unwanted spells. Genny is also the only Sidhe fae in London. This book deals much less with her job than the fallout from the murder of her friend among other things.
The book is filled with wonderful, well drawn secondary characters including the men in Genny's life: Malik al-Kahn, a mysterious vampire with ties to Genny that become more clear in his book; Finn, a satyr and her boss and potential love interest who we met in Book 1; and Tavish, a kelpie and technology whiz who first appears in this book. These three try to help Genny figure out who murdered her human friend, but even they may have agendas that Genny does not fully understand. Other characters from Book 1 also appear and have integral rolls to play in Book 2. There are some truly evil characters in the book that do not have Genny's best interests in mind at all, but they are not caricatures of evil. It becomes very clear what motivates them.
More is revealed about about London's magical community of witches, fae, vampires and its politics. The magical world in this series is very deeply developed. Why Genny is the only Sidhe fae in London is explained in this book. I'm not going to reveal any details because I do not want to give anything away. There are twists and turns and more than one surprise. These interlocking threads of story are woven together deftly by Suzanne McLeod to create an immensely satisfying and exciting read.
This is one of the most original Urban Fantasy series that I have read in a long time. The Cold Kiss of Death will keep you on the edge of your seat from the opening line to the very end.
I give The Cold Kiss of Death 4 1/2 Qwills
I strongly suggest that you read the this series in order.
Prior books in the Spellcrackers series:
The Cold Kiss of Death
Author: Suzanne McLeod
Series: Spellcrackers 1
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 368 pages
Publisher: Ace (April 27, 2010)
Price: $7.99
Language: English
Genre: Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 9780441018710
'My name is Genny Taylor. I work for Spellcrackers.com. It’s a great job, pays the rent, lets me do the thing I’m good at – finding magic and cracking it – and the bonus is it’s run by witches, which stops the vamps from taking a bite out of me.
Not that vampires are the big bad any more, not since they launched a slick PR campaign – oh, and they brought the goblins on board. Now the vamps are sought-after celebrities, and Getting Fanged and taking the Gift are the new height of all things cool.
But only if you’re human.
And I’m not.
I’m Sidhe fae.
And I know firsthand just how deadly a vampire can be.’
When Mr October, a sexy calendar pin-up vamp, is accused of murdering his girlfriend, an old debt is called in and Genny is forced to help prove his innocence, risking her job and the protection it offers – and threatening to expose her own dark secrets. Searching for the killer plunges Genny deep into the hidden heart of vampire society. It’s not long before she realises that she and Mr October are both unwitting pawns in a centuries-old power struggle between London’s non-human communities . . . and it’s not just her own neck that’s at stake, but the lives of all London’s supernaturals
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