Banishing the Dark (Arcadia Bell #4) by Jenn Bennett

Cady’s mother is alive and in the Aether and looking for a way to cross over and fulfil her lifelong ambition – possessing her daughter and claiming her Moonchild magic for herself.

Cady can find only one solution to saving herself and her unborn child – stop being the Moonchild. Which means finding out exactly how her mother completed the Moonchild ritual in the first place and what exactly that means. Unfortunately, they begin this investigation with a memory spell that backfires unpleasantly.

The plot of this book I was actually really eager for. Cady and Lon, after 3 books of ignoring Cady’s powers, using Cady’s powers grudgingly and generally sitting around and doing very little about the whole Moonchild thing have finally decided to get up and track down exactly what the Moonchild means, what it can do and how it was created and what the implications are of that.

Excellent! And the plot and development was fairly well done – if a little late in the day. The investigation was fairly decent (even if Cady had a few moments of “Moonchild means I can pull out useful powers at random”) and tracked down information in a logical manner. It revealed a lot of the back story and the real truth behind Cady’s mother’s machinations.

I really liked the revelations – because it worked so well with Cady’s progression in learning about her parents, having her illusions scattered, fearing them and now, finally turning round and confronting her mother once and for all. It brought her arc round – it was, perhaps, a little abrupt and fast, but it brought it round full circle.

If I had any complaint about Cady’s story it would be that after 3 books of ignoring the Moonchild, we now get it all at once and not enough time to explore or expand on it. We get a lot of quick answer, satisfactory answers, but answers that only begin to explore the whole issue. I feel much the same about the world building in general –the different demons, the whole “Mother of Ahriman” thing, the different magical societies – all have been touched on but this is the last book and none of them have been expanded.

Jupe had his own little storyline this time as well, and it did add to the main and wasn’t too consumed by drama – but it was consumed by breasts and naked women; which I’m guessing is the author writing a 14 year old boy. It wasn’t an awful segment to read but ran straight into that whole last book problem – here’s Jupe introducing me to Leticia, a whole new character with an interesting back story and family and potential for a great deal – but this is the last book. Unless there’s a spin off none of this is going to go anywhere and it ends up being quite a long segment for a small amount of information. It was interesting and it’s nice to see things from Jupe’s point of view and experience (including dealing with racism) but it added up to some other elements of the book to make me want to get back on topic

Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell #3) by Jenn Bennett

Arcadia Bell is learning to live with her Moonchild magic, getting used to it and using it more often in her daily life – and for missions foisted on her by Dare.

But even putting aside his leash, Arcadia finds herself on a mission when Earthbound demons rob her bar and injure Kar Yee, her business partner. It’s embarrassing but worse, these demons had power far beyond what should be possible and who knows what damage they could do if these super powers spread.

And her Moonchild power is expanding and changing – changing her as well in ways she doesn’t understand but are terrifying. Almost as terrifying as her mother still being alive – and looking for her.  

Then there’s Lon’s in-laws, Jupe’s aunt and grandmother are in town for the holidays, ready to check out the new addition to their family.

This is a series I’m keeping my eye on because it feels like something with so much potential. We have a very interesting unique world with magic and demons combined in a way I haven’t seen before with a number of interesting twists to keep it going. The world was great and some of the characters had potential – but I keep waiting for the story to reach that potential. I think I’ve read all three of these books with a sense of anticipation – waiting for them to iron out the flaws and really be what they could be.

The first thing I liked about this particular book in the series was the foundation of it. No more Arcadia being threatened by Dare, none of her being dragged into the plot against her will. In fact, she outright stood up to him. Instead the story was based on a robbery at her own bar and her own concerns about what the demons with super perks were doing. She was personally motivated and also active in tracking down the culprits and finding the answers – more so than she has been in the previous books. At any point she could have stopped pursuing this and got on with her life – she wasn’t being threatened by anyone, she wasn’t being forced and she wasn’t doing it for other people; ultimately Arcadia was pursuing her own agenda for her own reasons in her own way. This goes in part with the fact she’s also more assertive and more confident than in previous books. While she still has doubting moments with Lon, Arcadia is now more confident that, yes, she does deserve him and she’s more able to tally her achievements and be proud of them. It’s a precious thing to see a protagonist so openly embrace her self-esteem

The story has a decent mystery – they had leads and red herrings, brief moments of actions and chases. They had dead ends and became frustrated but didn’t dwell on it too long. I won’t say it was stellar or particularly exciting. I think the main thing stopping it from being a really good mystery is that the two main plots – finding out about the super perks didn’t work together well with discovering the answers about Arcadia’s Moonchild powers. The storylines didn’t mesh together, they got in each other’s ways. Then there’s the family – while I loved the scenes with the family and Arcadia becoming more part of them, they did detract a lot from the urgency of both plot lines. After all, neither can be life and death in importance if you’re going to take time out for a family dinner. In some ways I like that her life isn’t entirely derailed by the plot line but it did reduce the urgency of the story

Summoning the Night (Arcadia Bell #2) by Jenn Bennett

 

Arcadia Bell has a new life with her parents gone – and the beginnings of a new family with Lon and Jupe, despite her ongoing nervousness about the age gap.

But kids are going missing – Earthborn demon kids like Jupe. And it seems descendants of the Hellfire club owners are the ones who are being targeted – again, like Jupe. The kidnappings mirror a previous series of kidnappers 30 years ago. As the most powerful witch the demons of the Hellfire club know, she’s quickly recruited to help find the children. Something she’s happy to do, despite her misgivings over the club, but quickly it is clear the Earthborn will do anything to force her obedience and encourage her efforts

As Hallowe’en approaches, more kids vanish and the deadline to find the children draws near – and the pressure on Arcadia grows.

Before I begin, it’s going to sound like I am 10 kinds of grouchy about this book, which isn’t the case. Because I liked the book, I enjoyed it and I dashed it off in a day with no problem at all. The problem is a lot of the positives are rather mundane and only worth mentioning because I want to counter the impression this is a negative review. And it’s not – I liked this book, I enjoyed this book. I liked the relationships. I liked the characters. The story was fun, interesting, well written and well paced. The world is broad and interesting. There’s a lot of good here.

And several of the issues I had with the last book are changed – particularly Lon and Cady’s romance which is no longer jam packed with pointless drama for the sake of drama. In fact, the romance was blessedly smooth, happy with occasional moments of angst and doubt due to the age gap, but a refreshing lack of drama for drama’s sake. In fact, her, Lon and Jupe forming their own family are some of the best and most fun elements of the book.

Fangs for the Fantasy Episode 96

This week we discuss the season finales of The Walking Dead and Revolution. We also look at The Vampire Diaries and American Horror Stories.

Our book of the week is Kindling the Moon by Jenn Bennett

 3/12-10/12: Hunted by the Others by Jess Haines

10/12-17/12: The Turning by Jennifer Armintrout

17/12-7/1/2013: The Awakening by LJ Smith

7/1/-14/1/2013: Grave Memory by Kalayna Price

(NB: We're obviously not going to have podcast on the 24th or the 31st December)

Review: Kindling the Moon by Jenn Bennett, Book 1 of the Arcadia Bell Series

Arcadia Bell has lived under her false identity since she was a child, ever since she had to fake her own death with her parents after they were accused of a series of brutal murders of the heads of rival magical orders. She now tends a bar she part owns and has put her past – and her supposed status as the precious “Moon Child” behind her.

Until her parents resurfaced again.

Seeing them alive, those magical orders are demanding her parents be handed over for justice. Or, failing that, that she be handed over in their stead. And her Order isn’t willing to go to war over it, they will hand her parents over.

Which leaves Arcadia with very little time in which to exonerate her parents, preferably by finding the demon that did the murders and discovering who summoned it.

We have some interesting premises in this book that focuses on magic, magic users and demons more than other supernatural beings. And demons are vast, incredibly varied and not (necessarily) evil. The sheer variety of the demons itself lends itself to be a very open ended world with a lot of possibilities. The magic system is also one with apparent rules and planning – it may be my geeky love but I always prefer when you can see the how of magic in a world rather than just pointing and having stuff happen. The world and the premise of this series definitely draws me in – I think that alone would make me a follower and certainly makes me look forward to the next book.

There are some intriguing characters, Arcadia, Lon and Jupe all bounce off each other really well, they have an excellent dynamic. They’re fun, they’re real and there was never a moment when I didn’t enjoy reading them.

The romance between Lon and Arcadia also worked for me – they had a decent foundation and work well together which is something of a miracle because it was full of tropes that annoyed me. They went from just meeting to Lon being willing make large investments and risks on Arcadia’s behalf. The relationship started with Arcadia hating Lon (for little reason), we had a classic pointless misunderstanding (and since Lon is an empath that just seems even more unnecessary. In fact, as an empathy and a telepath can we skip the whole “does s/he like me?!” angst altogether), an unnecessary jealousy moment and a big dramatic break up which may have been reasonable and have some grounding if it didn’t end after less than a day. Despite only knowing each other for, maybe, a week, this relationship has lots of mini-dramas shoe-horned into it. All of them storms in a teacup. Is there a checklist? Do all of these need to be included in a romance? Romance tropes aren’t pokeman, your lovers don’t have to catch them all.

The pacing of the book works really well in terms of interest – there was never a point when I was bored or felt that a scene dragged on and there was some really fun and powerful action scenes that were really well handled. The story keeps moving forwards and I never felt the need to yell “get on with it”. But at the same time Arcadia needed to be more urgent for me. She has a deadline, after which she or her parents are dead – sounds like a reason to go all in. But she doesn’t even take time off work straight away, then she dumps the quest into Lon’s lap and… what? She’ll cast a spell that will take at least a day to return then kind of twiddle her thumbs. The book was never boring, but Arcadia was never in a hurry either.

Still, the story showcased the world and was interesting in its own right – I did enjoy it. And the ending? That was a twist I didn’t see coming, not at all.

I also always have mixed emotions about protagonists who are special because of the special power/bloodline/woo-woo of specialness rather than because of their own actions. It can work – so long as there is enough of their own personality as well to back up the specialness.