Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed on 11/23/2011 + 2527 more book reviews

This is the seventh book in the Allie Beckstrom series. This book has some big changes in store for the characters as they pick up the pieces from the mess that was left after the previous book. I enjoyed it, but the beginning of the story is more of a transition...the end packs some serious awesomeness though. This is not a book to start the series on, go back and start at the beginning or you will be seriously confused. The next book will be titled Magic Without Mercy and is due for a April 2012 release.

With the mess that happened in the last book someone in the Authority has to take the blame and someone new has to be put into power. The new head of the Authority is a man named Bratholonew Wray and he has some dark past with current members of the Authority, he also seems determined to make Allie's life miserable. Then Allie starts getting sick when she uses magic and notices Veiled entering people on the streets. The people that the Veil enter get very sick, to the point that rumors of an epidemic of sorts are spreading throughout the city. Allie is convinced that the epidemic has something to do with magic being tainted but Bartholomew disagrees. Allie has some tough choices to make; will she go along with the Authority and watch the city die or will she go against the Authority and accept the consequences?

The first part of this book was a bit tedious but necessary, basically all the loose ends from the last book have to be tied up. People who caused trouble in the Authority must be Closed and the people around them have to cope with this. New leadership must be chosen and put in place. Allie has to try to get back to her own life taking care of the Hounds, dealing with her father in her head, that sort of stuff. All necessary to get the story moving the right way, but it made the story seem a bit aimless in the beginning.

Once Allie starts seeing the Veiled things really pick up. Allie finds herself in direct opposition to the Authority and both her and Zayvion have to make some big decisions. Both of them change a lot throughout this book. Allie becomes harder and has to do some things the old Allie would never have had the stomach to do. Zayvion starts to see more areas of grey versus everything as black and white, good and evil.

The end of the book totally blew me away and I am eager to see how everything falls out in the next book. So, although this series has never been one of those absolutely outstanding ones for me, it is a series that is consistently good and always engaging. I am still reading it seven books in so that says a lot!

Overall a wonderful addition to this series. I thought it started a bit slow with all the clean-up and transition that had to be done from the last book, but the second half of the book saw some huge changes for are characters and the ending was spectacular. I am dying to know what happens to all of our favorite characters in the next book, Magic without Mercy (to be released in April 2012).

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