Friday, May 11, 2007

"Mortal Danger" by Eileen Wilks


This is the second book starring officer Lily Yu and her werewolf mate Rule Turner. Not as good as the first book, but then there's a lot of set-up for the third installment, which I think "stars" the two side characters in this novel.

Harlowe, the human puppet of the evil sorceress Helen from the first book, "Tempting Danger", is back and hell-bent on revenge, literally. He's got a demon working for him and with him to bring down Lily. The basic plan is for Gan, the demon, to take possession of Lily's body and bring it across the dimensional divide into Dis, otherwise known to us mere mortals as "Hell". Harlowe still has the staff to direct his power, as well, and it's that staff that causes the majority of the problems in the second half of the book.

There's a huge showdown between Harlowe, Lily, and eight werewolves led by Rule. In the fight, Harlowe is attempting to aid Gan in taking possession when he's hit by mage fire from Cullen Seaborne, Rule's friend and fellow sorcerer from the first book. The mage fire kills Harlowe, fries the staff, and sends Rule, Gan, and part of Lily into Dis. This is where the book gets very, very strange. Lily is still also on Earth, but only part of her is there, and that's the part without her Gift (she's a sensitive, someone who can sense magic by touching an item). The Lily stuck in Dis has the Gift but very little memory of her life - she doesn't know who she is, nor does she know who Rule is. It's a rough second half to read, as each chapter jumps between the Lilys.

The end of the book, of course, is the attempt to rescue Lily and Rule from Dis. Cullen, the other Lily, and Cynna Weaver, a new character, are the small bunch sent for the job. It's an interesting ending, not one I found entirely satisfying, but I'm not sure it could've ended any other way.

As I said, most of this book is set-up for "Bloodlines", the third book in the series, starring Cullen and Cynna. It's obvious in this 2nd installment that there's an attraction at work, and I'm interested to see where it goes. The only real beef I have is with the publisher, who labeled this a paranormal romance. Sorry folks, but there's not a whole lot of lovin' going on here; I'd say this is more in the "fantasy" realm. There are imps, demons, a troll and dragons, all the elements of a good fantasy, don't you think? Anyway, should be interesting to get the third book and see where Wilks takes us.

No comments: