MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND - Goodbye Post

Lisa Shearin is the Janet Evanovich of fantasy.

She writes with a fun, unpretentious style, and she has mastered writing with humor. In many ways, this is better than Evanovich's Stepanie Plum series. As I said before, Raine is competent, whereas Stephanie bumbles her way through her adventures, surviving by luck and instinct rather than skill. The joke wears thin after a while. (At least on me -- since there are thirteen Stephanie Plum books out, then she obviously still appeals to a lot of people.) Raine is the type of girl who rescues dudes in distress. She comes up with daring plans. She kicks butt, but she's all girl.

There are some slight spoilers ahead.

The book opens with a character that is discarded after the first chapter or so. I kept expecting to run into him again, but I didn't. He is referred to both as Raine's sometime employee and as her partner. He basically kicked the story off and went off into obscurity. Will he turn up again in book two? Hard to say, since book two looks like it will take place elsewhere.

I thought her fear of drowning would lead to some horrifying drowning scene. Maybe that's coming in a later book.

Some wishes? I got to see lots of Mychael, but I wish I could have seen more of Tam. However, this book is rather short, as far as fantasies go, and it takes place over the course of only a few days. There was not a lot of time to develop any romance. Tam did get the most kissing time in. And he got the best kissing scene, hands down. He is definitely the more complicated character. It's hard to say if Raine is in love with either of them, which leaves open the possibility for some other guy to come along and totally sweep Raine off her feet.

And then there's the prince. I know I have not seen the last of him.

The book ended in a satisfying smart way. It was the kind of ending that I like. No magical brawls, which I find tedious. Just one character outsmarting another. It was not a cliffhanger, but it definitely points the reader squarely toward book two.

I can see myself rereading this book, because I think this is the sort of book that will present "nuances" to the reader upon rereading. And of course, I'll want to read it again when book 2 comes out.

And a HUGE thanks to Lisa Shearin for stopping by so often and making my very first review so much fun!

The book!
The sample chapters!
The website!
The blog! (I'm waiting for a link; I'll edit this when I get it)