Stone Cold by Devon Monk

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Book 2 of Broken Magic

Publisher: Roc (April 1, 2014)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

Last year I read Hell Bent by Devon Monk, not realizing before I started that it is actually the first of a two-book spin-off series set in the world of the author’s Allie Beckstrom novels. This book Stone Cold is the second. While the description for this Broken Magic duology says it can be read on its own without reading the Allie books, my own personal experience has shown that unless you have, it can be quite a struggle to keep track of the characters’ histories and the series backstory. Don’t get me wrong, I still had a great time reading. But I’m positive your experience would be richer and you’d feel a lot less lost if both series are read. Just something to consider.

At least I was more prepared this time around, having done most of the necessary catching up during the last novel. Shamus “Shame” Flynn is back and he is now even more damaged from the events at the end of Hell Bent. The book’s main villain, a rogue magic user named Eli Collins is still out there, and Shame is determined to hunt him down and make Eli pay for the deaths of loved ones. Feeling angry and full of guilt, Shame’s already unstable control of Death magic is threatening to slip away from him, which could mean great danger to everyone around him, even his friends and allies.

When all’s said and done, I’m really glad I decided to read this book, and not just because it’s the second half of a two-parter and I always hate to leave things hanging. I’m also glad because I liked Stone Cold much more than I did Hell Bent, and there are several reasons for this. Firstly, this book contains a conclusion that finishes things off with a bang. Secondly, that conclusion not only provides an ending for Shame’s story, it provides one for Allie Beckstrom as well. Even though I’ve never read her character’s series, I still could tell that this was a pretty huge deal. 

But thirdly and most importantly, I liked Stone Cold because I felt Shame finally stepped up to take the reins to his own series. In the first book, his character was really hard to get into; even though that was my first exposure to Shame and this entire Allie Beckstrom universe, he always felt like a guest in someone else’s world, which was why color me totally unsurprised when I eventually discovered that Hell Bent was a spin-off. It also didn’t help that Allie and Zayvion made such frequent appearances making it obvious that they were still quite central to the story, and that Shame himself was such a curmudgeony character. However, in losing control of his Death magic in this book, he became a lot more interesting to me by turning into a very different kind of Urban Fantasy anti-hero protagonist.

I actually felt sympathy for Shame. Don’t his friends realize just how volatile his powers are? You can’t demand help from a person who can’t control Death magic and then blame him when horrible things happen, especially when they are exactly what he’d warned them about! Give him a break! Geez, everyone was so hard on poor Shame in this one, I found myself on his side just because it was all so unfair.

Anyway, how sad it is that the series ends just as I was getting into the character. At the same time, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’m actually glad this is only two books because I don’t know if I would’ve continued if this was an ongoing series. With books, shows, etc. I always much prefer it if the spin-off character actually moves to a new locale and make new friends so we get to start off fresh. He or she deserves a chance to move out of the shadow and shine. That’s probably my only beef with Broken Magic. I wanted more Shame, but it was also clear that Devon Monk wanted to hold on to the characters in her other series (the first half dozen or so chapters of this book was about Allie’s baby shower, for example). I just don’t know if I could take that, but two books is absolutely fine.

If you’ve kept up with the Allie Beckstrom novels, then picking this series up is probably a no-brainer. You’d have the advantage over me as well, and no doubt enjoy it even more. For readers who are new to the world but don’t mind feeling like they’ve stepped into the middle of an ongoing saga, this is a good opportunity to discover Devon Monk’s writing and these two books are actually a pretty decent choice for the urban fantasy enthusiast.

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Roc Books!