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Arcane Circle (2010)

by Linda Robertson(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1439190259 (ISBN13: 9781439190258)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Pocket Books

series

Persephone Alcmedi

review 1: Arcane Circle is book four in Robertson's Persephone Alcamedi series. As with books two and three, the story picks up immediately following the events of the previous book. I really like how Robertson does that. You literally start the new book just minutes from where the last one ended so you feel like you haven't missed a beat. You really hit the ground running with very little ramp up time and then the story never stops, leaving you turning pages late into the night (at least that's what happened to me).This series has great characters and it's a pleasure to get to revisit them with each installment. This time out, we see the aftermath of the battle on the beach. Johnny is injured and for some reason his waere-magic isn't healing him like it should. Understandabl... morey, this has Seph worried. To top it off, she also has a menagerie of magical creatures, some of them also injured, to deal with. Add in the fact that Johnny has 'come out' as the Dom Lupe (the wolf king) and Seph still has a birthday party to plan for Beverly, and you've got a lot going on. And that's not even mentioning the question of whether or not Menessos will rise from the dead after Seph staked him. With each book, the story gets just a little bit more intricate as the lives of Seph, Johnny and Menessos become more and more intertwined. Robertson does a great job of moving the story forward, answering some questions, but then raising others to keep us hooked. While the steam factor is pretty low, there are still some sexy moments between Seph and the two men in her life and the banter between her and Johnny continues to delight with it's sexually charged innuendo. This is definitely a series worth checking out.
review 2: 4 1/2 stars.The Battle with the fairies is over, and things seem to be back to normal as it can be. Seph is in the middle of preparing for Beverly’s 10th birthday party and building shelter for her new magical livestock (unicorns, dragons and griffins). Johnny, Seph’s wærewolf boyfriend has announced to everyone that he is the Domn Lup (King of all wæres), and word of his title has made its way to Romania where all the wære leaders resides. The Rege (one of the wære leader) is making his way to Ohio to witness Johnny’s at-will transformation, and to confirm that he is the Domn Lup. With no time to spare, Seph must help Johnny unlock the magical tattoos that binds his powers and memories before the Redge comes into town. The first book introduced us to the world of Persephone, in the second book the main focus was the witches, the third book focused on the vampires, and finally the fourth book gave readers a deeper insight to wærewolves and their politics. While both the vampires and witches’ politic were interesting, I was more excited to learn about the hierarchy of wærewolf society. In aiding Johnny to unlock his past and power, Seph uses her great-great-great grandmother slate spell to find out who put the binding tattoos on Johnny. The spell gave them a name ‘Arcanum’ which led them to Pittsburg. In Arcane Circle, Seph receives a visitor from her past…someone she didn’t expect to ever see again. The visitor was a big surprise, and what Johnny and Seph find in Pittsburg is even more of a shocker as she find out who ‘Arcanum’ really is. Not only does Seph has all three groups breathing down her back, there’s apparently a secret branch of the government that deals with supernaturals ‘xenocides’ and Seph is at the top of their list in the death of Xerxadrea Villeux.I really enjoyed Arcane Circle; it was better than the previous two books which I think suffered a little bit with sophomore syndrome. While the witches and vampires take the backseat in this book, I didn’t mind the focus being all on Johnny and the wæres. A lot transpired and again set the stage for the upcoming book, as Heldrige is on his way to see the VEIN council with dire information about Menessos. There wasn’t much action as I would have liked, but there were a couple of twist and turns that held my attention throughout the book. Overall another great read, I recommend this series to all UF and PNR fans, this urban fantasy series isn’t too fluffy and light or too dark and gritty…it’s perfectly in the middle of the two. less

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