Master of Smoke
Grade : C+

Anything can become too much if taken to excess - even chocolate and coffee. And we all know that glomming can sometimes backfire, turning the desire to read everything by a certain author to having to avoid her books for months. Mageverse feels a bit like that to me. Like she threw in everything but the kitchen sink - and probably only kept that out at the last minute.

Comic book store proprietor Eva Roman knows just how nasty werewolves can be. She was bitten by one herself and now has the dubious honor of going furry once a month. Or more. So when she encounters another werewolf attacking an innocent bystander she doesn't hesitate about getting involved. She knocks the fanged one on his keester and she and her new buddy run like hell.

Then the trouble really begins. The guy she rescued has no memory of himself. No clothes. And lots of sex appeal. And Fluffy - her inner wolf - is experiencing that time. The time when she goes crazy with desire. After staging yet another rescue - this time saving a woman from a wife beater -the newly christened David and Eva take care of her little itch. Taking care of his problems may wind up being a bit more problematic than grabbing some jeans at the local Walmart, though. That was no ordinary werewolf David has made an enemy of. And he is most assuredly not your average victim.

This is the 11th tale (between anthologies and books) set in the Mageverse universe. And like the name suggests, it is a realm of magic. Personally, I got to calling it the megaverse since literally any legend seemed able to crop up at any time. Their were Arthur and his knights, Morgan and other witches, vampires, werewolves, aliens. The mythology felt way too abundant to me, and because of that abundance and my not having read the other tales, I was a wee bit lost. Not so much that I couldn't follow this story, but enough that when secondary characters came up I knew I was missing something.

Even the characters are complex and abundant. While I am used to the duality of the werewolf personality, I wasn't quite prepared for the tri nature of David/Smoke/Cat. Between Eva and her inner wolf, and David and his inner Cat and alien (Smoke) there were a lot of personalities around. David and Eva were both pretty nice characters in spite of this. The werewolf/cat portions were the fighters, though their human sides were battlers too. I can't say I got a strong feel for who they were though. Eva was a comic geek and the kind of person who rescued others. David was familiar with legends and was also a rescuer of folks in distress. For the most part they spent their time fighting or having mind blowing sex, which doesn't give much chance for character growth.

It also didn't give much chance for relationship building. They were certainly sexually compatible. Their heroic instincts matched. And in the end Eva makes a choice that makes her an even better fit for David's tri nature. But beyond that, there was nothing in terms of romance.

The brightest spot in the book was a secondary character named Miranda. A feisty young woman, I felt like she was the person I got to know best, and she was worth knowing. Given the end, I have no doubt people who follow the series will be seeing a lot more of her.

I am not sure I will be one of those people. While I really like Miranda and would love to spend more time with her, I didn't like this book enough to convince me that I would enjoy the whole series. I think if you are a fan of Knights and have been following the series, this book will be a nice addition to the story so far. If not, this one won't convert you to reading them. I would recommend starting at the beginning if anything I've said has intrigued you.

Reviewed by Maggie Boyd
Grade : C+

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date : February 12, 2011

Publication Date: 2011/01

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Maggie Boyd

I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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