Skip to main content

Armed & Magical by Lisa Shearin

Two Raine Benares books down and I can say three things: first--I am officially a Lisa Shearin fan, second--I liked Armed & Magical just as much as (if not more than) Magic Lost, Trouble Found, and third--it's going to be a long wait for book #3, The Trouble with Demons, to come out the end of April. Lisa has, however, assured me that my wait will not be in vain, as book #3 will have more than enough sizzle to satisfy any Team Tam girl's needs. To be fair, she said the same will be true for Team Mychael girls, but that's neither here nor there...

Armed & Magical begins immediately after the first book ends. Raine and Co. are on the Island of Mid, restlessly holed up in the finest suite the Conclave and its Guardians have to offer. The paladin has assured Raine that someone within the magical university hierarchy will be able to help rid her of her increasingly uncomfortable link to the Saghred--the ancient, malevolent stone intent on sucking her soul dry. Unfortunately, a notorious elven assassin seems to be targeting the paladin and the archmagus--Raine's two lone friends in this new, hostile environment. After singlehandedly foiling this attempt, Raine joins the hunt to unearth who is paying the assassin and why he seems to be amassing a group of hostage spellsingers. Never more than a step away from death, Raine finds herself embroiled in goblin/elf warfare as well as some nasty political power wrangling at the university. When Tam appears unexpectedly in the middle of a particularly harrowing encounter in a dark alley, their already hazy relationship quickly shifts to an even murkier shade of gray, and Raine struggles to figure out just which shady character is behind which threat and whether or not any of them can be trusted. 

One of the best things about these books is the ripping good pace they keep. The first covers only the space of a week, and the second not much more. Yet they are filled to the brim with near constant action, infectious humor, and a wide range of intriguing characters. They are all fun and worth getting attached to, but the best interaction, IMO, is reserved for Raine's encounters with Tam (more than he appears shaman turned nightclub owner love interest) and Piaras (pseudo younger brother more powerful than you spellsinger). I like how saavy Raine is at handling the various male figures in her life. I like how she is exactly who she claims to be (and she never claims to be perfect). And I particularly like how fierce she is when it comes to protecting her family. Here is one of my favorite examples of Raine's lively sense of humor when dealing with said men:
I couldn't keep a little smile off my face. "Most girls get flowers or candy. I get a declaration of martial law."

Well, I can't keep a smile off my face when I read a Lisa Shearin book. So it's a match made in heaven.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Lisa Shearin9:25 AM

    Hi Angie,

    I'm so glad you loved Armed & Magical! I'm trying to make each book better than the one before and raise the stakes each time. I'm proofing the galleys for The Trouble with Demons now, and I think I've succeeded in both: it's even better and more intense. ; )

    Thank you for your kind words and wonderful review!

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  2. Janicu1:16 PM

    OK, I just got a copy of this book as a present, but I don't have book 1! I'm going to have to buy Magic Lost, Trouble Found, I'm DYING to read this series!! Everyone has good comments about it, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to love reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Angiegirl4:41 PM

    Lisa, that's music to my ears. even more intense than the alley scene? Sign me up.

    Janicu, I hope you can get your hands on MLTF soon cuz I think you will really enjoy this series.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown10:33 PM

    I have never heard about this book before it's going straight on my tbr list, it sounds soo good!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Angiegirl10:41 PM

    Hi, Robin! I'm glad I sold it well. ;) When you do snag a copy, let me know what you think of it. So far the series is building really well. I have a feeling the third one will be excellent.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5:19 PM

    After reading your review of MLTF, it was a given I'd end up reading it. Turned out that was sooner rather then later, and I'm hooked! Just finished the first, and thanking the heavens I've got the second ready to go!

    I'm surprisingly undecided on my team, though. Hmmm...We'll have to see if that changes with Armed & Magical.

    And, at this point, I'd like to just give you my eternal thanks 'cause I've no doubt you're going to point me to many more wonderful books in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Angiegirl12:59 AM

    Chelle, wow. You are so welcome. I love nothing better than hooking good people up with good books. And I'm very glad you have the second one on hand. It will be very interesting to see if Armed & Magical decides you at all as to which team you may be on. Course there's nothing wrong with loving them both ;)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Interview with Diana Peterfreund + Rampant Giveaway!

Ever since I fell in love with Diana Peterfreund 's Secret Society Girl series last year, I've been hoping I'd get the chance to interview her here. Tomorrow marks the release of her new novel, Rampant , and let me tell you that you have not read a book like this before. You can read my review here , but all you really need to know is that it's a story about killer unicorns and the young women who hunt them. You want to read it now, don't you? Oh, yeah, and it's YA and the first in a series! To celebrate the release, Diana graciously answered a few of my most burning questions. As she is always a delight, I know you'll enjoy them as much as I did. First things first: When did the idea for Rampant first hit you and what (if anything) did you know right off the bat? In early 2005, just after selling Secret Society Girl , I had this dream of being chased by a very dangerous unicorn. I woke up and went to go look it up to see if I could figure out the meanin...
120 comments
Read more

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

This book has made the rounds and no mistake. I started seeing early reviews awhile back and read a few delightful interviews with Leanna Renee Hieber and found myself intrigued to read her first novel-- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker . I was, therefore, tickled to receive a copy for review from Ms. Hieber and quickly set about settling in. I knew it was a Gothic paranormal mystery of sorts, featuring (among other things) a group of loyal comrades, a private London academy, a bit of magic, an albino, and a swoon-worthy broody professor a la Richard Armitage in North & South . *moment of silence for the awesomeness of The Armitage* And that was the extent of my pre-reading knowledge. That and the fact that I loved the cover with its simple yet moody, midnight blue and its slightly off-kilter, scripty title. Miss Percy Parker is about to embark on an adventure, albeit a much larger one than she imagines. Leaving the convent--the only home she's ever known--a...
9 comments
Read more

Bibliocrack Review | You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've done a shamefully poor job of addressing my love for Cat Sebastian 's books around these parts. I've certainly noted each time her beautiful stories have appeared on my end-of-the-year best of lists, see:  The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes ,  basically every book in  The Cabots series , and of course  We Could Be So Good .  And the pull is, quite simply, this: nobody is as kind and gentle with their characters and with their hearts than Cat Sebastian. Nobody. I haven't always been one for the gentler stories, but I cannot overstate the absolute gift it is sinking into one of Sebastian's exquisitely crafted historicals knowing that I get to spend the next however many pages watching two idiots pine and deny that feelings exist and just  take care of each other  as they fall in love. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Not this one or any other.  Only two things in the world people count b...
2 comments
Read more