Urban Fantasy

Treasures, Demons, and Other Black Magic (Dowser #3) By: Meghan Ciana Doidge

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Treasures, Demons, and Other Black Magic (Dowser #3) By: Meghan Ciana Doidge

Plot:

I hadn’t set foot in the human world for more than a few hours in over three and a half months. Sure, I was stronger and faster than I’d ever been before, and I had a shiny new sword, but I was seriously chocolate deprived. I don’t recommend quitting cold turkey. And the new sword was a problem — to my mind, anyway. It represented all the expectations of a powerful father and a new otherworldly life. A life that wasn’t the one I’d worked so hard to build. It also represented the responsibility I had to bring my foster sister Sienna to … what? Justice? I didn’t know if that was even possible. What I did know was that Sienna wouldn’t stop, and that I couldn’t just leave everything up to fate and destiny … or maybe I was. Maybe I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. If you believed in that sort of thing. I just hoped that before the chaos and mayhem renewed, I’d manage to get my hands on some chocolate. It didn’t even have to be single-origin Madagascar. I was utterly prepared to lower my standards.

Review:

When Jade first appears it’s like she’s the badass I’ve wanted her to be all along. She’s spent the last three months with the dragons and she’s learned to kick some serious ass. Then she hooks up with her old friends and she can still kick ass but there’s an adjustment period, and she’s not as smart as I thought she would be after three months spent learning. By the end she gets her shit together, but she’s still not able to do what needs to be done. Admittedly it’s something I’m not sure I would be able to do myself. I’m being purposefully vague because you should really read the book.

Book three was probably more action packed than the other two books combined. The build up for the first battle took some time and then the battle itself was a lot. I’m not sure if the last battle was as long but it was certainly more satisfying, as last battles should be.

Jade is never going to be the badass that I kind of want her to be, but she’s a good flawed character. She’s always going to be more prone to baking cupcakes than trying to figure out what she should do next. Though baking cupcakes does center her so it’s not a waste of effort. Cupcakes are never a waste of effort.

I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

4/5

Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic (The Dowser #2) By: Meghan Ciana Doidge

Trinkets Treasures and other Bloody Magic

Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic (The Dowser #2) By: Meghan Ciana Doidge

Plot:

Three months ago, I lost my foster sister, Sienna, to the darkness. As in blood magic and chaos and general mayhem. No one saw it until it was too late, but I should have. Now, I have a wounded heart and soul that I can’t even reveal to anyone around me, because I’m supposed to hate Sienna with the fiery passion of the justified. And I do. I just wish I didn’t feel so lost without her, so unsure of the path I thought I had carved for myself, and so outclassed by the powerful Adepts constantly by my side these days. I’m not even sure if they’re with me for my own protection or because my shiny new powers are rare and valuable. Assuming I ever figure out who or what I am, and how my magic actually works.
Even chocolate can’t save the day every time … just most of the time. At least I’ve got that going for me.

Review:

I’m not sure why I thought the first book was supposed to be a cozy mystery because this series is very clearly an urban fantasy now. Maybe it was the book cover? Not sure.

Anyway, there was a lot of world building in this book, and some of it seemed to really be channeling Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series. Jade now sort of has a thing for the “beast lord” even though I don’t remember that in the first book. I thought she was afraid of him. Jade is nothing like Kate, though, so that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

Jade is still more willing to let others tell her what to do and not as eager to learn about her new world as I would like her, but she does seem to be giving it some sort of attempt. Her mother played a larger part in this book and I really enjoyed that relationship a lot. It wasn’t toxic and Jade started to really understand why her mother let her grandmother raise her.

The ending was great and leaves a lot up in the air. You finally find out what the other half of Jade’s heritage is and it opens up a whole new world in this universe. I’m excited to read the next installment.

4/5