Three and a half. I enjoyed reading but it's not up with my favorite books of hers. Loved the wolf dog and Ewen's moving between planes. ( )

I loved her earlier books and this new work by RA MacAvoy did not disappoint.

I'm very happy that her health has improved enough for her to write again (see the interview at http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/feature-interview-r-a-macavoy/ ) I hope that she continues to stay well and am looking forward to reading her next contribution.

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I have really loved RA MacAvoy's writing, starting all the way back with Tea with Black Dragon. The Grey Horse is part of the scenery on the inside of my head, and the Lens series floored me several times. So I was thrilled to see that she is writing again.

For me this was reminiscent of Black Dragon and Twisting the Rope, that sort of modern day fantasy/mystery set among artists - in Dragon, it was a musician, here its a visual artist. I know these people, I have had dinner and arguments with people just like these. In fact one of them still has my potato fork. Of course the ones I know don't disapparate, or at least if they do they don't tell me about it. But still, I feel very at home with these characters.

This particular book is a set of four closely related stories involving the same set of people. I liked the first three a lot, the fourth felt sketched in, unfinished. But I'm so happy to see MacAvoy back and still doing what she does so well that I'm feeling pretty forgiving about the weak fourth.

Here's hoping this is the start of much more from a writer I respect and enjoy!
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http://leavesandpages.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/review-death-and-resurrection-by-... ( )

Ewen Young is a Chinese American painter and martial artist. A brush with death gives him the ability to enter the spirit world. His life gets more complicated from there.

Although plenty of stuff happens, this is more about characters than plot. It is really four closely linked stories than a coherent novel. ( )