Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Shame and Terric are running out of time to track Eli down before he finished his goal of murdering Soul Complements. Will they find him before it’s too late?

Opening Sentence: The door behind Eleanor opened, letting in the March wind, a little rain, and the man I had come here to kill.

The Review:

I’m a fan of Devon Monk’s Allie Beckstrom series and really loved the world that was created, so when I found out there was a spin off series featuring Shame and Terric, I was really excited. I read the first book and enjoyed it, although not quite as much as the Allie Beckstrom series. Still, I was looking forward to reading this second book to see how it all turned out. As with the first book, this one never quite reached the level of the Allie series for me, but I still really enjoyed it, despite some issues here and there.

It’s been six months since Eli and Krogher first declared war on all the Soul Complements. Shame has not given up on his desire to find and kill Eli for the lives he took in book one. Sadly, there’s been no luck on locating Eli. While the search continues, Shame’s control over the Death magic living inside him is slowly slipping away. He is constantly feeling the need to kill. In the same way, Terric is losing his control over the Life magic living in him. Neither one of them wants to fully give in to their Soul Complement bond, but it’s becoming clear that they need each other if they have any hope of remaining human and not giving in to the magic. Will they be able to keep it together long enough to find Eli and stop him from murdering more Soul Complements, or will the magic inside each of them consume them whole?

First off, this is not a book you want to pick up if you haven’t at least read the first book in this spin off. To read this duology in general, it would be helpful to have read the Allie Beckstrom series, but I don’t think it’s necessarily imperative that you have done so, although it would help you feel more connected to the side characters if you have the background of the Allie Beckstrom series.

Shame was my favorite side character from the Allie Beckstrom series (aside from Stone the gargoyle of course), so I was thrilled to find out he was the main character in this series. This isn’t the same Shame though, which is disappointing. While his sense of humor is still present, he is a much darker character than he was in the Allie series, and this makes it very hard to continue liking him at times. I can understand he’s having a hard time controlling the Death magic, but his lack of remorse at killing people bothers me. I still like him, but he’s definitely a flawed character, and not everyone is going to connect to him as a narrator.

The book was very fast paced, which I loved. I kept wanting to press on and find out what was going to happen next. It ended in a very satisfactory way, and it makes me sad to think that I won’t get to visit this world again. Fans of the Allie Beckstrom series should definitely pick this duology up!

Notable Scene:

“Are you killing people, Shame?”

“That’s a question, not an accusation.”

Zay just waited. He knew me. He usually knew when I was lying, which had often put a crimp in our relationship.

So I looked over at Terric instead.

“Et tu, Terric?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m very interested in your answer,” he said. “You’ve been gone a lot lately too, Shame.”

“That’s because you moved into my house” – I made air quotes – “‘for just a few days’ and haven’t moved out. A man needs space. If you both think I’ve gone rogue, how come Stotts isn’t here Miranda-ing my rights?”

“I told him I’d talk to you,” Zay said.

I did not know Zay had that kind of pull with him. Interesting. “And?” I said.

“And make a decision on what happened next.”

See, when Zay threatened, it was a subtle sort of thing. Unless he was breaking your fingers. He wasn’t turning me in to Stotts yet if I could give him a good reason not to. I swigged beer and let the cold and bitter was through me. It would be easy to lie.

Except I wouldn’t get away with it. Not with these two who were practically brothers to me.

“I don’t know who Stotts is talking about,” I hedged.

“Let’s just settle on a yes/no,” Zay said amiably. “You killing people?”

I hated it when he got specific. “Maybe a little.”

FTC Advisory: Roc/Penguin provided me with a copy of Stone Cold. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

This is the second (and final) book in the Broken Magic series by Monk. This has been a good spin-off series from the Allie Beckstrom series. It features Terric and Shame. I enjoyed it a lot. I would recommend reading the Allie Beckstrom series before this one because there is a lot that happens in this book that ties back into that original series.

Shame and Terric are still trying to track down Eli, the magic user that has caused so much trouble throughout the series. Eli now is being backed by the government in another evil endeavor. The government wants to use Soul Complements as weapons by using them to make innocent people walking magical bombs. Shame and Terric will have to do their best to tame their Death and Life magic and stop Eli before he kills off even more Soul Complements.

A lot happens in this book. Shame and Terric are really run through the ringer here...they just go through so much pain and suffering throughout the book.

Most of the book is told from Shame’s POV, but some of it is also from Terric’s. Shame does a lot of angsting about how he is evil...blah, blah, blah. But if you have read about Shame in other books you know that that is just how his character is. We do get to learn more about Shame’s past and get to understand him a lot better as a character in this book. We learn what drives Shame and get to see past his obnoxious/selfish-seeming exterior.

Terric doesn't feature quite as much, but we do get more insight into Life magic and how too much Life isn’t necessarily a good thing. Both Shame and Terric are scary powerful magic users and the magic uses them more than they use the magic.

The plot is very well done and not only wraps up this duology nicely, but also wraps up a lot of loose ends from the Allie Beckstrom series nicely. Allie and Zayvion are in the story some, as well as all of the other characters we got to know and love in the Allie Beckstrom series.

Overall I enjoyed this book and thought it wrapped up the Broken Magic duology nicely. I would definitely recommend reading the Allie Beckstrom series before this one, there is just a lot that ties in with the Allie Beckstrom books that you will miss out on if you haven’t read those. I thought everything ended at an excellent place and enjoyed watching Shame and Terric wrestle with their powerful magic. I would definitely recommend this series to urban fantasy fans, especially those who were fans of the Allie Beckstrom series. ( )

* Warning: Spoilers for HELL BENT included*

STONE COLD is the second and last book in the Broken Magic series. The series was very well formed with the Allie Beckstrom Series so it was nice being able to enjoy the story of Shame and Terric without all the background we already know about. I don't feel that someone that is new to the world would be seriously lost, but I think the back story and character development that the Allie Beckstrom Series brought makes this one that more enjoyable.

Since you most likely read HELL BENT before picking this up you know the score what is going on. I feel that Shame really does hit rock bottom in STONE COLD. He seems to have given up completely after losing the woman he loves and not being able to control his death magic. He is deathly afraid of killing those he loves so he just pushes everyone away and isolates himself. Terric is having a hard time with his life magic but when he works magic with Terric it all seems to even out. They are both pretty stubborn so they fight their friendship and magic on their own until they have no choice but to work together, and they do it fabulously.

As with all the other books in the series there is a ton of action and twists to the story line. There are a lot of bumps in the road but STONE COLD ended on a perfect note for everyone involved. (And I loved watching Allie and Zayne become parents) It all just felt finished. Everyone seemed to be in a better place and on better terms than they have ever been. I will miss the gang!

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Last year I read Hell Bent by Devon Monk, not realizing before I started that it is actually the first of a two-book spin-off series set in the world of the author's Allie Beckstrom novels. This book Stone Cold is the second. While the description for this Broken Magic duology says it can be read on its own without reading the Allie books, my own personal experience has shown that unless you have, it can be quite a struggle to keep track of the characters' histories and the series backstory. Don't get me wrong, I still had a great time reading, but it's also true that your experience may be richer and you'll feel a lot less lost if both series are read. Just something to consider.

At least I was more prepared this time around, having done most of the necessary catching up during the last novel. Shamus "Shame" Flynn is back and he is now even more damaged from the events at the end of Hell Bent. The book's main villain, a rogue magic user named Eli Collins is still out there, and Shame is determined to hunt him down and make Eli pay for the deaths of loved ones. Feeling angry and full of guilt, Shame's already unstable control of Death magic is threatening to slip away from him, which could mean great danger to everyone around him, even his friends and allies.

When all's said and done, I'm really glad I decided to read this book, and not just because it's the second half of a two-parter and I always hate to leave things hanging. I'm also glad because I liked Stone Cold much more than I did Hell Bent, and there are several reasons for this. Firstly, it contains a conclusion that finishes things off with a bang. Secondly, that conclusion not only provides an ending for Shame's story, it provides one for Allie Beckstrom as well. Even though I've never read her character's series, I still could tell this was a pretty big deal.

But thirdly and most importantly, I liked Stone Cold because Shame finally seemed to step up and take the reins to his own series. For the entire first book, his character was really hard to get into; even though it was my first exposure to Shame and this Allie Beckstrom universe, he always felt like a guest in someone else's world, which was why color me totally unsurprised when I eventually discovered that Hell Bent was a spin-off. It also didn't help that Allie and Zayvion made such frequent appearances making it obvious that they were still central to the story, and that Shame himself was such a curmudgeony character. In losing control of his Death magic though, he became a lot more interesting to me in this book by turning into a very different kind of Urban Fantasy anti-hero protagonist.

I actually felt sympathy for Shame. Don't his friends realize just how volatile his powers are? You can't demand help from a person who can't control Death magic and then blame him when horrible things happen, especially when they are exactly what he'd warned them about! Give him a break! Geez, everyone was so hard on poor Shame in this one, I found myself on his side just because it was all just so unfair.

Anyway, how sad it is that the series ends just as I was getting into the character. At the same time, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I'm actually glad this is only two books because I don't know if I would've continued if this was an ongoing series. With books, shows, etc. I always much prefer it if the spin-off character actually moves to a new locale and make new friends so we start off fresh. He or she deserves a chance to move out of the shadow and shine. That's probably my only beef with Broken Magic. I wanted more Shame, but it was also clear that Devon Monk wanted to hold on to the characters in her other series (the first half dozen or so chapters of this was about Allie's baby shower, for example). I just don't know if I could take that, but two books is absolutely fine.

If you've kept up with the Allie Beckstrom novels, then picking this series up is probably a no-brainer. You'd have the advantage over me as well, and no doubt enjoy it even more. For readers who are new to the world but don't mind feeling like they've stepped into the middle of an ongoing saga, this is a good opportunity to discover Devon Monk's writing and these two books are actually a pretty decent choice for the urban fantasy enthusiast. ( )