In this third book in the Diana Tregarde series, the events happen in and around the lives of rich teenagers in Jenks, outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Most of the book is told from their point of view: Deke, the son of one of Diana's former college friends; Fay, who is the most popular and the most ruthless girl in school; and Monica, Deke's maybe-girlfriend who is new to the area.

Diana is called in to help teach a class on writing and getting published, and thinking that there is nothing going on in the sleepy bit of the country still sees shielding of Deke and his home courtesy of his dad, Larry. When Diana comes and settles into the family home as a houseguest, the two adults go off into private space leaving Deke wondering if there is an affair in the making (mom being in Japan on business). Deke himself is involved with Fay in a creepy kind of way: every time he mopes to Monica how much he dislikes Fay, the minute Fay comes into his sight he forgets everything and follows her like an obedient puppy.

What surprised me and brought my review down to 3 stars was the lack of awareness that Diana, as a Guardian, has for what is going on in the high school. She senses that something may be amiss, but while the undercurrent of Fay's magic is pretty unmistakeable, Diana is clueless until Monica encounters a something of Fay's and Diana pulls the story out of her. There seems to be more story going on with the teenagers than there does of Diana's involvement, and it almost felt like the author wanted the story to go in one direction, the editors in another. Maybe that's the reason for the disconnect between supernatural events and the Guardian doing very little till the very end.

And the ending has such little build-up throughout the book that it seemed an ending because Lackey had to get the book to the publisher's by the deadline. Plus, the ending left the whole build-up flat, since the great Blow Up of the Evil did not conquer the evil. Not sure if there was supposed to be a sequel, or Lackey was trying to send a message, or she just needed to finish the book to get it out the door. ( )

I just caught up with the third book in Mercedes Lackey’s Diana Tregarde series, “Jinx High”.

In this one Diana Tregarde catches up with an old college buddy, Larry, in Jenks, Oklahoma, who has a teenage son, Deke, with some psychic abilities, but who’s been shielded by him in order to avoid teaching him all the magic stuff. Only, at the time of the story, there’s some other magic stuff going on and Larry is becoming worried that Deke is a target.

Since Diana is traveling around on a book tour, and not far from Jenks, she drives over to help out. While there, she agrees to work with Deke’s high school English teacher on teaching the students how to become professional writers.

It’s revealed quite early that the magic troublemaker is Deke’s classmate and girlfriend, Fay Harper, who is actually sorcerer several hundred years old, masquerading as a high school student, and quite enjoying the updates to life in the late 20th century, the fast cars, the drugs, etc.

And there’s also Monica, an actual teenager who recently moved to Jenks and has some psychic abilities, but doesn’t know anything about them and hasn’t been trained in any way to use them.

And “something big” sleeping under Jenks, dreaming.

The story was pretty good most of the way through. The high school drama was a bit clumsy.

The last act was wrapped up a bit too fast. Some potential plot lines weren’t followed, like training Monica a bit more and using her to help. Once Diana Tregarde figured out Fay was the villain, Fay also figured out Diana was her enemy, but the story didn’t go too far into her taking advantage of that, planning to, but not doing it. And Fay’s “mother” in the mental hospital could’ve perhaps played a part as well.

The ending also leaves a clear opening for a sequel.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but feel the ending needed some work. ( )

Diana Tregarde is a Guardian. She's an incredibly powerful person who is basically obligated to protect innocent people from bad supernatural creatures. Her old buddy's son, Deke, seems to be on the radar of ... something....that's bad and out to get him. Deke is a powerful talent, but doesn't know about that, because his parents kept him shielded and don't really use their own powers much anymore. The reader is privy, almost right away, to who the big powerful evil is and it's suspenseful to read, inwardly urging Diana to notice this or that clue that would lead her to the one we know is behind this. A very satisfying book with great characters. I wish Lackey had written more featuring Tregard. All three in the series have been wildly different but all really great. ( )

The Diana Tregarde series, by Mercedes Lackey

Arcanum 101, one of the novellas in Trio of Sorcery
Diana Tregarde enters Havard following the death of her grandmother (who raised her). This is the prequel to the main trilogy; as a fairly new Guardian she is settling into her role along with coping with college.

Children of the Night
Diana is now a full-fledged romance writer and has settled in New York. An ex of hers from Harvard days comes back into her life - and something has changed him for the worse.

Burning Water
Another member of Diana's group from Harvard has become a cop in Dallas, Texas. He's on the track of a serial killer and gets permission to call Diana in on the case as there are occult overtones.

Jinx High
Yet another former member of Diana's group calls her in. He's married to a third former member, and they now have a teen-aged son. His wife is on a high-powered business trip in Japan, and he gets the feeling there is danger threatening his son.

The short stories: Killer Byte, Nightside and Satanic, Versus. All were published in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy magazine; the last two were also anthologised in Werehunter.

The stories form part of the Elves on the Road universe - The Doubled Edge series by Lackey and Roberta Gellis, the Diana Tregarde series, the SERRAted Edge series, and the Bedlam's Bard series. The first is a historical fantasy set in Tudor England, the others are urban fantasies set in contemporary (at the time the story was written) USA. Diana Tregarde is a practicing witch and Guardian who writes romance stories to pay the bills. As a Guardian, it is her duty to protect mundanes from the occult and supernatural threats. The novels were written fairly early in Lackey's career (1989 - 1994) and are effectively prototypes for modern paranormal romance and urban fantasy genre novels and are rather better written than what passes for such nowadays. They are now rather dated technology-wise - no mobile phones, 286 processors, dial-up Internet (heck, the Internet doesn't exist - it's Usenet).

The stories themselves aren't bad, they are effectively occult detective stories (Rosemary Edghill's Bast series are in a similar vein but without the urban fantasy trappings). I like them - they're reasonably compelling and not without charm. Jinx High forms a link with the SERRAted Edge series. It's possible the Jennifer Talldeer series forms part of the same universe. They're probably a bit light for most tastes, and I think now they would be classified as YA.

Recommended.

dated, and oh-hum ( )