UNDERTOW is the second in a series, but easy to slip
into. The reader is introduced to a
circle of young witches embroiled in some inter-personal strife, very complicated magic, and possibly an occult
war. The relationship between water-witch Liam and necromancer Ryder is already
complicated before omens of death and visits from a sinister kelpie up the
stakes considerably.
Brooklyn Ray does an excellent job of dropping the reader
into the midst of sharply drawn characters and more new adult high stakes
magical angst than there is water in the ocean.
And I don’t mean that as criticism, I love me some sexy magical
life-and-death angst. And the texture
and aesthetics of the world (magic, familiars, fae, demons etc) are very
enjoyable and delivered entirely without clichés or tiresome exposition—things just
are how they are.
My only complaint would be that this novella seems like a
long chapter from the whole story. The
strand of the story resolved in this part is the one most immediately relevant
to the point-of-view character Liam but with loose ends that need resolving
within just a few weeks. And I can’t help
but feel that Liam is not one of the more dominant characters in this
charismatic ensemble cast.
The question is whether I want to keep paying for the Port
Lewis stories on an ongoing installment, and that depends somewhat on whether I
think the story does ultimately reach a satisfying resolution.
8/10, Review copy via Netgalley
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