Cold Burn of Magic (Black Blade, #1)

by Jennifer Estep

[bookishzelda]

Cold Burn of Magic takes Mob families and Magic and mixes them up together. I thought it was intriguing and unique.

Magic Mob Families rule the town of Cloudburst Falls. Known as the most magical place in America. The only thing I wasn’t sure about is if it was the only magical place in America. The structure of the mob families, the talents of the people with magic and the monsters that lurked in the shadows was pretty cool. I really enjoyed how it all worked together.

I like Lila, she really likes to kick some butt. She had some pretty cool talents herself but she holds her cards close to her chest. After the loss of her mom she kind of became a recluse, with her only friend being Mo who is also her employer. I like that she speaks her mind because she doesn’t really care what people think of her. Although sometimes I think her snarkiness is to keep people from getting attached to her at times. Although she finds herself unintentionally wrapped up in the families drama, she doesn’t really lose her edge. Even when she is doing something because it’s the right thing to do, she still thinks about what she can get out of it. She’s a thief and everything she does is a tactical move. Unfortunately that even plays into her love life. She considers herself more of a realist.

The romance is actually pretty light. To be honest Devon and Lila are hardly even together in the first 50% of the book. She actually blames him for her mother’s death at first and therefore doesn’t want t associate with him. Even though her soulsight talent gives her a little bit more of an inside look at him. She starts to really respect and admire him for the things he does. It begins to warm her up to him. Although she still understands that she should be keeping her distance, simply for the fact that mixing herself up in mob business is risky business.

Devon is very kind and caring. A humble and gentle soul that seems to want to do the right thing. I liked how he doesn’t rely on swords or magic. Instead he has fist of fury and trains himself like a prize fighter.

Felix is definitely entertaining and so is Oscar. I would consider the two of them a nice comic relief.

I liked the plot. Someone is trying to knock off Devon or so it seems. They are not sure who so after a chance encounter with Lila. She becomes his body guard, putting together the pieces of a larger puzzle. I did figure out the killer before she did but I thought it was still concealed well enough. The other interesting thing was the passage of time. Rather than everything happening in a day there are gaps of weeks or days in between things. Where Lila sums up what she was doing the days we don’t touch base with her. I really liked that. It made it feel like nothing was rushed but didn’t cause a lag either.

I really liked the Cold Burn of Magic. I’m intrigued to the read the next book and see where Lila’s adventures take her.