Shadow City (Horngate Witches Books)

by Diana Pharaoh Francis

[Berls]

My Initial Reaction…
Diana Pharaoh Francis’s creativity continues to blow me away in Shadow City, the third book of the Horngate Witches Series.

The Characters…
I still adore Max. She’s not only marvelously complex, but she continues to grow and change with each book. One of my favorite parts about her is how loyal she is – even to a fault. She made a promise to Scooter, for example, and she’s going to live up to it, regardless of the cost to herself. We also get to see a lot more of her soft underbelly in Shadow City, since she’s forming new friendships (including one of the canine variety!) and is pulled away from her home and those she loves (whether she wants to admit it or not).

Alexander, on the other hand, I have mixed feelings about. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still loyal and tough as all get out. But he also has let love turn him into a bit of whinny baby. And I really hate when love turns my alpha characters into infants. Yes, love Max. Miss Max. But grow a pair and do what she asked of you. She’s not crying over you, because she’s knows there’s work to do and people to fight for, so why aren’t you? I spent way too long wondering if he would snap out of it and do what he needed to do and that frustrated me. In the end, I still like him and just hope he pulls his shit together and stays the strong character I know he can be.

The Story…
If you’re at all like me, you’ll launch into Shadow City desperately wanting to know what happened to Max after the cliffhanger conclusion to Crimson Wind. So, after rushing into the book even though it was the middle of the night already, I was disappointed when Shadow City began with Alexander’s point of view and all I learned about Max was that she’d been gone for a while. But that’s Francis’s brilliance; you understand Alexander’s agony because you’re experiencing it too. And he IS in agony! He doesn’t know what’s happened to her and does not want to fulfill her final order that he be made Prime in her absence. To him, accepting that position would not just be accepting that she was gone, but dooming her to never come back. But Horngate needs Alexander, because a Fury (another amazingly unique fantasy element from Francis!) is rising and the threat she poses to their community may be the greatest they’ve faced yet.

Meanwhile, Max is facing some extreme challenges of her own in her attempts to help Scooter, kidnapper turned friend and ally, recover some stolen possessions. Max gets even tougher (if that’s even possible) and continues battling with her feelings for Alexander and the rest of the coven, whom she’d always worked so hard to be distant from but are now her family. Oh and did I mention she continues to kick ass? I can’t rave enough about this series, the unique story, and the amazing characters

Concluding Sentiments…
This book will not disappoint and is action packed, with some truly heart wrenching moments and even more exciting ones. Looking forward to Blood Winter!

*This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.*