The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Red Waters Rising (The Devil's West, Book 3) Laura Anne Gilman, 2018 Premise: Sequel to The Cold Eye . Isobel and Gabriel come at last to the banks of the Mississippi, to see the edge of the Devil's Territory and deal with problems there. I still love this world and these characters, but I could ask for slightly more from the plot. In this book we learn more about Gabriel and his relationship with water spirits, and more about Isobel's talents that are separate from her borrowed power as the Devil's Hand. They face the challenges of a city on the edge of the Territory, full of factions close enough to the outside world that they don't always respect the Agreement brokered between the land, the natives, and the settlers. The writing continues to be evocative and lovely, and I like a lot of the new elements introduced in this volume. Isobel is coming into her own power, but the story isn't done by a long stretch. So the main thing that worries me ...

The Cold Eye (The Devil's West, Book 2) Laura Anne Gilman, 2017 Premise: Sequel to Silver on the Road . Isobel continues to ride the Territory in search of things to make right and in search of knowledge. She needs to know more about her own powers and position if she's to be ready for the coming storm. It didn't take me long to sink back into this world after my long-preordered copy of this book appeared on my Kindle. I still love Isobel and her teacher Gabriel; I love this version of the West, full of bargains, new customs, and old magic. My only complaint is that it had some weaknesses common to second installments. The Cold Eye had a central plot, but despite the power and danger of the trapped spirit involved, the book was more about getting our characters to where they would need to be (emotionally and magically) for the next parts of the larger world plot. The larger plot only advanced a little bit. That said, I still really enjoyed this book. Isobel i...