Back in Black*

* O.K. maybe I borrowed a little from the group AC/DC. But I am back to blogging (now being well enough to keep my eyes open to read) and there is black in the title of the book!



Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll


New York jeweller Garet James has her fair share of problems: money, an elderly father, a struggling business. One day she comes across an antiques shop she'd never noticed before. The owner possesses an old silver box that's been sealed shut. Would she help an old man and open it, perhaps? She does...and that night strange things begin to happen. It's as if her world - our world - has shifted slightly, revealing another, parallel place that co-exists without our knowledge: the world of the Fey...
Garet learns that one of her ancestors was 'the Watchtower': an immortal chosen to stand guard over the human and the fey worlds - a role that she has, it seems, inherited from her mother. But the equilibrium between these two existences is under threat. The 16th-century magician and necromancer Dr John Dee has returned, the box has been opened and the demons of Despair and Discord released. In a race against time and impending apocalypse, it is Garet who must find Dee...and close the box.


Disclosure: I received this book free of charge via Net Galley for the purposes of review. It was first published in July 2010.


My rate and take







This is book one in a series. At first I found myself being impatient. The book did not open up and pull me in. It felt like work hearing the details of what made up Garet's life. Then around the middle of the book that all changed for me and I felt like I was back in circle time in school being read a story with all kinds of magical/fantastical beings. It seemed like each page brought a new adventure for our heroine, and not all of them were easy for her to navigate. And there was that pesky thing about who to trust when you are very late to the game.

For anyone who loves this type of adventure reading, I recommend you put this one on your TBR list.