4 Stars
NYC circa 1895, AU.
This was fun and since I snatched it up on sale for 99 cents, I'm pretty happy. Hawk is a smooth writer and does paranormal and action equally well. The history in Widdershins was so seamless that it almost disappeared, but here it plays a bigger role and shines bright. From the tenements to Tammany Hall to Commissioner Roosevelt to fairy clubs, it weaves the threads of history into a new tapestry of witchcraft.
Hawk excels at expanding characters that on first blush appear simple, one dimensional, into complex individuals. Taking the motif of a brawny, has no trouble using his fists and an effete intellectual and spinning their lives out to illuminate the multitude of facets which actually comprise that singular pane the reader first sees.
The device of hexes is pretty clever and an interesting take on witchcraft. Throw in the soulmate aspect of the witch and their familiar, and it's rather romantic. Not that all things can't be perverted, and it is all the little twists where Hawk takes something and keeps turning it to show all the aspects that enrich the story.
Overall, a story of opposites attract on the less glitzy side of The Gilded Age.
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