Black Magic Sanction

Rachel, Rachel, Rachel...I just don't know what to do with you...

I'd actually dropped this series once, but a coworker convinced me to give it another try. A few books later, and I'm second-guessing myself. I spent most of this book wishing I was reading something else. And honestly, the problem is Rachel herself.

For someone who navel-gazes as much as she does, she's pretty stupid about herself. She talks about learning from her mistakes, but she doesn't. First and foremost of these is her inability to actually listen to people–friend, ally, unknown–before jumping to a conclusion about what they're saying/offering/doing/intending.

Why, oh, why do her friends put up with her? She wines, she places them in danger, she needs their help constantly, and what does she give back? Not a whole lot, honestly.

This cast deserves a better leading lady–Ivy would work. She is so bleepin' underused, misused and ignored that it's maddening.

The insight we got into pixie culture (which, as hard as it is to believe, is more than just using Tinkerbell's name in various and sundry curses)–despite the tragic context–was quite interesting (best part of the whole book), we need more of that.

At a bare minimum what we need is a book with a pretty open-and-shut case. Sure, you need a little carry over from book to book, some ongoing storylines. But we also need to see Rachel and her team take on a case that has nothing to do with all the drama in her life, that gives them all a chance to show how competent they are–and make a little bit of money while they're at it, not relying on what Ivy does off-screen and in between books.