The Necromancer's Dilemma

How much did I love this book? I want a small dragon as a familiar and a hellhound. My love for this book can be counted in vampire years and I'd come up short.

In this second outing for the series S.J. Himes continues to develop the world inhabited by our favorite necromancer, Angel Salvatore, and succeeds phenomenally. The world of Beacon Hill is one that is immediately recognizable and yet alien. Also I'd move there in a heartbeat.

So much goes on in this book in terms of furthering the story, developing the characters, and deepening the romance between Angel & Simeon and all of it works so well that I'm in awe. I really don't want to say too much because you should just sit down and enjoy the goodness. Simeon is everything one would want in a lover and his devotion to Angel is unwavering, Batiste gets a taste of what it is to get on Angel's bad side, and Milly is just the best. Angel proves that it's his deep reservoirs of love, as much as his talent, that make him a formidable foe to all comers. I read this book along with the audio done by Joel Leslie and he was absolutely brilliant. His accents and the emotion he brings to the characters' voices is truly a work of art.

I'm kind of scared of Bk.3 because it seems that Angel may be put through the wringer but I'll forge ahead ‘cause I love this man.

4 stars for the storytelling, 2 stars for the awkward sentence structure and grammatical errors. And maybe one more ding for always referring to Angel's dragon familiar as a “wee beastie.” Are we in Boston or Scotland?

I love the world that Himes is creating, and I'm always a fan of series in which the two MCs have a solid relationship that continues to evolve (much preferable to having a manufactured crisis in each installment that keeps the couple apart). But her writing needs some serious copy editing; the mistakes pulled me right out of the story numerous times.

I'll keep reading the series because I want to see what happens to Angel and Simeon, and to a lesser extent Isaac and David (neither young man seems capable of carrying a book by himself yet). Judging from the numerous 4 and 5 star reviews, I'm very much in the minority, so YMMV if you are less of a grammar snob than I am.