Thunderbird Falls, CE. Murphy. The second of Murphy's Joanne Walker books isn't quite as tightly plotted as the first, but it's still an enjoyable read. Following the events of the novella "Banshee Cries" (book "1.5," contained in the Luna collection Winter Moon), Joanne stumbles into a coven ostensibly working to prevent global warming. As may be expected, some of the members aren't being as honest as they seem.

The secondary characterization is good, but Joanne doesn't seem to have changed much from her experiences in Urban Shaman and Banshee Cries; the lack of development allows Murphy to have Joanne make a rather juvenile error of judgment that affects the outcome considerably. I saw it coming within the first couple of chapters, but Joanne misses it after encounters with numerous otherworldly elements. The epilogue promises an answer to the "what happened to Coyote?" question, but Murphy really should have at least alluded to his abrupt disappearance, which comes across as sloppy, rather than planned. This is still an excellent sequel, and far superior to many similar themed books available. Luna's doing an admirable job with their imprint titles thus far.

Read July 2006