Book Review - Jayne Faith's Stone Cold Magic
Stone Cold Magic by Jayne Faith
Published by: Ccjf Books
Publication Date: October 31st, 2016
Format: Kindle, 326 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Normal people believed that magic was responsible for tearing the world open in 2001. The Rip first appeared in New York City between the twin towers of the World Trade Center and spread the VAMP2 and NECR2 viruses, along with a plague of demons, into an unprepared city. The Rip is a permanent tear between dimensions, a doorway that allows hellspawn to invade the world. Vampires can live amongst humans so long as they get the mandatory implant, minor demons are just a nuisance, but arch-demons can possess a human. Many people blame Gregori Industries for the Rip. They push the boundaries of genetic engineering, technology, and magic. And, in all honesty, they might have caused it, but they are also the ones working to close the Rip and stop the horrors that come through. Ella Grey is one of the many people who have serious issues with them. But hers are far more personal. As for the world? For Ella this has always been her life, part of the fabric of history, a daily fact that continues to shape the world in 2030. Which is why she's a Demon Patrol Officer, City of Boise, Idaho, Badge #889475. And then she died in the line of duty. Turns out it was a temporary thing. She was touched by death, it had claimed her for eighteen minutes, and she awoke on a gurney outside the morgue. Since then she's been on medical leave and her partner Terrence took early retirement. But she didn't return to the land of the living alone. She hasn't been able to sleep and shadows are framing her sight, an ever-present reminder that she might have cheated death but that she brought some Dark Thing back with her. She's a low level crafter and she knows she needs some help. Which is why she's on Crystal Ball Lane the night before she returns to work. She needs help. Instead she ends up helping a young girl, Roxanne. The girl and her brother are barely scraping by, a situation that is all too familiar to Ella. She and her brother Evan were in the same situation when their Grandma Barbara passed. At thirteen Evan was already troubled and experimenting with drugs. And then he disappeared. Five years ago. When she became a Demon Patrol Officer part of her hoped to have access to files in order to find Evan. There has been no luck. Until now. Roxanne's brother, Nathan, has somehow been possessed by an arch-demon who was then captured by a gargoyle. When Ella puts her hand on the statue she gets a glimpse of Evan. Older and with vampires. She now knows he's alive, but in danger. As is Nathan. So she decides she must help Roxanne first, with the help of freelance supernatural P.I. Johnny Beemer, her new partner Damien Stein, who might be the most powerful crafter she's ever met and has a Bachelor of Modern Magic Arts and Sciences with an emphasis in research with a Master's in the same, and her bestie, Deb, a pregnant witch with really bad taste in men. And every Scooby Gang needs a dog, which is where Loki comes in, a hellhound-doodle that has somehow imprinted on her and proves more adept at saving her ass then she's capable of at the moment. With time running out what could possibly go wrong? It's not like Ella's soul is at stake, is it?
While Stone Cole Magic is basically supernatural copaganda that ironically isn't my issue with this book. My issue is Ella Grey. She is too much of a hot mess for me. I'm actually fine with her self-destructive tenancies. If you want to risk everything for someone you just met despite multiple warnings, you do you. Let that angel of death eat your soul it has nothing to do with me. But it does have to do with the people around you and that's where I have issues. So Ella really only has two people in her life since her brother disappeared, Deb and Terrence. With Terrence retiring, she's got Deb. And Deb has her own problems with her husband and the fact that she's pregnant, so really, Ella has no one. So in order to help Roxanne Ella forms her own Scooby Gang; the sexy P.I., the brand spanking new seriously smart partner, and the rabble-rouse ex Raf. And she proceeds to use them and disabuse their trust. She uses everyone. I mean, she's not such a hypocrite to not use herself as well, thank the powers that be, she is after all using her own soul to search for Evan, but that doesn't give her the right to impose her will on others. And when people object, or when she knows they'll object, she just lies. In order to get to Nathan, who happens to be in the bowels of Gregori Industries's Idaho campus, she uses Raf and his contacts to conduct a welfare check. He calls in some really big chits to get the Global Supernatural Humanitarian Organization, GSHO, and the World Human Protection Federation, WHP Fed, to get involved in the welfare of the gargoyle and the human respectively. And then, she uses the visit to the campus as a Trojan horse to rescue Nathan. With literally only one other member of their party aware that this was the plan. She risked the GSHO representative, Johnny, and Damien. All for some fucked up sense of righting the scales with regards to her own brother. Well, if she was this cavalier and condescending to endanger Evan and not tell him anything, I am not the least bit surprised if he ran off with the vampires. Also, don't forget she endangered everything that Raf was building for one person. I mean, thankfully the socials loved it, but what it they hadn't? What's worse though is Damien tells Ella in advance that he'd "prefer to avoid anything that's going to put his name in lights." She makes up some BS about him going as a GSHO representative versus a WHP Fed proxy because it's less paperwork. He's still not at ease about this but he agrees. Therefore she purposefully doesn't tell him that she needs his magic to break Nathan out. She lies to her partner of just a few days, risking his life just so she can play the hero. She is self-centered masquerading as self-righteous. If she were my friend I would not trust a single thing she says or does. Damien literally shuns her after Nathan's rescue and she doesn't understand it. Well, you wouldn't, you think you're the center of the universe. I'm actually surprised she doesn't think that Johnny is in love with her, that is how deluded she is. And this doesn't even address the fact that there is no resolution to any other plot point other than the rescue of Nathan. I do not want or need to read three more books to get answers from a protagonist who has some sort of death wish that she drags everyone else into. No thank you.
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