Blood Magic by T.G. Ayer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I received a copy of this book at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The first book in TG Ayer’s “Soultracker” series gets it off to a good start. Melisande (Mel) Morgan has a number of paranormal gifts which she uses to track and hopefully retrieve missing persons. She can locate the person psychically using an object they’ve been in contact with or a sample of their body — like what law enforcement would use for a DNA sample — and can project her consciousness to different locations, such as where the person she’s seeking is located or a room she wants to check out, even if it is in a different dimension. She can also physically jump herself pretty much wherever she needs to go, and can bring one or more people with her as long as they are all in physical contact. Her home base is Chicago, and while few officers are aware of her talents (or the existence of the paranormal world, for the matter) the Chief of Police knows what she can do and the two have a good working relationship.
As I’ve come to expect from Ms. Ayer, the story is well plotted and her characters are distinct and dimensional. Even the strongest characters have their weaknesses, and these vulnerabilities feel appropriate given what else we know of the characters, rather than a flaw that seemingly exists simply to move the plot further. Ayer does a nice job of setting up the different turns the story takes so that while they’re surprising, they also make sense.
Soultracker is part of Ayer’s Dark World universe, a setting shared with her Skinwalker series, and there are a number of mentions made to characters and events there. These are nice “Easter eggs” for fans of both series, but no knowledge of the Skinwalker story is needed to understand this one.
I do wish she’d sometimes back off from the “insta-romance” trope that is used so often in any kind of romantic storytelling. Her Valkyrie series is a great example of just how effective it can be to build a relationship more slowly, giving the reader more time to get invested in the couple and enjoy the different milestones they pass as they grow closer. Fortunately, though, it’s not a major annoyance and the other elements of the story are strong enough to outweigh it.
Ayer has quickly become one of my favorite authors because I know I can rely on her to provide a well-crafted tale, full of interesting characters and set in a fully-realized and unique world. Her work is definitely worth checking out.
