Review: Blood Magic by Jennifer Lyon (Wing Slayer #1)

Publisher - Rouge Romance
Publication Date - 29th September 2011
Genre - Paranormal Romance

Source - Received from publisher for review

Rating - 4 out of 5: I really liked it!

Book Info - Darcy MacAlister knows nothing of demons or magic. But this beautiful young woman is about to discover that she is a witch and the key to breaking the curse that has plagued witches and the men who hunt them. For if a Wing Slayer Hunter kills an innocent witch by mistake, the price is no less than a piece of his soul.

Axel Locke, gorgeous leader of the Wing Slayer Hunters, has sworn never to shed the blood of the earth witches who have resisted the temptation of demonic power. But when his sister is cursed by a demon witch, he discovers that Darcy MacAlister may hold the cure – if she can master her newfound powers in time.

My Thoughts - I haven't really read any fiction surrounding witches before so the mythology and background used in this book was all a completely new concept to me - which was very refreshing! The descriptions of how the magic is used is very vivid and it was easy to imagine myself alongside Darcy as she is learning how to use the powers that are inside her.

I really liked Darcy as a main character. She is an earth witch who has been brought up in a mortal family who knew nothing of her heritage. Therefore she has always felt different from everybody around her and she has always longed to find a place where she belongs. Despite all of this, she isn't a whiny heroine - she knows instinctively what she needs to do to help Axel and his family and she gets on with it without a second thought.

Axel was also a very likeable character. I fell in love with him when I realised just what lengths he was willing to go to in order to keep his family safe from the demon witches curse. And he is a complex character - a big strong man who is willing to kill to protect others, who also plays tea parties with his 5 year-old sister. Surely that is enough to melt any woman's heart! He knows exactly what his role is in life - to protect others - and he will not back down from that for a second, despite the curse that was placed on the Wing Slayer Hunters decades ago. This curse means that he lusts after the blood of witches, and up until now he has avoided them at all cost to ensure he wouldn't lose control. But when he has to be around Darcy to help her break the curse on his baby sister, he works hard to control himself as his first instinct is always to protect.

The storyline was an original one which had some good twists to keep the reader guessing at what was going to happen. And the romance between Darcy and Axel was sizzling! My only complaint about Blood Magic (and the one thing stopping me from giving it five stars) was the huge amounts of background information that are dumped on the reader periodically through the novel. There was so much information about the history of earth witches, demon witches, Wing Slayer Hunters, rogue hunters and so on that at times I found it really hard to get my head around it all. I could see that it was all vital information, and it did help to enrich the story, but it was just too much at a time for my liking and I would often have to go and re-read pages of it to make sure all the history was clear in my head.

Summary - A very enjoyable start to a series that holds a lot of potential. I am very excited to read book two, Soul Magic, and I look forward to seeing what is in store for the other Wing Slayer Hunters.

Other books in the series:
1. Blood Magic
2. Soul Magic
3. Night Magic
4. Sinful Magic
5. Forbidden Magic

Other reviews of this book:
Book Binge / Good Choice Reading / Romance Reviews Today