On November 27th, 2022, the 8,000th article was added to the SuccuWiki!
A Magical Reckoning: Five Stories of Supernatural Betrayal (eBook)
| A Magical Reckoning: Five Stories of Supernatural Betrayal | |
|---|---|
 A Magical Reckoning: Five Stories of Supernatural Betrayal eBook Cover, written by N. R. Hairston | |
| Author(s) | N. R. Hairston |
| Series | Magic and Mischief |
| Publisher | Fire Ink Media |
| Publication date | July 18, 2017 |
| Media type | eBook |
| Length | 284 Pages |
| ISBN | 9781386361589 |
| ASIN | B071P7HQVH |
| Followed by | A Symptom of Magic: Five Stories of Supernatural Curses |
For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).
For other uses of the word Incubus, see Incubus (disambiguation).
A Magical Reckoning: Five Stories of Supernatural Betrayal is an eBook written by N. R. Hairston. It is the first work in the Magic and Mischief series by this author. In the story A Gathering of Succubi, the character Kia is a Succubus as are several other characters and Incubi characters also appear.
Overview
- Title: A Magical Reckoning: Five Stories of Supernatural Betrayal
- Author: N. R. Hairston
- Published By: Fire Ink Media
- Length: 284 Pages
- Format: eBook
- ASIN: B071P7HQVH
- ISBN: 9781386361589
- Publishing Date: July 18, 2017
Other Works in this Series on SuccuWiki
- A Symptom of Magic: Five Stories of Supernatural Curses
- A Victim of Magic: Five Stories of Supernatural Carnage
Plot Summary
This anthology includes:
- By Any Other Name: Rye must risk her life to save her best friend and fellow Scope agent from the drug runner bent on draining him of valuable skunk oil. Having skunk DNA herself, she'll do anything to shut down the illegal operation and get her friend back, but putting her trust in a stranger may lead to an unexpected tryst, as well as the ultimate betrayal.
- I Was Asked to Kill Him: Delia is a pacifist who never wanted to kill her boyfriend, Greg. In a world full of powerful beings, she only wants to stay under the radar. She paid her debt to society and only wants to get back to a quiet life - but Greg isn't finished with her yet.
- Pear Town Ruckus: A game of Spades is all that stand between telekinetic Leah and paying her rent this month. When fellow card player, Xavier offers to be her partner, she's delighted, that is until she finds herself fighting for her life in Pear Town, a place even cops dare not enter.
- Belle of the Ball: All Kerry wants is to go home. Swept away from her hopeless existence into a life of strange luxury in an alternate universe, Kerry isn't convinced her luck has changed. As she discovers the ugly truth buried under the world of opulence and indulgence, she also discovers that she may not be as helpless as she thought, which is good, because what they have planned for her is a fate worse than death.
- A Gathering of Succubi: In a race against the clock, Kia only has twenty-four hours to discover which of her fellow Succubi is killing humans. All supernatural beings are under the rule of the powerful First Families, who have laid down their mandate - find the killer, or all Succubi will suffer the consequences.
Book Review
The following review was originally published by Tera on her Blog, A Succubi's Tale on August 27, 2017
The final work in this collection, A Gathering of Succubi, is the only part of the work which has the appearance of succubi or incubi and this will be the focus on this review.
Kia has a problem and if she doesn’t solve it then all of her kind will suffer for the actions of another. But if there is one thing Kia isn’t that’s a quitter and when the clues take her and her partner in unexpected directions, there’s only one thing to do. Kick some tail and take names.
The work is very much a detective story mystery with a very strong female succubus character in the main role. Kia’s quite bull headed, up front, and doesn’t turn away from a fight. I think she’s really a good character, but what’s missing for me is that so much of her background isn’t told, the world she exists in has a lot of things mentioned, but not explained. There are hints of her succubus nature from time to time, but they are written in what I’ve come to think of as a “Losty Girl” sort of way. As such, there’s many points at times which I needed something explained, or at least embellished. Terms are mentioned, some groups are whispered in passing, but there’s no real detail about them save for the barest of overall information.
The work leave a lot of the powers that be in the background, a threat at best, a boogyman at worst and they just sit there, lurking, while Kia and her partner race about trying to fit the pieces together. Some of the clues appear without much in the way of explanation, or resolution before the next turn comes, the next collision of personalities comes to pass. There’s a bit of a rush between scenes that didn’t leave a lot of time to explore Kia’s character as much as I’d like, or to look into those that she comes into contact more.
So while there’s a bit of a missing link in the character development and as well in the plot pieces being moved about, the core story and how that’s drawn out over time, did interest me. When the truth of what’s going on comes out, again there’s a character that appears, there’s almost nothing told about themes save they are a threat, before the story crashes onwards.
I had a feeling, as the story unfolded, that the author dropped sections of the story for some reason. There’s moments where I think a scene was meant to be inserted, but it doesn’t exist. There are some moments of erotica, which have some simmer to them, but not really that much heat overall. But then the story is about the mystery, of solving what’s going on rather than the heat itself. That does work and the erotica fits into the story well.
Interesting characters, but missing some history. An overall plot that works, but seems to be missing a point, or some meaning when the truth comes out. There’s a power to be reckoned with, but isn’t really. Missing bits and pieces took something away from the work and I really wish that it hadn’t.
Three and a half out of five pitchforks.
There’s a lot of detail skimmed over which was disappointing for me. I’d have liked to know more about Kia, her past, the world she exists in, what the threats are and why they are. There’s a lot of mystery and threats that exist, but don’t matter too much by the time things come to a close.
I’d love the author to expand on this story, to tell more about Kia and the succubi and incubi of her world. Perhaps that will happen and I hope it does.
For the collection as a whole, I’ll give three out of five pitchforks.
Similarly to Kia’s story, there’s a bit too much skimming of threads or tales started and left hanging. Perhaps, as this works seems to be the first in a series of these collections, these stories will be expanded on and more told. Hopefully that will happen because there’s good storytelling here, it’s really a matter of more detail and less frantic telling of what comes next.