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"Paranormal, fast-paced and fun"

Marla's past has come back to haunt her in the shape of her brother Jason. As Felport's chief sorcerer, Marla would usually want to get rid of such a con artist but blood is thicker than water and she decides to see what he really wants before tossing him out of her city. It soon becomes clear that Jason is up to no good. He has a scam going and has already used Marla's name to get his foot in the door. However, Marla sees no harm in him having his fun with the filthy rich wannabe mage that Jason has targeted and even lets Rondeau, her business partner, join in on the fun.

Although some people have got wind of the scam and don't realize it is a scam. Things start to become dangerous and nobody can really see what is about to happen. Even Marla's new apprentice is getting mixed signals about the whole thing. Death, destruction and deception are all against Marla and as usual it is up to her to save everyone and put everything back in its place.

Book four in the Marla Mason series showed a different side to my favourite sorcerer. Having family pay a visit, and after such a long time, plays on Marla's usually good instincts and pulls her to make decisions she most likely wouldn't have made. This book was not only made interesting due to the appearance of Marla's long lost brother and the story behind it but also the arrival of Marla's apprentice.

A big, huge mushroom as one of the main baddies makes for tasty reading but this series is just delicious anyway. There is nothing else out there remotely similar to this series but Marla is a female Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher) mixed with a bit of John Taylor (Simon R. Green).

So when is book five out? I don't know but you can be sure that I will be pre-ordering it asap. I love this series and wouldn't mind swapping places with Marla and seeing some of the action she sees. Paranormal, fast-paced and fun this is a must read series.

Reviewed by Amber Chalmers
Posted May 4, 2009

There's no rest for the wicked - or the one witch bad enough to stop them.

**A PNR REVIEWER RECOMMENDED READ**

Brain-eating fungi, wannabe sorcerers, long-lost relations–does even a hard-core witch stand a chance?

Mad sorcerers, psychic vampires, an army of vengeful demons, Marla Mason would rather face them all than a flesh-and-blood ghost from her dysfunctional family past: her con artist brother, Jason. As Felport’s chief sorcerer, Marla would ordinarily consider it her duty to protect her town from such an unscrupulous ne’er-do-well. As his sister, things are a lot…trickier. Now, as Marla attempts to train an apprentice oracle whose magical wires have gotten crossed, Jason is setting up an elaborate sting and drawing her ever-so-corruptible partner Rondeau into the ruse.

Their patsy is a filthy-rich wannabe mage and their bait is something so valuable, so dangerous, so sought after, it probably doesn’t exist. But now word’s gotten out that the Borrichius spores do exist and instead of a sucker Jason and Rondeau have a much bigger–and much deadlier–fish on their line: a reclusive sorcerer whose devotion to the mushroom god and command of vegetal magic could bring a fungal apocalypse to Felport. It’ll be the mother of all bad trips unless Marla can pull off the ultimate magical switcheroo…and somehow live to tell about it.

Genre: Urban Fantasy