Review: Firewall (Magic Born #3) by Sonya Clark

Title: Firewall (Magic Born #3)
Author: Sonya Clark
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: December 1, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 3
Sexual - 3

She was the only Magic Born to ever escape the Rangers. Now there's a ten-million-dollar bounty for her return.

Trancehacker Tuyet Caron could have left New Corinth for good, but instead uses her magic and risks her life on a daily basis to help the Magic Born. She's been careful to avoid capture, but a careless glance at a video camera brings her face to face with the Ranger who let her go.

Captain Dale Hayes let Tuyet walk away once, but he won't make that mistake again. When faced with the ultimate choice, however, he chooses her with barely a thought. But that also means siding with the Magic Born and becoming a fugitive in the eyes of the law.

Tuyet and Dale plan to flee, but are caught in a deadly riot that kills innocent people. Outraged, the pair vows to bring an end to the Magic Laws, regardless of what that means for their own safety.

This book tied up just about all of the loose ends in the series.  At the end we have a fairly solid idea of where the world is headed and our people are happy.  Firewall is really all about getting the world back to a place where Magic Born can live freely and are treated like human beings.

Center to this whole resolution are Tuyet (Snow) and Dale Hayes.  They have quite a bit of history between them but now seem to be on opposite sides of the law.  Tuyet would do anything to avoid seeing him again, but Hayes has hunted her down and now he needs to figure out what to do with her.

Their romance is really more of a re-kindling and learning how to trust each other again as opposed to a new one.  We even get to see their past through a series of flashbacks - while I enjoyed seeing their past, it came up at awkward times in the story that were just a little distracting.  There was also soooo much action going on that at time the romance got just a tad lost.

I really loved the characters and their romance, but it got a little lost in the story of what was going on everywhere else.  The city and the riots were a character unto themselves and there was just a lot going on all over the place as everything was getting resolved.

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More From Sonya Clark

Jasmyn's Review of Trancehack (Magic Born #1)
Jasmyn's Review of Witchlight (Magic Born #2)

Review: Witchlight (Magic Born #2) by Sonya Clark

Title: Witchlight (Magic Born #2)
Author: Sonya Clark
Source: Contest Win
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: June 30, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 3
Sexual - 3

In 2066, the Magic Born are segregated in urban reservations. The laws do not protect them, or their allies.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Marsden is a powerful player in New Corinth politics, but a closely guarded secret could destroy her life—she's a hidden Magic Born. Her family has gone to great lengths to erase all her magic-related records, until a trancehacking outlaw discovers the last remaining one…

Vadim Bazarov smuggles Magic Borns through the underground railroad and threatens to reveal Elizabeth's secret unless she helps him access blank ID cards. Elizabeth wants to hate him for having a stranglehold on her life, but can't help being attracted to someone so sure of who and what he is.

Vadim initially sees her as a political ice queen, but is intrigued by her suppressed magical abilities. He trains Elizabeth to use her magic, and before long finds himself falling for her. But their newfound love may be shortlived; an anti-magic ordinance forces one of them to make a choice that will change both their lives for good.

This was a great book two.  I got to see a lot of my favorite people from the first book, and the overall story arc really progressed in a great new way.  As the government begins to try and limit the rights of the Magic Born even further, Elizabeth Marsden does everything she can to stand up for them and prevent the change from happening.  But, her reasons aren't what everyone thinks they are.  As a Magic Born living as a Normal, her lifestyle is in constant jeopardy of being uprooted and seeing her sent to Freak Town.

Vadim is a big secondary character in book one, and I really liked a chance to get to know him better.  I just wish I had liked him a bit more.  He has a really good side to him, but we saw most of it in the first book, and in the second we see other sides, but I didn't always like where it went.  He's a bit of a tortured soul - and those are really hit and miss for me.  I did enjoy a glimpse of his trickster younger self when he magics the Christmas ornaments though.

Elizabeth seemed a bit like a sacrificial lamb at times.  She was an amazing character with some really fantastic motivation behind everything she does.  Watching her cope with her untrained magic was so sad, but it all made sense.  I really loved her, and I didn't quite see what she fell in love with in Vadim.  She is really the center of the story though, so I got to see a lot of her.  I can't wait to see what happens next in the world as the Magic Born become more restless and the Normals become more willing to forgive their past transgressions.  It looks to be very exciting.

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More From Sonya Clark

Jasmyn's Review of Trancehack (Magic Born #1)

Review: Tranchack (Magic Born #1) by Sonya Clark

Title: Trancehack (Magic Born #1)
Author: Sonya Clark
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: October 28, 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 3 (so close to a 4, but not quite)
Sexual - 2

It’s 2065. Those born with magic abilities live in government-run zones, without rights or freedoms. Fear of magic created this segregated world and fear keeps it intact.

A high-profile murder brings Detective Nathan Perez to Magic Born Zone 13. He’s had little experience with the Magic Born and isn’t sure what to expect during his first encounter with a witch, but he never thought he’d be so drawn to her.

Trancehacker Calla Vesper uses magic to break into computers and aid the Magic Born underground. She has no interest in helping a cop, even if he is smoking-hot, but money’s tight and Nate offers a tidy amount for help navigating the Zone. Calla’s determined to keep it all business, but sparks start flying before the investigation even gets started.

When Calla’s trancehacking and Nathan’s investigation uncover a conspiracy, Calla becomes a target. Nate can protect her by keeping her role a secret—but then who will protect Nate?

 The world building and lore in this book really blew me away.  It was like entering an alternate universe where so much was different, yet so much was still sort of the same.  Magic users exist, and most of the Normals are afraid of them.  So they have been rounded up into what is basically several ghettos.  They are only allowed to leave for so long and their ability to live like the rest of the world is extremely limited.

Calla grew up in Zone 13.  She's fairly happy there and was content to live her life making jewelry and occasionally hacking into the web to find out what was going on.  But then Detective Asshole had to show up and she was drawn into something larger than either of them expected.  Calla is hiding a lot of secrets, so this was bad bad news for her and some of her friends.  But Nathan was fascinated by the girl and felt he just had to get to know her better.

There was a lot of excitement in this one.  It was almost like a dash of suspense and sci-fi technology was thrown in small enough doses that it didn't take too much away from the paranormal aspect.  The mystery they are investigating was very engaging and there were a couple characters from Zone 13 that you get to know fairly well and I really liked them.  There was quite a twist at the end and I was surprised at the resolution, but it did feel a bit like the author wasn't sure how to wrap it up and had forced herself into a corner with no other options.  But then that was how one of the characters felt as well so maybe it was intentional.

I'm interested to see where the series goes next.  The world has so much potential to get very exciting.

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