Tomes of Shadowstalking

Welcome to the land of shadows, where evil is the greatest power, where nightfall marks the birth of terror, where your very soul is at risk. Join me as I investigate worlds filled with black magic and dark souls and encounter the monsters rule these wicked places.

This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

That said, on to the review!

Thea Harman's running out of relatives to live with because her sister (cousin, actually), Blaise, keeps getting them expelled from different schools. Now she's living in Las Vegas, and she hopes that living with her grandmother will put a stop to Blaise's shenanigans, because her grandmother just happens to be the Crone, greatest and most powerful of the witches of the Night World. And Thea and Blaise are witches themselves and subject to the dictates of the Inner Circle of witches, of which their grandmother is most important. But will it be Blaise that gets them expelled this time or Thea? Because Thea's found out that coming to live in Las Vegas was both the best and the worst thing possible. She's found her soulmate--the one soul in the world who will ever make her feel complete--but her soulmate is a human, and Night World law forbids its members from ever falling in love with ordinary humans or telling a human about the Night World. And if things keep going the way they are, Thea's going to break both laws, and not all the constructive assistance that Blaise can offer her sister will help her if she does! And that's assuming they all survive the rampage of a vengeful spirit!

Spellbinder looks at another aspect of the Night World, specifically the role that witches--who are far closer to humans than any other kingdom of the Night World except the made vampires--play in the secret world that runs parallel but hidden to the mundane mortal world. There is only a minor reference to the previous books in the series at the very end of the book, but it plainly indicates that you don't need to rely on knowledge of Secret Vampire or Daughters of Darkness to understand this book. And really, you don't have time to refer back to the other books anyway because this plot moves along so smoothly and so rapidly that you don't want to put it down and look up other things.

I love the way the author turns the table on Thea by having her--innocent of all wrongdoing previously caused by her cousin--suddenly become the one committing all these Night World and Inner Circle crimes that could result in even graver punishments and circumstances than expulsion. What's really interesting is how everything that happens rises from her desire to do the right thing--like protecting her soulmate from her sister's machinations--but having it backfire on her in unexpected ways that only dig her in deeper into trouble. On the other hand, she learns things about herself that she never dreamed so there's a reasonable exchange. I'm not sure she'd agree that it's a fair trade, but do we ever feel that way?

While a YA novel--like all of L.J. Smith's other books--Night World: Spellbinder skillfully blends humor and sobriety with topics both adolescent and adult. It tweaks the issue of racial prejudice with a painfully obvious insight that seems to escape so many, but placing it in such a context that we don't feel ourselves falling into political awareness. It's this excellent style of writing that makes L.J. Smith's writings a joy to read.

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