Review: Hayle Coven Prequels
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 24, 2012
I have the sense that these three books were written as prequels to the Hayle Coven series, which is a pretty spectacular read.  They take place maybe 100 years or so prior to that series, although it's hard to tell in alternative histories.  This is steampunk, and I love the genre, though it is not as full blown in respects to the machine use and descriptions.  It's not pure steampunk, but a nice hybrid of that and the paranormal.I can't really review this apart in my mind from the Hayle Coven series proper.  I have to consider it as part of the whole story.  It's good, but not as good.  The premise is not as believable, with the Egyptian god Atum as a central motif, and his followers out to create two "angels of destruction" who are intended to cleanse the world of "magics" -- people born with the power to use magic.  This includes, in these books, the Maji, Sorcerers, Witches, Vampires and Weres.The writing, in typical Larsen style, is very good, but, in these books, nothing seems to be as engaging as in the primary Hayle Coven series.  The characters are a little thinner, and the plot is less believable.  One thing I truly love about the main series is that I completely suspend belief while reading the books, despite the fact that they are filled with witches, vampires, demons, werewolves, sorcerers, etc.  In those books, the various worlds the author creates don't compete with each other, but flow seamlessly together, and the action races back and forth between them in a satisfying way.  Of course, in all fairness to the author, she has written 8 books in that series so far, and so has had a lot of opportunity to explore all the characters.  She just seems to have done it better in those books.I have to say that I never found myself particularly caring one way or the other about Burdie and her problems.  The series' primary saving grace is the presence of Sassafras, the teenage demon boy from the 2nd plane of Demonicon, who has been banished from his world for a serious crime, and locked into the body of a persian cat.  Sass is a featured character in the Hayle Coven series, and one of my favorite characters of all time.  Period.  I will read absolutely anything Larsen writes that includes Sass.  He SHOULD become a legendary creation.  I have always seen him as being Larsen's own alter ego inhabiting her stories, without appearing to be a "narrator".  His point of view is overarching, and he is the one, often, to tie everything together for both us, the reader, and the hapless characters in her stories.  Instead of Sydlynn, I would credit Sassafras as being the primary character throughout that series.But, I digress.THIS series is good, in its own way.  Just not as good as the main series.  It's certainly worth reading for the history.  Will I ever read it again?  No.  Will I ever read the Hayle Coven series again?  Maybe, if Larsen ever stops writing for it (and that may be a long time, since she plans on another 10 books, or so).  It's good enough for a second read.Here's what I'd love to see from Larsen.  A new series based on Vasek and Stella.  We know their basic histories, but have no answers whatsoever about their relationship, and how it came to be.  Or even what kind of relationship they have.  I first thought they were brother and sister, especially in light of the fact that Vasek obviously loves Josephine, another sorcerer.  And, at the end of the series, they seem to have hooked up as a threesome intending to start another magicians' club in New York.  But we learn that they are not related, and the books tell us that Stella is a ninja, educated in Japan after her missionary parents were killed.  Thin.  Let's have that story.We don't need a series based on Sassafras, since he is fully fleshed in the books she has already written, and one of the Coven books dedicates part of itself to him, specifically.  (I won't tell you which one, but it's wonderful.)  Larsen has "killed him off" a couple of times in the books, brought him back each time, and each time I was inconsolable until he was shown to have survived.These books are pretty good "knockoffs" of the very much more original and memorable Hayle Coven series.  By all means, read them.  They further examine this world, and shed light on the origins of the Coven. But, I think they were written specifically to satisfy a need for that origin story.  They seem to have been kind of tossed off, rather than labored over with love.  Three stars, for all of the above reasons.  Rated at all because of Sass.