Review: Magic in the Wild West
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 30, 2014
As one who loves historical fiction, I delighted in being transported back in time to the days of the frontier West through Ann Gimpel’s “Blood and Magic.”In her usual impeccable fashion, Gimpel weaves a rich story of fantasy and witches, magic both dark and light, possession, suspense, and hot romance. The prologue kicks it all off by introducing us to Luke, the teenager who can no longer ignore his innate magic, and to the wizard Aethelred who helps him find his way.Jump forward several years when Luke meets Abigail, a witch transporting a nasty young girl across country by stagecoach. I can almost feel the spark that ignites the action in a big pouf. The girl is possessed, dark spirits threaten Abigail and Luke, and they teeter on the precipice of extreme, life-changing danger. From this point, the action takes off like wild horses.One of the aspects I love most about Gimpel’s books is the feistiness of her heroines. They are not shrinking violets, they believe in love, they fight as straightforward as any man, and they have energies to rival the gods’.Read this story. It’s terrific and carried me along as if I were right there in the stagecoach with them outrunning evil.