Magic of Luvelles (Worlds of the Crystal Moon)
I'm always a little worried when I begin the second book in a series. The worry is compounded when I really love the first book. I worry that the characters will not live up to the author's initial creation and my engaged imagination, but I need not have worried. Phillip Jones has stayed the course in his second novel. There's so much right with this story that it's hard not to detail it all. The book keeps you white-knuckled and hanging on for dear life...never a dull moment....the story further develops the characters, which were anything but superficial. Once again, Jones displays his natural talent to further this growth by allowing the characters to become well-rounded, three-dimensional beings. They experience deception, betrayal, love (the pain-ridden, heartbreaking kind), as well as forgiveness and redemption. Their development is intoxicating, while each relationship becomes more profound and complex. All this, and it's action-packed, tragic, and so wonderfully funny, I look forward to the next book. I'm not even a little bit anxious. --Rachele Dalton, English Professor, SLCC, Salt Lake City, Ut.