Allie Beckstrom series

## Genre Information

Urban Fantasy
Apocalypse

 (Series Content Ratings Click on Explicit Ratings for details.)

## About the Series

* **Genres:** Urban Fantasy
* **Theme:** Magical Apocalypse
* **Narrative style**: First person narrative told by Allie Beckstrom, protagonist.
* Spinoof series, **Broken Magic Duology**

## Series Description

Allie Beckstrom is an urban fantasy (UF) series, with action-filled plots and a feisty and talented heroine who defeats villains and solves complicated magical problems through sheer grit and determination, not to mention very effective use of her magical talents. The supporting characters are very well developed and each plays an integral role in Allie's adventurous life.

Allie’s adventures include solving cases of corporate espionage, black magic, ghostly apparitions, and dead spirits who want to come back to life. She becomes involved both with the Portland Police Department’s Magic Enforcement Response Corps and with the Authority.

### Lead's Species

* Hound, mage/wizard (can trace magic back to its user)

## Books in Series

**Allie Beckstrom series**:

1. Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom Book 1) (2008)
2. Magic In the Blood (Allie Beckstrom Book 2) (2009)
3. Magic in the Shadows (Allie Beckstrom Book 3) (2009)
4. Magic on the Storm (Allie Beckstrom Book 4) (2010)
5. Magic at the Gate (Allie Beckstrom Book 5) (2010)
6. Magic on the Hunt (Allie Beckstrom Book 6) (2011)
7. Magic on the Line (Allie Beckstrom Book 7) (2011)
8. Magic Without Mercy (Allie Beckstrom Book 8) (2012)
9. Magic for a Price (Allie Beckstrom Book 9) (2012)

## Broken Magic Duology

This series takes place about three years after the magic apocalypse. — In the apocalyptic finale of Magic for a Price, the ninth and final *Allie Beckstrom* novel, magic was muted forever. In the past, magic users could do violent things with their magic, but that is no longer the case—with one rare exception: Soul Complements (SCs). SCs are two magic users who are magically bonded so that they can use their magic together, breaking it into its light and dark forms and casting it once again with full force and effect—just as before the apocalypse. The Authority's Overseer of Portland warns the four sets of SCs who attend a meeting with him that the U.S. government has discovered that SCs are not affected by the newly muted magic, and they are hunting them down and kidnapping them.

### Titles

Broken Magic duology:

1. Hell Bent (Broken Magic Book 1) (2013)
2. Stone Cold (Broken Magic Book 2) (2014) ~ Final

## World Building

### Fantasy Elements

Mages, Necromorphs, gargoyles, shades, Veiled (transparent, ghostly figures), underworld, rogue mages, black and white magic, magic-holding discs, ,

* Hound: Wizard-like person: who can analyze a magical spell and trace it back to its caster—help keep people from using dark magic to harm others
* Veiled: apparitions of dead mages—transparent, ghostly figures who are actually the echoes of dead magic users
* Necromorphs: solid Veiled apparitions of dead mages
* Dead Zone: no magic
* Closed: memory-wiped
* Closer: Authority member that erases people's memories of magic use, especially magic used criminally. It is believed that sometimes a Closer will 'Close' a criminal magic user by killing them.
* Magic: can be used but the user has to pay a price. Usually it involves pain, flu, fever, even some lost memories, etc
* Soul Compliments (SC): or Breakers—two magic users who are magically bonded so that they can use their magic together, breaking it into its light and dark forms and casting it once again with full force and effect. The apocalypse had little effect on SC's—it did not diminish their power. The U.S. government is hunting them down and kidnapping them.
* Authority's Overseer: Oversees the Authority in Portland

### World

Magic is all-important to the characters in this series. Monk has created a complex mythology in which she has obviously thought hard about how magic works. Her descriptions of the spells cast by various characters are incredibly detailed. We get the colors, the scents, the electrical crackles, and the bone-crunching, pain-filled feedback—all of which makes it easy to conjure up mental images of the magical action. In Allie's world, magic is available to the general public through a series of grids laid across the city, and Hounds help keep people from using dark magic to harm others. Every act of magic exacts a price from its user—generally in the form of physical pain—so most Hounds rely on narcotics or alcohol.

Magic users are governed by the Authority, an elite, secretive group of magic users who protect wells of magic around the city. If a magic user abuses magic or if a human gets too close to knowledge of the Authority, that person is closed—which means that his or her memories of certain events or periods of time are erased.

### Protagonist

Allie Beckstrom
The series heroine, Allison Angel Beckstrom ("Allie"), is a Hound —a wizard-like person who can analyze a magical spell and trace it back to its caster. Allie uses aspirin for the pain of magic use, but her heavy use of magic causes migraines and bruising, as well as spotty memory loss, so she has to keep a daily journal to jog her memory of day-to-day events. Allie’s adventures include solving cases of corporate espionage, black magic, ghostly apparitions, and dead spirits who want to come back to life. She becomes involved both with the Portland Police Department’s Magic Enforcement Response Corps and with the Authority.
## Book Descriptions

### Allie Beckstrom series

1. Magic to the Bone
Using magic means it uses you back - and every spell exacts a price from the user. Some people, however, get out of it by Offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent, then Allison Beckstrom's job is to identify the spell-caster. Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune and the strings that come with it, but when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father's signature all over it she is thrown back into the world of his black magic.
2. Magic In the Blood (2009)
Working as a Hound-tracing illegal spells back to their casters-has taken its toll on Allison Beckstrom. But even though magic has given her migraines and stolen her recent memory, Allie isn't about to quit. Then the police's magic enforcement division asks her to consult on a missing persons case. But what seems to be a straightforward job turns out to be anything but, as Allie finds herself drawn into the underworld of criminals, ghosts, and blood magic.
3. Magic In the Blood (2009)
Allison Beckstrom's magic has taken its toll on her, physically marking her and erasing her memories-including those of the man she supposedly loves. But lost memories aren't the only things preying on Allie's thoughts. Her late father, the prominent businessman-and sorcerer-Daniel Beckstrom, has somehow channeled himself into her very mind. With the help of The Authority, a secret organization of magic users, she hopes to gain better control over her own abilities-and find a way to deal with her father.
4. Magic on the Storm (2010)
Allison Beckstrom is committed to her work tracing illegal spells. Now, there's an apocalyptic storm bearing down on Portland, and when it hits, all the magic in the area will turn unstable and destructive. To stop it from taking out the entire city, Allie and her lover, the mysterious Zayvion Jones, must work with the Authority-the enigmatic arbiters of all things magic-and take a stand against a magical wildstorm that will obliterate all in its path.
5. Magic at the Gate (2010)
Allie Beckstrom's lover, Zayvion Jones, is a Guardian of the Gate, imbued with both light and dark magic and responsible for ensuring that those energies don't mix. But Zayvion lies in a coma, his soul trapped in death's realm. And when Allie discovers that the only way to save Zayvion is to sacrifice her very own magical essence, she makes a decision that may have grave consequences for the entire world.
6. Magic on the Hunt (2011)
In the secret lockup of the Authority, the council that decides what can and can't be done with magic, an undead magic user has possessed one of the prisoners. He wants his freedom-and then some. Now Allie Beckstrom and her lover, Zayvion, are the first line of defense against the chaos he's about to unleash on the city of Portland.
7. Magic on the Line (2011)
Allison Beckstrom has willingly paid the price of pain to use magic, and has obeyed the rules of the Authority, the clandestine organization that makes-and enforces-all magic policy. But when the Authority's new boss, Bartholomew Wray, refuses to believe that the sudden rash of deaths in Portland might be caused by magic, Allie must choose to follow the Authority's rules, or turn against the very people for whom she's risked her life. To stop the plague of dark magic spreading through the city, all that she values will be on the line: her magic, her memories, her life. Now, as dead magic users rise to feed upon the innocent and the people closest to her begin to fall, Allie is about to run out of options.
8. Magic Without Mercy (2012)
Allison Beckstrom’s talent for tracking spells has put her up against some of the darkest elements in the world of magic, but she’s never faced anything like this. Magic itself has been poisoned, and Allie’s undead father may have left the only cure in the hands of a madman. Hunted by the Authority–the secret council that enforces magic’s laws–wanted by the police, and unable to use magic, she’s got to find the cure before the sickness spreads beyond any power to stop it. But when a Death magic user seeks to destroy the only antidote, Allie and her fellow renegades must stand and fight to defend the innocent and save all magic.
9. Magic for a Price (2012)
For most of her life, Allison Beckstrom has used magic and accepted the heavy price it exacts. But now that all magic is poisoned, it’s no longer just using people—it’s killing them. With Portland about to descend into chaos, Allie needs to find a way to purify the wells of tainted magic beneath the city. But the only options left to her are grim: attempt to close down magic forever, or follow her father’s plan to set magic into the right hands—even though she’s learned to never trust his word. Now, Allie will have to make a choice and face the darkness of her own deepest fears, before time runs out for them all.
### Broken Magic

1. Hell Bent (2013)
Instead of the deadly force it once was, magic is now a useless novelty. But not for Shame Flynn and Terric Conley, “breakers" who have the gift for reverting magic back to its full-throttle power. In the magic-dense city of Portland, Oregon, keeping a low profile means keeping their gifts quiet. After three years of dealing with disgruntled magic users, Shame and Terric have had enough of politics, petty magic, and, frankly, each other. It's time to call it quits. When the government discovers the breakers' secret—and its potential as a weapon—Shame and Terric suddenly become wanted men, the only ones who can stop the deadly gift from landing in the wrong hands. If only a pair of those wrong hands didn't belong to a drop-dead-gorgeous assassin Shame is falling for as if it were the end of the world. And if he gets too close to her, it very well could be.
2. Stone Cold (2014)
Marked by Life and Death magic, Shame Flynn and Terric Conley are “breakers”—those who can use magic to its full extent. Most of the time, they can barely stand each other, but they know they have to work together to defeat a common enemy—rogue magic user Eli Collins.
Backed by the government, Eli is trying to use magic as a weapon by carving spells into the flesh of innocents and turning them into brainless walking bombs. To stop him, Shame and Terric will need to call on their magic, even as it threatens to consume them—because the price they must pay to wield Life and Death could change the very fate of the world…and magic itself.