Search - Armed & Magical (Raine Benares, Bk 2)

Almost as enjoyable as the first book - plenty of action and Raine's usual humor to keep the book going nicely. As in book 1, the voice is light and more urban fantasy than straight fantasy, and a lot of surprisingly modern words are used in this world. That's refreshing for some, maybe not so for others.

I did have a couple of nits however. One was on page 108 (yes, I did write it down!). There was a paragraph describing Raine's relationship with Tam that I swear was word for word exactly the same as the first book. I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't read these books almost back to back, but it really threw me out of the story. After that I started noticing vaguely familiar sentences, though nothing like the same word for word paragraph. It was weird. Another thing is that I still didn't quite understand in the end why the songspell students were kidnapped by who originally kidnapped them. I hope the third book resolves some of the mystery.

Looking forward to book 3. Raine is amassing an awful lot of enemies in this one - book 3 will likely be teeming with people wanting her blood!

This book picks up where book one (Magic Lost, Trouble Found) leaves off. It is just 2 or 3 days later. I enjoyed this book. Raine is very funny and if there is any trouble around it will find her. Armed and Magical is a good story but you should read book 1 if you want to get a full understanding of what is going on.

I did not find this quite as fresh as the first book (Magic Lost, Trouble Found), but it is still a worthwhile read. The main character, Raine, is still plucky and intelligent, and manages to get herself into (and out of) various scrapes, with plenty of room left for more books about her adventures. Definitely read "Magic Lost, Trouble Found" before this one, or many things won't make sense.