Building on the world she created in the Leandros Brothers/Nightlife series, Rob Thurman extends our view into that layered and entertaining world in the spin-off book, Trick of Light.

The characters in Trick of Light are as rich and textured as any she introduced us to in her earlier series and Trixa Iktomi is a heroine I've been waiting to see in Urban Fantasy/Paranormal for a while â she's over 30, she comfortable in her own skin, she doesn't have intimacy issues and truly loves the people in her life without qualifiers or conditions. While she's learned from mistakes in the past, she still sometimes makes an error in judgment but she owns it (no rationalizing or self-indulgent tantrums) and moves on. Trixa is a refreshing, modern heroine who is not perfect and she's a welcome change from the conventional Mary-Sue's and the veritable cornucopia of virgins and vixens that dominate the genre.

As mentioned in other reviews, Trick of Light includes Thurman's trademark plot twists and turns. Just when you think you've figured it out, she'll add a new twist to keep you on your toes. However, Thurman's true talent as a writer is in her ability to push the conventions of the genre to evolve â there are the timeless themes of good vs. evil; free will vs. destiny; the family you're born to vs. the family you choose and through it all, there is a palpable exploration of love, longing and acceptance. Thurman excels at planting a seed of feeling in the mind of the reader and letting it grow from there; she doesn't tell the reader what to think, instead she makes the reader think and engages our imaginations long after we've put her book down.

Trick of Light is an engaging and enticing starting point for a new series and I can't wait to see what happens next!

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I don't know how much I can add to that great review by Rachel. I could say I agree with her.

I have read the Cal/Niko series by Rob Thurman. I enjoyed the first book but I've lost interest as the series has moved along. So I picked up this book and read it. I didn't expect a great deal from it though.

I was very surprised and happy to discover that the ending gripped me so strong I couldn't put it down. I carried this book all over the house with me. Rob Thurman does a great job of world building and enticing you into the characters. I found that I was interested in the characters and the big twist I'd heard about. I find that books with a big twist ending sometimes feel like all the rest of the book is just teasing you about this huge surprise ending. Thurman neatly avoids that trap but giving out just enough detail to foreshadow the end but not enough that you feel like its all a big trick.

All in all a really great book. Four and a half stars out of five.

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Not as good as her Leandros Brother's series, but not terrible. Was quite slow the first three fourths of the book. I felt the characters of Zeke, Griffen and Leo were much more fleshed out than Trixa the main character. The reason for that comes near the end of the book. The ending was quite a surprise. Assumptions I had made were way off. This book makes one actually think.
I enjoyed that Thurman threw in a mention of the puck Robin Goodfellow from the Cal Leandros series as an acquaintance of Trixa.

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Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros series is flat out amazing. Its for this reason that wanted to read Trick of Light. It wasn't a BAD book, but it definitely didn't come close to the near involuntary emotional investment that Cal's series drags from me. As I plodded my way through this book (my reading of it had several false starts before I actually finished it), I chalked my lack of attachment to the characters up to it being a new series. I considered that part of the problem might have to do with Thurman being used to writing from a male perspective and not quite feeling it as she wrote from a female perspective for this book. I definitely enjoyed the secondary characters (Especially Griffin and Zeke) to the main character, and its likely because they remind me so much of Cal and Nick Leandros.

Yes...Honestly, the best part of the book was the characters who were mostly edited characters taken from her other series.

There's a great big stupid 'in your face, suckas!' twist at the end of the book (and yes, the 'In Your Face, Suckas!' is directed at us, the readers). It felt contrived and not clever...and downright insulting.

Honestly, I love Thurman. I know she's incredibly talented because the Leandros series is one of my favorites. I'll even be reading the next book in this series, because maybe having bullied this world into being, she can now relax and continue it with more grace.

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I'm a fan of Rob Thurman's other two series Cal Leandros and Chimera, but I was disappointed with this book. One of the draws of this author for me was paranormal fiction without all of the way overused sexy (insert paranormal creature)characters and all silly character emotions that go with it. I'd much rather be reading about a character's world than read repeated lines about hauntingly beautiful eyes ect... This book felt too much like those trashy romance novels, which made me sad because I have yet to find a paranormal fiction book with a female character that is not like that.
I also was not a fan of the ending, as many others have mentioned it seems to come out of nowhere with little hinting.
Otherwise the writing was great. Rob continues to write great characters with great wit. This book was just not for me.

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