Review: “Clash of Magic,” Linsey Hall

Pros: Lots of interesting goals
Cons: I want to believe that more is at stake
Rating: 4 out of 5

In book one of Linsey Hall’s “The Amazon” (book 26 of her “Dragon’s Gift” universe) Rowan had to keep her demon-touched power secret, start integrating her Dragon God magic, make nice with her new (and hot) teacher Maximus, and stop a couple of monstrous demon-birds from feeding on humans. In book two, Maximus came to the Protectorate for their help: the evil witches were trying to steal the magical artifact that was a prize in a magical race. Maximus needed Rowan to be his partner in the race so they could get the prize instead. Now, in Clash of Magic (Dragon’s Gift: The Amazon Book 3), they discover that the Stryx are excavating a site in Greece, and that they want to capture Rowan for some reason. Hermes alerts Rowan to the fact that she must go see the Amazons in Istanbul, and that they should be able to help her to integrate her troublesome magic. She’s going to need to track down both Prometheus and Atlas, save Atlas and the Amazons, and, oh yeah, stop World War III from breaking out!

The negative: these books can be fairly formulaic, and this is the thirteenth book involving the Undercover Protectorate. In all of these books, with all of their massive climactic battles (at least one major battle per book), I can’t recall any of the major characters at the UP ever truly seeming in danger of losing their lives, or getting hurt in a manner that a healer can’t easily patch up. Given the odds they routinely face, this is wearing at the willing suspension of disbelief. It’s also making it hard to believe that there’s truly so much at stake.

That said, this book is less formulaic than some of them. There are a handful of major parts to the tasks at hand, some of which only start off seeming tangentially related at most, rather than the usual single focused obvious task. It’s a nice bit of variety.

I love how the Amazons have worked to fit into the modern world. I hope we get to see more of them in Rowan’s next two books. I’m also curious to see what new powers Rowan has coming to her, and what she does with them!

This installment isn’t as memorable as some, but it has some nice variety and, as usual, a great climactic battle. I’m looking forward to the next two books!