Review – Magic for a Price (Allie Beckstrom, Book 9) by Devon Monk (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 368 pages
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: November 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0451464866
Stand Alone or Series: 9th (final) book in the Allie Beckstrom series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is final book in the Allie Beckstrom series and what a ride it’s been! This book does an excellent job of tying up the main storyline while staying realistic. Definitely don’t start with this book, go back and read the rest of the series first or you will be totally lost.

Jingo Jingo may be dead but magic is still poisoned. When Allie and crew find out that the head of Seattle Authority has been possessed by the Soul Complements Leander/Isabelle time becomes of the essence. Leander/Isabelle want to shut down Portland and control all magic. Allie and crew must cure magic and ensure that Portland isn’t blown to pieces if they are ever to survive as a city.

This was a fast-paced and engaging conclusion to this series. Allie, Zayvion, Shame, and Terric are all pushed to their breaking points and forced to do the impossible to save magic. I continue to enjoy the creative magic system and how every spell has a price to pay.

The action scenes were awesome and there is a ton of magic wielding going on. Shame and Terric finally use magic as Soul Complements and they do some pretty darn awesome things with it.

Allie is forced to work a lot with her dad to figure out how to purify the wells. During the process of the well purification and the final stand off with Leander/Isabelle Allie finally learns her dad’s master plan. As a result of this we learn more about Allie’s history and her father.

Zayvion also does some awesome magic, but serves more as support to Allie than anything else. There isn’t much romance here because so much is going on and the characters are so beat up the whole time. Still it is obvious that Allie and Zay have a loving relationship based on mutual respect.

Shame and Terric were really the ones that stole the show. They are finally coming to terms with their magical relationship and finding some peace…it’s a pretty bumpy ride to get to that point but a pretty awesome one too. There are rumors that a book/series from Shame/Terric’s POV may be in the works…that would be so cool!

Overall an excellent conclusion to this series, fans of the series should be pleased. This book is well-written, easy to read and fast-paced. Magic, action, and mystery are all perfectly balanced. I will definitely be checking out future series by Devon Monk and do hope that we do see a story on Shame and Terric in the future. This is a solid urban fantasy series and I recommend to those who are urban fantasy fans.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
– 150+ Books Reading Challenge