Never Again: Wizards of Nevermore by Michele Bardsley (Mar 1, 2011)

This was a darker novel than I expected form this particular author.   What novels of Ms. Bardsley’s that I have read are usually light fluffy and funny.  “Never Again” had much darker themes and was truly an interesting and absorbing read.  

Magic is the norm and magical people are quite common.  Be sure to read the very beginning of the novel, which explains all about the origins of the Magicals and the Mundanes. 

Lucy has come to Nevermore Texas to meet with her ex -brother-in-law Gray and to ask him to marry her. Gray sends her away with no help.  You see she is running from a curse her ex-lover has put on her and needs Gray’s strength as a Wizard to protect her.   Gray was once married to Lucy’s sister Kerren and killed by her.  Yes, you heard correctly, Kerren brought him to Hell and killed him.  Now he spends his days miserable and alone.  He is the Guardian Wizard for this town in Texas, yet he is derelict in his duties.  However, certain harsh truths are soon put forward to Gray and he goes searching for Lucy to give  her a little help  and here the real story starts.

The characters you are supposed to like and empathize with are written so that is exactly what you do.  The characters that you are supposed to dislike are written with the same depth.  No nuance is skipped.   Once you start the book, you are quickly sucked into the story and the murders that start taking place.  Ms Bardsley has a fine time having us try to figure out just who is behind all the bad things happening and I was a little surprised to find out who it was.

You can see quite clearly that this is a novel meant to set us up for the rest of the series, so you do get a lot of information on secondary and tertiary characters.  Especially the Sherriff about whom the next book is all about.

If I have any complaints it would be that the very ending is a little simplistic and it almost felt like Ms Bardsley couldn't figure out how exactly to end the book.   Even though it feels like a due ex machine ending – it won me over and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.