The Final Days of Magic by J.D. Horn

                                    

I was given a free e-copy of this novel by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have not read a novel by J.D. Horn before, but I will add him to my list of authors that I follow.

The Final Days of Magic is the third and final installment in J.D. Horn's Witches of New Orleans series. I strongly encourage anyone who reads this series to start at the beginning. I did not and I was confused and lost at quite a few turns. At one point I decided to stop and read reviews on the first two books.

In the final installment, Alice Marin has been freed back into the modern world, and magic appears to be dying. Follow Alice as she comes to grip with her own family's secrets, and finds love with Nathalie, a psychic with her own troubles. Alice must work with both living and dead allies to put a stop to whatever is using her family to destroy the New Orleans witches, while also confronting her own past.

Without having read the first two novels, I was immediately hooked with how similar the familial interactions were to Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches. I very quickly realized that it had some obvious differences that made the story unique and, in my opinion, far superior plot them. It seems when one delves into the world of supernatural families, there is a certain obligation of political drama that must be attached. J.D. Horn certainly provides that with the Marin family but extends it into the Perrault and the Boudreau families before connecting them all. I found the character list at the beginning of the book to be quite helpful, but I would have appreciated a glossary at the end of the various French-Creole and Voodoo words used. 

I will say the ending came surprising quick and felt very anti-climax to me. I was expected a bit more "bang for my buck" given the personalities that were involved. The author's writing made it easy to imagine Evangeline in her club with Sugar the cat, Alice's anger at Nicholas, and Fleur's love for Lucy. I could also imagine the streets in New Orleans and the French Quarter. Having those imaginings is why the ending felt rushed.

Overall I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.