Review: Spellbent by Lucy A. Snyder

Title: Spellbent
Author: Lucy A. Snyder
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: 12/29/09
Summary:

Jessie Shimmer's roguish lover, Cooper, has been teaching her ubiquemancy, the art of finding the magic in everyday things. But things go terribly wrong when the couple try to call a rainstorm in downtown Columbus. A hellish portal opens, and Cooper is ripped from the world. Worse yet, a vicious demon invades the city. Jessie barely manages to slay it, but she's gravely wounded and the capital's center is destroyed. As if losing an eye and a hand isn't bad enough, the city's ruling mage, Benedict Jordan, brands her an outlaw. With only her ferret familiar to help her, Jessie must find the dimension Cooper's trapped in and bring him back alive before sinister machinations make both of them vanish for good.

Plot: 4.5 Stars
My favorite aspect of this story was the different types of magic and how adaptable it was to different situations. Many, many things go wrong in this novel, but every now and then Jessie got a tiny break. I liked that it wasn't one of those "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" novels, because those are often unrealistic. Since things kinda worked in Jessie's favor a tiny, tiny bit once or twice, it made her goal seem more attainable. My favorite scene was when Jessie goes to a large retail store and steals a bunch of stuff by doing a spell that shrunk the items and hiding them in a drink cup. It really made me laugh, but mostly because I work for that company.

Pace: 4 Stars
Although there were a couple of scenes that didn't seem to add much to the plot, overall, it moved along pretty smoothly. Time passed in a relatively believable amount of time, without way too many events crammed into a short period of time. There was a part near the middle where my interest started to wane a tiny bit, but then the plot picked up again. The events leading up to the final conclusion seemed a bit muddled, but I'm hoping some of the events will be elaborated on in the next book.

Characters: 4 Stars
Jessie was a very likable character, even if she wasn't always the most moral. She was a bit younger than your average Urban Fantasy main character, which I liked since I'm twenty-three. I haven't found that many main characters closer to my age that are still in school or just finishing. I liked the little bit of Cooper I got to see, and hope there's more of him in the next novel. Pal was a great asset to the story. He helped guide Jessie through some sticky situations without doing everything for her. There were also a number of smaller characters Jessie crossed paths with that were pretty well developed for their shorter roles.

Cover: 5 Stars
This cover is fabulous and one of the most acurate I've seen. From the dragon-looking creature to the ferret to the shotgun to the wound on the cover model's shoulder, everything on this cover portrayed a part of the story. The orange color palatte fits the tone of the novel and makes you think of hell, which comes into play. The font was really eye-catching. The font itself was very unique, the size grabbed your attention, and the color went well with the cover. All in all, this is a great example of a cover really doing justice to the novel it represents.

Overall: 4.5 Stars

Disclosure: I bought this book for my own enjoyment.