Pirate's Alley

February 16, 2015
The magical barriers broken in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina threaten to make the city ground zero in a looming magical war. The city’s guardian, DJ, and her friends struggle against betrayal in the disjointed fourth installment of Johnson’s Sentinels of New Orleans series (after Elysian Fields). The large cast of significant characters soon becomes unwieldy, drowning out the core story of rival factions (including wizards, elves, vampires, and ghosts) jockeying for control. New concepts feel rushed; there’s just not enough time to sort out everything involving DJ’s troubled relationship with werewolf boyfriend Alex, or human Eugenie carrying the child of an elf who happens to be DJ’s husband, or the surprise introduction of the uncle DJ didn’t know she had. There’s some nice dry wit and NOLA quirkiness, but not enough to keep the story moving. Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary Agency.

February 15, 2015
An urban fantasy set in a mysteriously snow-covered New Orleans. DJ Jaco has enough problems without all this crazy snow. The wizards, elves and vampires of New Orleans are pretty much at each others' throats, and somehow DJ and her shifter boyfriend, Alex, keep winding up right in the middle of whatever trouble is brewing. Then there's her not-quite-husband, the seriously annoying elf Quince Randolph, and her sort-of friend, the undead pirate Jean Lafitte, who is seriously pissed off about the circumstances of his most recent death. Oh, and her best friend, Eugenie, a human who's still adjusting to the news that Hurricane Katrina broke the boundaries between the worlds, letting preternatural creatures flood the city-well, Eugenie has some news that may destroy the city's delicate peace. DJ is the perfect engaging, down-to-earth narrator to guide readers through this magical melee, but in this book she mostly reacts to events rather than pursuing a clear goal of her own. Johnson's (Elysian Fields, 2013, etc.) New Orleans is a fun, fantastical world that should appeal to urban fantasy fans. But this fourth book in a series gets bogged down in political machinations, as her otherwise lively characters deal with the aftermath of events from the third book and take actions that will set up the next. This book needs a stronger narrative drive to keep readers engaged. Still, the world and characters are appealing, and fans of the series will find enough of its charms here to keep them reading.

March 15, 2015

Wizard sentinel DJ Jaco is caught in the middle of a power struggle among the various supernatural factions fighting for control of New Orleans, and her personal and professional lives look to be at odds in the latest entry (after 2013's Elysian Fields) in this romantic urban fantasy series.

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