Black Swan Rising

June 28, 2010
Ancient alchemy and modern bohemians mix predictably in this formulaic urban fantasy. Jewelry artisan Garet James receives a sealed metal box from the owner of a watch repair shop. Once the box is opened, all manner of misfortunes befall her. Fey folk soon emerge from the city's counterculture to assist Garet and explain that she's a hereditary guardian against black magic. The shop owner is none other than medieval alchemist John Dee, who plans to unleash demons upon the world in seven days. Carroll—a pseudonym for mystery writer Carol Goodman (Arcadia Falls) and her husband, poet Lee Slonimsky—puts Garet through the usual initiate's paces of developing the special powers she needs to thwart Dee's plot. The characters who teach her are quirky and quaint, but their adventures with her will strike readers as generic and familiar.

June 15, 2010

Urban fantasy from a pseudonymous New York City resident couple, of whom the distaff side is mystery novelist Carol Goodman—no connection with Lee Carroll the  "channeling" author of the Kryon and Indigo Children books.

New York City jewelry designer Garet James, distracted by her father's looming financial problems and a sudden, unseasonable fog, shelters in a Village shop she hadn't known was there. The proprietor, John Dee, presses a commission upon her, to unseal an antique silver box embossed with the same design that the ring Garet wears also bears. Almost despite herself, Garet takes the box home and opens it with her welding torch. Whatever the box contained goes up in smoke, save for a scrap of paper bearing the name Will Hughes. Some process within Garet herself changes too, or perhaps awakens. That night, thieves break in to steal some of her father's valuable paintings—and the box. Her father, shot but alive, whispers that the thieves were...demons. The mysterious Will Hughes, so Garet discovers, is in fact a super-rich hedge fund manager. The avuncular John Dee, according to Will, is in fact the evil, immortal former astrologer of Queen Elizabeth I; Garet's mother was, or possibly is, a member of a coven of immortal witches; and Will himself is a vampire. The plot continues to thicken. Everything happens at a gallop. The writing is creamy smooth.

Clever and assured, with an authentic NYC setting. What it lacks is a few jagged edges.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

July 1, 2010
Jewelry designer Garet James finds an ornate silver box in an antiques store in Manhattan and upon opening it discovers a world of supernatural creatures dwelling alongside her familiar surroundings. As the subject of a prophecy and the potential victim of an evil that has cursed the women of her family for generations, Garet must confront the darkness that threatens not only her but her city and the world. As both an artisan and a caregiver to her elderly father, Garet displays humor and resilience as she confronts a world seen through new eyes. Writing under the pseudonym Carroll, Carol Goodman ("Arcadia Falls; The Night Villa" and her husband, poet Lee Slonimsky, launch an urban fantasy series with an unusual heroine. VERDICTFans of Charles deLint and Mercedes Lackey should enjoy this vibrant addition to the urban fantasy genre.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.