Queen of the Dark Things

Listeners who enjoyed the urban fantasy DREAMS & SHADOWS will be interested in Cargill's second episode. Colby Stevens is a young wizard who is trying to live a relatively low-key and hidden life in Austin, but Austin is under siege. A dark presence is wreaking havoc and calling herself the Queen of Dark Things. She has a long history with Colby, which gives narrator Vikas Adam an opportunity to show his versatility as he presents both of them in much younger years and in the present. Adam's detachment in the narrator persona contrasts with the intimacy of the friends who surround and try to protect Colby. Their varied ages and personalities are ably performed by Adam. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 10, 2014
The powerful sequel to Dreams and Shadows returns readers to an alternate present where strange creatures walk among humans in Austin, Tex. Colby Stevens, a young man with an ancient gift, has lived a relatively solitary life since his previous adventures, suffering the consequences of his decisions and self-righteously guarding his chosen city. Then a young girl from his past makes her presence known in a way that threatens the existence of humanity. Marshaling what friends he has left, Colby must make a stand to save Austin, and his own soul. Brimming with philosophical conundrums and littered with myth and lore, Cargill’s world is abundant in detail and imagery in the service of the story. Not a page is wasted; secondary characters are used sparingly and well, and every word is carefully chosen for maximum effect. Colby’s journey through a world of demons and fears made real will keep readers entranced. Agent: Peter McGuigan, Foundry Literary + Media.

March 15, 2014

In this sequel to Dreams and Shadows, Cargill spins another contemporary literary fantasy of a wizard who has seen too much and acquired too much power. Colby Stevens is suffering from the consequences of his action, not just the events of the first book but also from his doings during his long childhood journey through fairylands. As Colby bargains with demons in the hopes of avoiding having to kill yet another old friend, we follow his journey to fairy, to the dreamtime, and to the point in his past where he set in motion the events that turned one of his childhood playmates into the Queen of the Dark Things. VERDICT As with the first book, Cargill takes his time setting up the events that lead to the climactic sequence that ends his story. Unlike the first book, this is a fantasy about mythmaking, learning the uses of power, and living with the consequences of one's behavior. Recommended for readers of Lev Grossman's "Magicians" series and Neil Gaiman's adult contemporary fantasies. [See Prepub Alert, 11/18/13.]--Marlene Harris, Seattle P.L.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Sequel to Dreams and Shadows (2013), an urban fantasy following the career of young Austin, Texas, wizard Colby Stevens.As a young boy, Colby met Yashar the djinni and obtained the usual three wishes; Yashar didn't tell him that all the wishes he grants come to bad ends due to a curse. Colby asked Yashar to make him a wizard, and now he's the most powerful wizard in the world, though he earns a scolding from the beautiful Austin, embodiment of the city, for infringing on her prerogatives. Then comes bad news: A dark presence in Australia's Outback, calling herself the Queen of the Dark Things, has arisen and must be stopped. As we learn in extensive flashbacks, Colby spent time in the Outback learning wizardry from the Clever Man, so has reason to suspect the queen is Kaycee Looes, descendant of mutineers whose evil ghosts tricked her into doing their bidding. And, he discovers, this is all tied up with the Clever Man's plotting and a small legion of demons so forbidding that even Colby can't challenge them directly. So Colby must dicker with the five most powerful demons and somehow outwit them, with the price of failure too horrible to contemplate. Once again, the backdrop is exceptionally well-developed, even if early events bear little relation to the developments in Australia. Colby's exacting bargaining with the demons is by far the high point of a meandering plot that sometimes grips but otherwise tends toward complication as an end in itself.Highly impressive while not always fully engaging, though fans of the first book won't be disappointed.

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May 15, 2014
Wizard Colby Stevens, young as he is, has enough bad memories to haunt him for several lifetimes. After he simultaneously won and lost his war with the Limestone Kingdombanishing the fairy folk from Austin, Texas, but losing his best friend in the process and possibly damning himselfhe wants only to be left alone. Unfortunately, a wizard as powerful as Colby can't hide. In this sequel to Dreams & Shadows, a spirit-walker severed from her body, the shades of cursed mutineers, and Solomon's Seventy-Two Demons converge in Austin. Colby must investigate how these forces are linked and create the impossible: a solution in which he punishes evildoers, rescues those in the right, and satisfies his need for redemption. Although too much of the book is devoted to exposition, including more pseudo-academic essays on magic and many (albeit, significant) philosophical digressions, the pacing explodes once all the major players are in place. Clever plotting influenced by trickster lore, a more hopeful ending, and a new cast of complex and likable characters make this sequel a winner. Fans of Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series will especially like this volume.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)