Blue Magic
By A.M. Dellamonica
Paperback | Kindle
Publisher: Tor
Released April 10, 2012

In Blue Magic, the sequel to Indigo Springs, fantasy writer A.M. Dellamonica continues the magical story of Astrid Lethewood and Sahara Knox. The story begins with the deranged self-proclaimed goddess Sahara on trial for treason at an Air Force base along with a handful of her rabidly devoted followers, known as the Alchemites, including Caroline Forest. Caroline’s husband Will, a former cop, is working with the authorities to convict the so-called eco-terrorists and still hopes to save his wife while coming to terms with the end of his marriage. Also, Caroline has hidden their kids in a secret place and refuses to say where. As if that’s not enough for one man to bear, there’s a strange gate made of brambles that keeps following Will all over the base; a gate that only he can see, created by Astrid should he decide to accept her offer to help him. But that would mean he’d have to first accept magic and he’s not sure he’s ready to do that.

At first I found it hard to adjust to Dellamonica’s magical world; too much had to be assumed, though that may be because I didn’t read the first book. By the second chapter, however, I’d become familiar with the lingo and characters enough to visualize Dellamonica’s lush, tumultuous fantasy world – a world that is being polluted by raw, liquid magic leaking from the magic well located in a place deep in the earth called the Unreal, where many people (the half-dead, as they are called) have been frozen solid by the blue magic juice known as vitagua.

Knox and her Alchemite followers are stealing chantments (everyday objects injected with magic to serve any purpose the maker expresses) and basically wreaking havoc on the general public and the environment. The finger of blame for the Alchemites’ shenanigans lands squarely on Astrid for creating the power-greedy monster that Sahara has become, but mostly because she’s currently in control of the magical well that lies beneath the rubble of what was once Indigo Springs. The town has since been replaced by an impenetrable forest as a result of the magic spill.

Astrid and Will must fight Sahara for control of the vitagua. The half-dead Unreal want out of their collective ice block and Teoquan, a spokesman of sorts for the Unreal, is pissed that Astrid is taking so damned long to thaw them all out. But Astrid’s plan is to cause the least amount of collateral damage possible once the blue stuff gushes out to the Real world, which, we’re warned, will most definitely happen.

Meanwhile, another group of fanatics called the Fyremen are burning all the Alchemites they can find and have Astrid and Sahara both in their sights because they also seek to control the magic well. Though they claim they want to seal it up for good because they think magic is an unnatural, evil way of making the world a better place, they also use their own form of magic along with an ancient chant that has cursed the vitagua itself, thus contributing to the ongoing destruction they publicly claim to be against.

Phew! Got all that? It’s a lot to take in as Dellamonica tells a humongous tale in under 400 pages. Thankfully, she keeps up the rapid-fire pace all throughout the book so I never had time to dwell on any of the minor confusing details I tripped over here and there. The characters are as interesting as they are integral to the story. Blue Magic kept me riveted from one page to the next creating my burning need to find out what was going to happen as all these opposing forces raced toward the inevitable “Boomsday.” Who would survive? Does Will ever get his kids back? Does anyone finally punch the obnoxious Sahara in the face? You’ll have to read the book to find out. You’ll be glad you did.

Learn more about A.M. Dellamonica here.