Magic in the Shadows

Magic in the Shadows is book 3 in the Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk.  This time around, Allie is dealing with spirit of her dead father taking up residence in her head.  Nola, her best friend in the whole wide world, is also staying at Allie's place while she deals with the custody battle surrounding Cody.  And Zayvion?  He's helping Allie cope with the stresses and training involved with the Alliance, because if the Alliance decides that Allie is too unstable, they will Close off her magic, and memories, of anything to do with the Alliance, including Zayvion.

And Allie is definitely unpredictable.  Using tricks that she learned from her father, the Alliance is scared of her.  However, despite the fact that she opened a gate in a highly warded area, they need Allie and decide to keep her around (memories intact).  This has some of Allie's new found friends pleased (Shamus, Zayvion's best friend, and Maeve, Allie's teacher and Shame's mother) while pissing off others (namely Chase, Zayvion's ex-girlfriend and possible soul complement to Greyson, the fellow who killed Allie's dad and was also the necromorph running around town killing things and setting the Hungers free).  Did I mention that Allie animated a gargoyle that now lives with her and likes to talk to her sink?

Yeah, Allie's life does sound like a rather ludicrous soap opera, hey?  And it sort of reads as one, since Allie acts like a girl who has something to prove.  The Alliance is afraid of her because she holds the power of light and dark, on a scale that may be greater than Zayvion's (who is a Guardian of the Gates), but Allie is almost too stubborn to take the training properly, making her dangerous since she has a hard time controlling her magic.  Now that they are recognized Soul Complements (magic users who, on top of being able to use their magic in such a way to enhance the other's powers, are also able to touch each other's minds in the process - a technique that is rare and has the tendency to drive the couple involved insane) they are even more dangerous.  And Allie can't even take that seriously.

The storyline is interesting.  Some of the people are interesting.  But the rest of the time they're angsty and read like teenagers.  I keep thinking that they're around my age, but they're not (I think they're in their early 20s?) and that makes a world of difference.  And the main thing that annoys me, is that when Allie is thinking sex, she can't keep her head in the game.

I'm hoping that now that Allie is taking self-defense training and magic training that it'll make her a more capable character who won't rely on her tough girl attitude to bluff her way through situations.  I just hope she doesn't turn in to a character with superhero abilities.

I've already started book 4, Magic in the Storm, so I hope that I'm not getting in to things that haven't started since the end of book 3.