Dark Around the Edges: Black Magic Woman by Cari Z.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Episode 2 of Cambion hits a bit harder and a bit edgier than the first. It’s just as good, if not better, than the first episode as the action becomes more involved and deeper. The characters aren’t really given any more depth and the supernatural world they operate in isn’t any weightier than the brief outline of the previous book. Despite this, the tone of this story is darker and more insidious, leading to potential new dangers.

The story picks up exactly where the last episode left off. I can understand that from a perspective of basically breaking up a longer length novel into several parts, but would have preferred some kind of summary prior to the story starting. Although there’s only a short time between each episode, it’s very easy to forget the basics of the serial, especially without anything to help jog your memory about where the story is up to that point. As more episodes are added, this will become more of a hindrance.

Moving on, Rio and Devon pick up where they left off trying to track down the missing Grey. They head to Vegas to see a witch with diving power to locate where Grey is. However, it’s not that easy and both men have to go to consider trouble and gruesome deeds to accomplish this goal. The tone is immediately darker as the two men deal with different layers of evil. The side characters are kind of sad with their magic, even while being deadly and incredibly creepy. Rio and more so Devon are interesting in their reactions. It shows more emotion behind both facades.

For as interesting and engaging as the darker tone and more somber vibe of the story, I was disappointed to feel that neither man actually got anymore developed. They’re both fun to read and their sex is smoking hot, no question. However, I still want to know more about where they come from, their backgrounds, who exactly they are. There are some intriguing details dropped about Devon’s past but it was too little and not explored at all. I’m still trusting the story will offer more as the episodes go on but I honestly hope it’s not all action and little character development.

I actually liked this offering better than the first one and am excited to see where it goes. I like the possibility that the main characters are not immune to problems. They’re wildly talented of course, but it’s not to know they’re not invincible. I’m very curious to see where the story goes from here. I’d recommend reading the first one again or waiting to read these back to back though.

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