Free Fall

After the disastrous fight between The Silence (organization to protect humans from mages) and the Cosa Nostradamus (mages' representative) in "Burning Bridges," you know there's going to be war. Wren and Sergei have broken up because Sergei is addicted to the 'current' that's part of Wren's magical power and Wren knows being intimate will eventually kill him. Most of the fatae have moved out of New York City, but P. B. has opted to remain with Wren in her tiny apartment. Wren and Bonnie, her downstairs neighbor vow to protect the demon (fatae) as best they can. Wren's taking work on her own without Sergei to guide her. Her first assignment nearly gets her killed and convinces her that the Cosa needs to go to war against the Silence, otherwise the Talents will be wiped out. "Free Fall" is a fast-paced, strongly written story of war. It's also a relationship struggle between Wren and Sergei, who truly do love each other. I was in a quandary as to whether I'd read further after "Burning Bridges" but I'm glad I did. I don't know if Ms. Gilman will be writing more in this series or not, but I don't plan on reading more. For me, the end of "Free Fall" struck a nice coda to the five book series.

I love Laura Anne Gilman's books, don't get me wrong, but Free Fall was the first time I actually delved completely into this series. The last couple of books I felt the Wren/Sergei relationship was a little too much. However, like her note at the beginning of the book says, she found out what love is, and she communicated that knowledge very gracefully. So, the first issue to address is the relationship. In Free Fall it felt far more nuanced and real than it has before. Not even just with Sergei, but with PB as well. Second, the first chapter's illustration of what the Silence was when it was founded impressed me a great deal. It allowed more empathy to be placed upon the Organization and really fell in with that old adage "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Third, the plot is clean, and while there were one or two blips I noticed while reading... I can honestly say I don't remember what they were now, so they can't have been all that important. The plot also has so much more pathos than the others. I feel for the characters, even the minor ones, in ways that were not near as deep or as meaning full in Burning Bridges or its predecessors. All in all this was a great book. There is learning and growing, and learning to get along and when to kick butt. Both things are necessary, and both are brilliantly written here.

Free Fall continues three and half months after the battle in Burning Bridges, and in the aftermath most of the non-human magical 'Fatae' have left the city and the 'Cosa', the tenative coalition of all magical beings, is holding its breath waiting for the bigoted power organization, 'The Silence', to strike again -- the Silence won't be satisfied until all the magical beings including the Fatae and the human magic-using 'Talents' have been eliminated. Wren begins the book trying for some normalacy in her post-Sergei world, she still has to pay the bills so she's on a Retrieval, but what should be an easy in-and-grab turns out to be a deadly trap. Wren manages to survive but the price of her survival is one that she doesn't truly understand and the backlash of her actions 'break' her in a subtle way. When minions of the Silence begin openly targeting the Talented, Wren convinces the Cosa to go on the offensive but using guerilla and sniper tactics instead of striking openly. But in order to make their effort effective Wren must search out the master of information, her ex-partner/ex-lover Sergei, who she believes betrayed her trust at the end of the last book. Sergei having accepted the undeserved verdict is very pragmatic, even though he misses Wren, as long as Wren is safe he can handle not being with her, but in order to make sure that she stays safe he continues to do the job the Silence trained him for -- gathering information -- so Sergei is ready with what Wren needs when she comes seeking his help. I enjoyed Free Fall much more than the previous book, which ended on a sad note with the world falling apart and a high price paid by all who survived. But the Free Fall is still mired in wars and politics, where the first three books in the series were focused more on Wren's adventures. Here things are still a mess but I enjoyed the build-up, and all the pieces that fell into play along the way to Wren's 'big Retrieval' -- her contribution to the battle. I was happy to see P.B and Sergei play a big part in the narrative since I love both of these characters. I also liked that these two had finally resolved their adversarial relationship, even as far as coming to respect each other, both united in their love for Wren. Though Wren was definitely the still the star, I liked the way we got a bigger picture view of what was going on in the story with threads following P.B. and Sergei. Also the little peeks into what was happening within the walls of the Silence through Andre's eyes added to the tension too. This did mean that there was a fair amount of setup before the action kicked in, but when it did the book raced to a climatic finish with some surprises along the way. But this time the story ended on more hopeful note and luckily for us Wren's adventures are not over - the series will continue with "Blood from a Stone". Staying Dead (Retrievers, Book 1) Curse The Dark (Retrievers, Book 2) Bring It On (Retrievers, Book 3) Burnin

In the twenty-first century, magic is not used by reciting spells, but by being able to channel current through their bodies. These adepts are called Talents and the non-human members of the Cosa Nostradamus are named Fatae. The Silence is a top secret private organization that protects the innocent from t abuses, but has become corrupted and believes the Talent and the Fatae must be eradicated. Retriever Wren Valerie obtains objects for clients. She is separated from her lover Sergei the Null who can not channel current, but is addicted to it. If they make love and her current goes out of control, Sergei will die. He forgives her for their separation and hopes they can find a way back together. Meanwhile he uses his contacts inside the Silence to gather information for the upcoming confrontation with the magic users. Wren is in underground place for a meeting but it is really a trap and she is almost raped and killed by vigilante Nulls who label her as "it". However she kills them instead and is determined to breach the fortress of the Silence in order to retrieve kidnapped children with Talent being brainwashed for use in some Silence operations. Sergei and Wren's live-in cuddly demon P.J. plan to keep her safe as the three know something is not right with Wren. This latest Retriever novel is one of the best tales in an exhilarating series due in part to the separation between Wren and Sergei. Readers see both sides prepare for the upcoming final battle with the current channel practitioners coming together to protect Magical Manhattan. Fans of fantasy and romantic fantasy will appreciate Laura Anne Gilman's superb FREE FALL. Harriet Klausner