Spirits That Walk in Shadow

Long written reviews that tell you the whole book is a waste. Nina Kirki Hoffman has a great imagination, can write to all ages, and is fun as well as a pleasure to read.

I adored The Thread that Binds the Bones, even if it wasn't as polished as it might have been. I liked The Silent Strength of Stones, which seemed a little darker and more introspective. But I LOVED this one. It had all the polish that her first Chapel Hollow novel lacked, and a lot of the darker, more introspective aspects of her second. Her writing gets tighter and better with each installment. Somehow I just like the characters and the premise of Chapel Hollow better than her other series.

Jaime Locke was a minor character in The Thread That Binds The Bones, but Spirits is more like a direct sequel to the short story 'Exact Change,' which appeared in the 2 Hoffman anthologies Common Threads and Courting Disasters and also in Weird Tales #299. In that story Jaime starts to question the morality she's being taught by her magic teacher and starts to try to figure out her own destiny and how she wants to use her magical powers. In 'Exact Change,' Jaime is an elementary school kid; now she is an adult, shortly after The Thread That Binds The Bones, and decides to go to college in the Outside, away from her magical family, and see how she does. Once in college, she meets her roommate Kim, who has a recent history of depression no meds will help. They find out Kim is a victim of a being called a viri, a sort of vampire that feeds on emotions instead of blood. The pair then encounter a viri who claims Kim's viri is a rogue viri, whom he is chasing, and two cousins of Jaime's who have had a very different magical education and have different attitudes about interacting with normals. These five people from different backgrounds interact, sometimes conflicting with each other, and search for Kim's viri to make it stop feeding on her. I love Nina Kiriki Hoffman's work and wonderful writing style, and found this book very satisfying. Hoffman writes about magic very well, sliding it between the threads of the fabric of everyday life, and often writing about the souls of everyday objects, like trees and (in Past the Size of Dreaming) garbage cans. A few characters from Hoffman's other novel The Silent Strength of Stones also appear in this book, but it isn't necessary to read that, or The Thread That Binds The Bones, to enjoy Spirits. It's also an interesting coincidence that both Nina Kiriki Hoffman and PC Hodgell released (very different) books about a character Jaime/Jame going to college in the same year.

A sequel to THE THREAD THAT BINDS THE BONES, this book is long overdue but well worth the wait. Jaimie Locke is a marvelous character that brings the magic into this magical tale, while the other point of view character is her room-mate Kim, who brings the drama. Like the first reviewer commented, the book's only flaw is that it ended all too soon. If you like contemporary tales of magic, this book is for you. If you like well-developed characters and plots, this book is for you. Heck, if you can read, this book is for you. I, for one, cannot wait for Nina's next Chapel Hollow story. They're always a treat.

Jaimie Locke is a character from The Spirit That Binds the Bones. Anyone who enjoyed that will definitely want this book. Hoffman at her best, and one of the best writers in the fantasy field, yesterday or today. The only way to make this book better would be to make it longer.