Lily Singer
is an archivist at the McCain Library on the campus of Agnes Scott. She’s a bit young for the job, but she was
groomed for the position by the previous manager, Madam Barrington, because of
Lily’s educational and library background and because she’s a wizard.
Quite
helpful when, unbeknownst to most, the Archives contain an extensive collection
of occult books, some of which can be dangerous.
Madam
Barrington, herself a wizard, undertook to train Lily in more than library
management. She’s still close by,
serving as mentor. She takes a certain
amount of pride in Lily, but not in her great nephew Sebastian who is working
to become a witch; in fact, she’s disowned Sebastian, but that doesn’t stop him
from pestering Lily.
At this
point I should explain that in this world, wizards are the ones born with
innate power that needs to be honed.
There are very few of them around. Witches, on the other hand, are those
who seek powers, usually by an exchange of favors with magical folk. Often the humans who seek this route are
fools, getting themselves into situations beyond their control, which is pretty
much how Madam sees Sebastian. Lily is more tolerant—just. It would be easier if Sebastian didn’t
involve her in some of his schemes….
This first
volume in the series is divided up into “episodes,” but they are really a set
of novellas, letting readers learn not only the characters but the supernatural
ground rules. In “Hell Hath No Fury,” Sebastian
has taken on the job of exorcising a house while in “Mobius” a town is caught
in a time loop.
While no
real new ground is broken here, Sherrer does tell an entertaining story. Although the writing is third person, some
sections are more from Lydia’s point of view while others give us a better
understanding of what makes Sebastian tick.
(Good thing, because Sebastian can come across as annoying.)
I did enjoy
these and was ready to start the second book in the series, only to find that
the library’s copy had gone missing. I’ll be watching for it, and will be
interested to see how these characters develop.
The titles
in the Lily Singer series are Beginnings, Revelations, Allies,
Legends, Betrayal, and Identity.
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