Becca Andre

With this volume, Addie, the amnesiac Master Alchemist, continues to narrate her first person account. Faced with the need to redeem herself for the mental damage inflicted on Era, the Air Element, at the end of the previous main volume, Addie needed a laboratory. She did a deal with Ian, the undead necromancer, to use the facilities of his own. In exchange, she produced the Final Formula, the Elixir of Eternal Life and he is now restored to the prime of physical condition, though still dead.

She is still estranged from the Elements, including the Fire Lord with whom she had a brief affair. Then a series of murders occur, of magical beings, using the alchemically enhanced bullets that Addie previously made for killing animals when she worked at the gunshop owned by the psychotic brothers of her friend James.

This story was a disappointment. The interest would have been in the internal conflict in the character, who does not want to remember what she apparently did before the start of book 1, but instead there is a concentration on non stop action and violence. Also characters act stupidly, including Addie herself, running into peril for no good reason. Despite the constant murders, they act casually to the point where I fully expected a certain character to be shot so it was no surprise when it happened. James' brothers dish out over the top pointless violence, to the point where they become cartoon characters. The other main villain who it seems was behind only some of the murders, doesn't seem to have any real reason to have committed them. And there are scenes which are unclear - if the Final Formula requires a drop of the blood of an Element, why does Addie persist in using James' instead? Unless that was to misdirect the brothers - however, there were quite a few points throughout the novel which were unclear.

The book does show a competent level of skill, however, and So on balance, I would grant this 3 stars.… (mer)