SPELLBENT
By Lucy A. Snyder

Jessie Shimmer's roguish lover, Cooper, has been teaching her ubiquemancy, the art of finding the magic in everyday things. But things go terribly wrong when the couple try to call a rainstorm in downtown Columbus. A hellish portal opens, and Cooper is ripped from the world. Worse yet, a vicious demon invades the city. Jessie barely manages to slay it, but she's gravely wounded and the capital's center is destroyed. As if losing an eye and a hand isn't bad enough, the city's ruling mage, Benedict Jordan, brands her an outlaw. With only her ferret familiar to help her, Jessie must find the dimension Cooper's trapped in and bring him back alive before sinister machinations make both of them vanish for good.

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Spellbent by Lucy Snyder; Del Rey, 2010; 368 pgs; $7.99

Lucy Snyder first hit the horror ground running with her stellar SPARKS AND SHADOWS collection, garnering a Black Quill Award.  Now here she comes with a dazzling first novel that reads so well, one has a hard time believing she’s treading virgin territory.  It’s possible the magic she built around her hometown of Columbus, Ohio isn’t so fictional with the way her narrative flows, often blending humor, darkness, and romance within the same chapter, all without apparent effort.

Young, beautiful mage Jessie Shimmer finds her world shattered, literally and figuratively when her boyfriend and sorcerer, Cooper, seemingly casts the mother of all “oops” spells.  A hole straight to hell gapes into her reality, sucking her man deep into its maw while spitting out some nastiness that she pray stayed swallowed in the belly of true evil.   She winds up alone with her familiar, a funky ferret named Palimpset (Pal) whose wit adds a sidekick humor which offsets her mental and physical injuries.  It seems that every denizen of the magical world has an animal familiar who fits the character’s personality and needs.  What’s more lovable and witty than a ferret?  Certainly not the dragon and hellfire excrement shot out of the opening which leaves Jessie without an eye or right arm, not to mention the ton of help she’ll need to save her lover.  Typical bad guy and leader of the local magical world, Jordan, appears more right-wing heavy than spell caster.  He strips Jessie of all resources, most of which are her friends and adopted family in a move that reeks of bad politics, sending her on a quest to find not only Cooper but her true history and purpose in this world.

Urban fantasy often yields hit or miss results due to many factors, mostly the cumbersome task of world-building, plotting, and characters who too often seem to be rip-offs of either Harry Dresden or Harry Potter. Snyder deftly sidesteps the pitfalls here with a character which is drawn too humble, honest, and human to be a carbon copy. The ferret foil serves to bring out more of the true Jessie while keeping the familiar “real” and not a cartoonish nuance as in so many other efforts. The supporting cast, mundane and magical, further add to Jessie’s character while she helps to flesh them out into true three dimensional people the reader will be hard pressed not to root for (with the exception of Jordan).  Snyder builds her version of Columbus around the plot and action, not the other way around which yields a fast pace that keeps the reader turning as well as learning without getting bogged down in setting or terminology.  Who would’ve thought Columbus could actually be this interesting? Maybe all it needed was a little magic here or there, a little spellcasting to chase away the doldrums.  It seems the true talent here is in Snyder’s imagination as she takes this small-big town and turns preconceptions on their ears.

SPELLBENT ends on a pretty cool cliffhanger, which works in Snyder’s favor as it is the first of trilogy.  Again, this can be a tricky move for a debut novel, banking on readers coming back for more, yet in her hands, the characters clamor for more and beg for their dilemmas to be resolved. Her world succeeds and prospers due to the realism of the characters and emotions more than the magic and creatures.  Sure, those elements are innovative and intriguing, yet that’s probably not what will get her fans to buy the next two books.  Highly recommended for any fan of urban fantasy or for those who love losing themselves in a good story.