Husband and Wife Craft a Story of Fairies and Magic Set in NYC

Black Swan Rising is the first in a series of fantasy novels by husband and wife team Carol Goodman and Lee Slonimsky.  Our heroine is Garet James a jeweler and adventurer into the magic realm and her nemesis is the alchemist of old, John Dee.   Garet stumbles upon her special power and is trained by Oberon, the actual Oberon Shakespeare immortalized, who works in a hospital by day.  Puck is here and a fire fey called LOL because she is credited with creating the term on the internet.  There is also a dragon and an enchanted fish. The story is full of magical creatures throughout the book.  Garet finds a silver jewelry box emblazoned with the exact symbol the ring her mother gave her bears.  The mysterious jewelry box is found in a jewelry store that has disappeared the next day, run by an alchemist who has been making our world a miserable place everytime her comes into a bit of power.  He is blamed for everything from Hitler, deadly weather, and the suicide attempt by Garet’s friend. By opening the jewelry box Garet has unknowingly unleashed Dee’s power once again on the world and changed her life forever. Garet must be initiated into the world of magic by Oberon and a vampire named Will, a hedge fund manager, to use her new powers.  Her training must be done quickly to stop the demons of mayhem transported into the city by a deadly fog.

The plot line moves smoothly from a burglary in the art gallery owned by Garet and her Father, Roman,  Garet meets Oberon at the hospital as he cares for her Father who has sustained an injury during the robbery.  The robbers have stolen valuable Pissaro paintings and to make it all worse Garet and her Father are in the throes of financial ruin.  With Oberon’s training Garet quickly learns to see the aura of everyone she meets and he introduces her to different creatures who parade as mere mortals to the unknowing eye.  Garet is a Watchtower, destined to protect the world from danger, destruction, and dark magic.  Her mother died in a car accident and had never passed on her legacy to her daughter. The book has been labeled urban fantasy but the only thing urban about it is the setting.  Readers of traditional fantasy will be pleased with the tale.  I see an especial appeal to young adults.  Garet is a young 20 something heroine and her friends are members of an alternative rock band.  It is a satisfying story and there is a sequel, The Watchtower which the library owns.

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Review by Kathleen Richardson