Waiting on Wednesday: 'Death Magic' World of the Lupi #8 by Eileen Wilks

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming release that we're eagerly anticipating.

TITLE: 'Death Magic' World of the Lupi #8

AUTHOR: Eileen Wilks

RELEASE DATE: November 1st 2011

BLURB:

DEATH MAGIC opens with Special Agent Lily Yu in Washington, D.C. with her fiancé--lupi prince Rule Turner—to testify before a Senate subcommittee about her role in the magical collapse of a mountain last month. She is not there to tell them about the strange legacy she carries from that event—or about the arcane bond between her and Rule--or what her boss in Unit Twleve of the FBI’s Magical Crimes Division is really up to. She sure won’t tell them that the lupi are at war with an Old One who wants to remake humanity in her own image.

Lily is managing the conflict between her duty as an officer of the law and the need for secrecy pretty well . . . until the rabidly anti-magic senator who chairs that committee is murdered. The line between right and wrong, always so clear to her, becomes hopelessly blurred as events catapult them all towards disaster, and prophecies of a cataclysmic end to the country she loves and serves--and to the entire race of lupi--seem well on their way to being fulfilled.

I adore Eileen Wilks's 'World of the Lupi' series. It is one of the best and most original urban fantasies out there. I can't believe we've been with Lily and Rule for eight books now ... it feels like it was only yesterday that I was foraging for books to fill the curiosity that 'Mercy Thompson', 'Sookie Stackhouse' and the like had infected me with. I stumbled across 'World of the Lupi' from word of mouth on the Amazon recommends pages, and had my curiosity heightened when many message board devotees pimped the series to me. And I'm so glad I found it.

Wilks's world has werewolves in the limelight, as tabloid fodder and political scandal. She takes the old mythology and puts a contemporary cultural and societal spin on it. Not to mention a steamy, illicit romance with an FBI agent and prince werewolf. *sigh*

I'm really looking forward to 'Death Magic' because book #7 was SPECTACULAR. 'Blood Challenge' was a real departure from the norm in the 'Lupi' series. In this book, a previously secondary character was given the narrative limelight and a new romance introduced. I loved Arjenie and Benedict - they were complete opposites with complicated pasts and plenty of baggage. But they were also terribly romantic, and Benedict became a new book boyfriend favourite.

I don't know how big an appearance Benedict and Arjenie will have in 'Death Magic', since Wilks has a short story planned for them in the Christmas supernatural anthology 'Tied With a Bow'. I do hope they at least make a cameo appearance... but even if they don't, I'd be quite happy for 'Death Magic' to be the Lily and Rule show. Are these two crazy kids gonna get married already!?!

Although, considering the HUGE end of 'Blood Challenge' that thrust Cynna and Cullen into the spotlight ... I have a feeling the 'World of the Lupi' will be expanding once again beyond Lily and Rule. I trust in Eileen Wilks completely, and will be salivating for this eighth instalment in the coming months!