Wraith’s Revenge by Keri Arthur
Subgenre: urban fantasy
Release date: 28 Feb 2023
Publisher: self-published
Format: ebook and print
Length: 315 pages
RRP: $6.99 (ebook); $31.89 (print)
This is such a great series and each time a book ends I’m ready for the next one. Luckily Keri produces her books quickly enough I don’t have to wait years for the next one and the quality of the story stays high.
This book sees Belle and Lizzie leaving their home at the Reservation and heading back to Canberra for the court case against her father for the circumstances around Lizzie’s marriage to Clayton, the abuse of Belle, death of Clayton and that big fat estate to which Lizzie is heir and beneficiary.
As Bette Davis once said (in All About Eve ) … ‘Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.’
Our intrepid duo are, of course, accompanied by their adopted grandfathers—Eli and Ashworth—so someone they trust has their back. Monte isn’t happy at having to stay behind.
Of course, something bigger is waiting for Lizzie in Canberra, and it isn’t the outcome of the court case, the amount of money she might inherit, or even the re-evaluation of her magic level.
Something is targeting members of her family. Outer members are the first to be attacked and then it turns its attention to the immediate family. The wraith who didn’t get her last time. How has he survived and revived? Can she see past the grief of her sister’s death to beat this man once and for all?
Lizzie and Belle are joined by members of the Black Lantern Society, lawyer Anthony, High Witch Council rep Henrietta, Saska, and Samuel (who was a potential match back before Clayton and still finds Lizzie attractive and intriguing). All these new characters are cool folks and their addition to this storyline makes for funny, serious, intelligent and sarcastic moments. Lizzie’s family dynamic really hasn’t changed much, as illustrated when her warnings to her father and her brother fall on deaf ears with just the right amount of disdain.
This enemy is not mucking about, and it becomes clear that it is taking the best/worst kind of revenge…leave the one they really want until last to make them suffer through all the other deaths first. Luckily Lizzie isn’t that close to most of those being hunted at the beginning so it gives her breathing and thinking space.
All of this revenge binging is happening alongside the court case which will decide whether Lizzie’s father broke the rules, Lizzie should answer for Clayton’s death and whether she and Belle will end up with any money from the estate (or will they take all they can because that’s how the law says it should be?).
The deaths are horrible but Lizzie gets a secret weapon—a most unexpected one—to aid her in the fight for her life. It is heartbreaking and bittersweet and beautiful. As all the threads are pulled together and the situation resolved there is a rapprochement, a come-uppance and a win for our heroine and her sidekicks who are just as important to the storyline as Lizzie herself.
We end this book on a joyous moment with the promise that book 11 will pull hard on the threads with Aiden and Lizzie. To what end, and whether we get books 12 to 50, I can’t tell.
I can say, ‘I can’t wait.’
reviewed by Sharon
A review copy of this book was provided by the author.
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