ARMED & MAGICAL *Book 2 in Raine Benasres series* by Lisa Shearin

Publisher: ACE Books
Date published: April 2008
ISBN: 978-0-441-01587-0
Fantasy
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Dawn


Poor Sorceress/Seeker Raine Benares, all she wanted was a quiet life, doing her seeker jobs and enjoying her friends and family. What she got instead was a powerful and evil rock strumming thru her magic, beckoning her to surrender to it. Now she’s on the Island of Mid to see if the powerful conclave can help get rid of the link she has with the soul sucking Saghred. Well, all doesn’t go according to plan and she finds herself stuck in the middle of power mad mages, goblins bent on retrieving the stone and on top of it all, spell singers are being stolen as well from the sorcery school. What is a girl to do except join in the fray and see if she can find a way to solve her problems without blowing the island up in the process. It is about to get ugly!

ARMED & MAGICAL is the second book of the Raine Benares adventure series and frankly, it was one that kept my interest throughout and was highly entertaining from start to finish. Here you have Raine, a mediocre sorceress and a good seeker now stuck with the magical and evil stone, the Saghred, which is connected to her in some way. All she wants is to get rid of the link so she can live her life without someone trying either killing her, capturing her or her friends. What she gets is elves on one side, goblins on the other and add in power hungry mages on the island of Mid, well you can see that this is a girl who isn’t interested in being anyone’s tool.

I loved the fast paced, twists and turns that Ms. Shearin delivers in her second book in the Raine Benares series. The many characters you met in the first book are back and Raine is still one kick butt heroine. Using her brain before magic, she is unique in that she tries to find other means of solving her problems besides using magic and making a bigger mess in the process. Ms. Shearin develops the chemistry between Mychael, Tam and Raine that you are rooting for either of them to win her heart. The characters are multi-dimensional and definitely keep you enthralled with all the going ons at the Island of Mid. Will Raine be able to get rid of the link to that soul sucking rock? Can she find the missing students before all hell breaks loose? Many questions are answered and more are given in ARMED & MAGICAL.