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Witches Incorporated (Rogue Agent 2) by K.E. Mills |
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Written by Satima Flavell
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Friday, 26 June 2009 |
Harper Voyager 2009: ISBN: 9780732286057
In this, the second book of her Rogue Agent series, K.E. Mills once again gives us a roller coaster ride with Gerald Dunwoody and his friends. Gerald has his first assignment as a Janitorial Agent for the dreaded Sir Alec and his mysterious Department, while Melisande and her friend Bibbie, together with the irrepressible winged chatterbox Reg, have set up a witches’ locum agency. As we might expect, things do not go according to plan on either front, and we swing from breathless tension to belly laughs and back again as we watch the crazy scenario unfold.
As we have come to expect from K.E. Mills and her alter ego, Karen Miller, we find well-drawn characters, each with enough personal idiosyncrasies to keep a team of analysts busy for months. The snooty Permelia Wycliffe and her brother Ambrose; the tizzy social climber, Eudoria Telford; the band of crazy women who make up the Ottosland Baking and Pastry Guild and the harrassed employees of the Wycliffe Airship Company – all have something special to add to the delectable mix. There’s plenty of witty repartee and high jinx as Gerald and Melisande, quite without realising it, enter a collision course.
I have said more than once that Mills/Miller has a notable skill for depicting believable male characters. In Witches Incorporated, she has chosen to focus on the female of the species, by and large with considerable success. But there were times when the women and their antics did not quite ring true, and I found myself wanting to see less of them and more of Gerald. He is one of those completely unbelievable characters who nevertheless makes the reader suspend disbelief cheerfully, because in spite of his incredible antics, he comes across as quintessentially human, with all the fears and foibles that entails. The female characters, who actually dominate the book, did not draw my sympathy nearly as readily. Perhaps this is a purely personal thing – Gerald already had my heart and I was disappointed not to see more of him this time around.
Personal preferences aside, this is a very funny and entertaining book and I doubt that many fans of the first book, The Acccidental Sorcerer, will be in any way disappointed by Witches Incorporated. Go and read more about K.E. Mills and Karen Miller at http://www.karenmiller.net/ .
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 05 July 2009 )
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