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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Anna Windsor: DARK CRESCENT SISTERHOOD

Author:  Anna Windsor
Series:  DARK CRESCENT SISTERHOOD
Plot Type:  SMR
Ratings:  V4, S4, H3
Publisher and Titles:  Ballantine:
         Bound by Shadow (2008)
         Bound by Flame (2008)
         Bound by Light (2008)
         Captive Spirit (2010)
         Captive Soul (2010)
         Captive Heart (2011)  

          WORLD-BUILDING & SERIES SYNOPSIS         
     In the three Bound books, Riana, Cynda, and Merilee are Sybils: a triad of supernatural female warriors. Each sybil is intrinsically connected with an element (earth, fire, and air) and manifests talents that come from her element (e.g., an air sybil can create a tornado; an earth sybil can cause an earthquake). The three women meet their soul mates in a group of handsome good guys who are half-human and half-demon New York Police Department detectives in the Occult Crimes Unit (OCU). Together they battle the evil Asmodai demons of New York City and beyond. 

     At the end of Bound by Light, the Sybils and their allies defeat the Legion, an army of evil demons, but lose many of their own in the process. The Captive books pick up after the big demon battle and tell the SMR stories of a second set of Sybils (acquaintances of the original triad). This group is a quad: four misfits who have lost the members of their original triads. Their talents are far greater than those of their sister Sybils, but they have never been properly trained to use those abilities fully or safely. Villains in the Bound books are the Rakshasa (ancient tiger demons who are accidentally unleashed from the Valley of Death) and the Coven (a group of witches led by power-mad, revenge-driven Griffen and his nutty, but magically powerful, sister Rebecca). 

Here are the soul-mate couples, book by book:
Shadow: Riana (Earth) & Creed (Astaroth demon)
Flame: Cynda (Fire) & Nick (Creed’s twin brother) 
Light: Merilee (Air) & Jake (Astaroth demon healer) 
Spirit: Bela (Earth) & Duncan (human infected by
          Rakshasa demon)
Soul: Camille (Fire) & John (human possessed by a
         Rakshasa demon)
Heart: Andy (Water) & Jack (human FBI advisor to OCU)      
Next book: Dio (Air)

          BOOK 6:  Captive Heart         
     The latest book ) tells Jack and Andy's story (FINALLY!), so you know that you're in for a boatload of angst—from both of them. The Rakshasa have been defeated, but now the Coven is causing trouble—the nutcase Griffen and his equally, but differently, crazy sister, Rebecca.

Here's a great quotation from Captive Heart (p. 6) that gives you an idea of what life is like for Andy Myles, a water elemental:

     "One day you're a good cop with a decent career in New York City.  The next day you're the world's only water Sibyl, a warrior of the Dark Crescent Sisterhood sworn to protect the weak from the supernaturally strong. And not too long after that, you're standing at the bottom of the Ionian Sea in your underwear, nose to beak with a big-ass octopus.
     'Normal people don't have to deal with this shit.' Andy Myles didn't dare take her eyes off the octopus to glare at her companion, a woman so ancient she looked more crusty than the debris in the shell midden under the octopus. Bubbles rose with each word, and Andy breathed in warm, salty breaths of her element, still amazed that she didn't need gills to treat water like air."

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