J. D. Horn

I generally don't like main characters who don't have anything going for them, and with Mercy starting out as the only powerless person in a witch family who goes begging for a love spell to someone her family despises, this didn't start well. I had figured there would be more to it, and of course there was, but it took a while to materialize. When enough of it did though, I became very curious to see how everything would resolve itself. In the end I rather liked this book. The only thing that still bothers me is Mercy's forgiveness. She has been hurt her entire life by people she trusted, and it seems unnatural to forgive so quickly. Particularly since it seems like she is willing to forgive without consequences for the perpetrators, which doesn't sit well with me.… (més)

20-year old fraternal twins Mercy and Maisie Taylor are the youngest in a long-established, Savannah-based family of witches. While Maisie seems destined for great things, Mercy has inherited no magical gifts, much to the dismay and scorn of the rest of the family, particularly Great Aunt Ginny. When Maisie finds Ginny murdered, her head bashed in, suspicion falls on the Taylor themselves. But this is the least of the witching community’s worries. Ginny was one of a few powerful “anchors” who hold the “line”, a magical boundary which keeps demons and evil spirits from taking over the world of the living. Ginny’s death threatens to disrupt the fragile balance between the two worlds. The anchor needs to be replaced but who will the Power choose?

In “The Line”, the first of a projected series of novels, J.D.Horn taps into the time-honoured tradition of the Southern Gothic and borrows, somewhat indiscriminately, several tropes of the genre – witches, hoodoo, curses and prophecies, restless spirits, family secrets and sensational revelations, revenge and sudden bursts of violence. There's even a seven-foot golem. The context however is clearly contemporary, making the novel more of an “urban fantasy”. Horn also tones down the darker aspects of the story through judicious use of humour and romance and elements of the coming-of-age novel.

The Line’s strongest point is the narrator and protagonist – Mercy Taylor. By turns feisty and insecure, proud and self-deprecating, she seems to embody the fears and joys and the many contradictions of youth. In Mercy, Horn has created a likeable character who should appeal particularly to the young adult demographic.

This is a highly entertaining novel which augurs well for the rest of the series. 3.5 stars.

This review is of a copy sent to me by the author, whom I thank.… (més)