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Marla Mason
Heroine of an urban fantasy series by T.A. Pratt
Starring in Blood Engines (October 2007), Poison Sleep (April 2008), Dead Reign (October 2008), and Grift Sense (April 2009)
A fast-paced, thoroughly fun, satisfying read.
--Kelley Armstrong, author of No Humans Involved
Welcome to the Marlaverse. This series follows the adventures of Marla Mason, an ass-kicking sorceress who doesn't wear a leather catsuit, doesn't suffer from low self-esteem, doesn't wallow in angst, and is almost always absolutely certain she's right... even when she's dead wrong.
It's got monsters. It's got sarcasm. It's got death, destruction, sex parties, ancient gods, wisecracks, artifacts, oracles, dark alleys, and magical daggers. Come and see.
Read on for captivating -- yet brief! -- descriptions of each book:
In Blood Engines (10/07), sorcerer Marla Mason, guardian of the city of Felport, has a big problem. A rival is preparing a powerful spell that could end Marla's life -- and, even worse, wreck her city. Marla's only chance at survival is to boost her powers with the Cornerstone, a magical artifact hidden somewhere across the country in San Francisco. But when she arrives in the pretty white city by the bay, she finds the quest isn't quite as simple as she'd expected... and that some of the people she'd counted on for help are dead. It seems that San Francisco's top sorcerers are having troubles of their own -- a mysterious assailant has the city's magical underworld in a panic, and the local talent is being (gruesomely) picked off one by one. With her moderately faithful sidekick Rondeau in tow, Marla is soon racing against time through San Francisco's unknown streets, dodging poisonous frogs, murderous hummingbirds, cannibals, and an increasingly hostile reception from the locals, who suspect Marla herself may be the source of the recent murders. If Marla doesn't figure out who's killing the city's finest in time, she'll be in danger of becoming a magical statistic herself...
In Poison Sleep (4/08), a dangerous inmate escapes from the Blackwing Institute, Felport's home for criminally insane sorcerers, and it's up to Marla to keep things from falling into utter disaster. Marla and Rondeau scour the rapidly-transforming streets of Felport, looking for a trouble psychic who's become the Typhoid Mary of nightmares, infecting everything -- and everyone -- she touches with chaos. Some bad dreams, you don't wake up from. (Oh, and did we mention there's an assassin hunting Marla? And a beautiful boy who's distracting her from her work in a way no one has for a long, long time?)
In Dead Reign (10/08), Marla was having a pretty nice summer until the incarnation of Death walked into town. It seems one of Marla's favorite toys, a magical dagger passed down from one sorcerer to another through the centuries, was once Death's terrible sword, and now Mr. Grim and Reapy wants his property back, even if he has to kill Marla to get it. Most people would probably roll over and do whatever Death Incarnate wants, but Marla isn't most people, so she fights back. Of course, when it comes to messing with gods, even Marla may be out of her league...
In Grift Sense (4/09), an old acquaintance comes to town, and brings trouble with him. (It's a caper novel. But it's not just a caper novel.)
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