VENDETTA

When Sky studied his maternal grandfather, he was drawn into a dangerous world of Viking shapeshifters, and his cousin Kristin was possessed by the old man’s spirit. Now he hopes to rescue Kristin by turning to the magic of his paternal grandfather. From Norway he has fled to Corsica, where he is embroiled in a centuries-old vendetta between his own family and that of a beautiful young woman. Sky will only be taught the magic of his ancestors if he ends the vendetta by killing lovely Jacqueline Farcese. Can Sky use time travel, berserker madness and shapeshifting—his cursed powers from his Norwegian bloodline—to bring a different ending to the vendetta? Sky’s Corsican adventure is less brutal and overwritten than his travels in The Fetch (2006), allowing more scope for the atmospheric and history-laden tale. Sky could benefit from a few more weaknesses (his tendency to be the smartest magic user in three countries becomes tiresome), but this trilogy is heating up. (Fantasy. 12-14)