Five rituals to control Chaos. That’s all it takes.Now that Harley knows her enemy’s grand plan—to become a godlike Child of Chaos and punish those deemed “unworthy”—she’s got to figure out what the heck to do about it. Many of the missing magicals are still out there, and Katherine has vowed to kill everyone Harley cares about and make her watch.So that’s fun.Just when it seems like things can’t … fun.
Just when it seems like things can’t get much worse, one of the most precious monsters of the Bestiary escapes, and Harley is sure that Katherine has her dirty hands involved. But that crazy witch had better be ready because Harley has finally figured out a way to unleash her powers—although the cost might not be worth it.
Astrid, a human living amongst magicals, is just as determined to thwart Katherine’s schemes. At the same time, her budding romance with the Coven’s trademark bad boy has earned her father’s disapproval, and it seems like betrayal is lurking around the corner…
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Excellent audiobook, Harley and Astrid are dual protagonists
Book 4 begins immediately after the events of Book 3 in this series. Holly now knows that Katherine Shipton is determined to complete five terrifyingly powerful magical rituals in order to ultimately become a demigod called a “Child of Chaos.” After that, she plans to rule the world of both humans and magicals, committing mass murder along the way—including destroying every person Harley cares about and, ultimately, Harley herself.
Astrid is a human living among the magicals because her father is a magical—whose identity we finally discover in this novel. We also experience Astrid’s growing romance with Raffe, as well as the fascinating relationship she establishes with the djinn that has coexisted inside Raffe’s body since birth.
Holly continues to grow in friendship and loyalty to a team of young magicals who are all in their late teens like her. They include Tatyana Vasilisa, Santana Catemaco, Raffe Levi, Astrid Hepler, Dylan Blight, and Wade Crowley, who is Harley’s romantic interest throughout this series. Harley and her teammates are dedicated to halting Katherine’s horrifying plot. Their current crucial, intermediate mission is to stop Katherine’s first ritual.
Similar to Books 2 and 3, this book is also narrated in the alternating first-person points of view of both Harley and one of her teammates, in this case, Astrid. Though Astrid is human, she is a tech genius whose accomplishments with hacking and digital spying are so improbably far-fetched, they fall into the realm of “weird science.” We also experience Astrid’s growing romantic relationship with Garrett Kyteler, whose motivations continue to be suspect.
Though Harley and her friends are legally of age and none are in high school, which would logically cause a reader to assume that this series is “New Adult” rather than “Young Adult,” it is in fact marketed as YA. Perhaps that is because it shares the following characteristics with books typically written for an audience aged 12-17: (1) the story is told from the first-person POV of characters who are in their late teens; (2) there are no drugs, booze, smoking, swearing, wild parties or sex—only a few very mild kisses; (3) the two heroines are social misfits, and their teammates—other than Wade—are all, in their own way, social misfits as well; (4) the powerful, experienced, adult witches and warlocks in the San Diego coven and the California Mage Council continue to incomprehensively either sit on the sidelines throughout the dangerous action of this story in relation to Katherine Shipton, or seem to be amazingly ineffectual—which mostly leaves it up to Harley and her relatively inexperienced team to save the coven and the human race from horrible danger. This is known as “orphaning” the protagonist(s), which is a hallmark of all action-adventure plots in general—including adult action adventure.
Harley’s most important characteristics, which make her a very sympathetic protagonist, are: compassion, courage, and enough conviction in her mission that she never gives up or sits on the sidelines. This is true of Astrid as well, though, right from the first, it is obvious that, of the whole team, including Wade, Harley potentially has the most magical power of any of them. And that power continues to expand, from book to book.
Given that there are nine books in this series in which Harley is the main character, and given the fact that this book is urban fantasy and not paranormal romance, it is not surprising to me that the author continues to move the romance between Harley and Wade at a snail’s pace. In this installment, they are at about the same place they were in the previous book, viewing each other as someone to admire and count on in the thick of fierce battles, because their finally sharing a kiss on the lips does not advance their relationship into boyfriend/girlfriend status.
Similar to Books 1-3, the pace of this story moves quickly. The author avoids extended, boring exposition, instead telling the story through dialogue and plenty of brisk action. The central mission, stopping Katherine Shipton before she destroys the world, continues to be the main focus of this novel.
I experienced this book both in Kindle and audiobook format. The narrator is Amanda Ronconi, who does an excellent job acting out the dialogue for all the various characters, portraying with equal skill male and female voices and various national accents.
These are all the Harley Merlin books in this extensive series in which Harley is the main protagonist:
Book 1: Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven, 2018 (from Harley’s POV)
Book 2: Harley Merlin and the Mystery Twins, 2018 (from Harley and Tatyana’s POV)
Book 3: Harley Merlin and the Stolen Magicals, 2018 (from Harley and Santana’s POV)
Book 4: Harley Merlin and the First Ritual, 2018 (from Harley and Astrid’s POV)
Book 5: Harley Merlin and the Broken Spell, 2018 (from Harley and Wade’s POV)
Book 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris, 2018 (from Harley and Finch’s POV)
Book 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix, 2019 (from Harley and Jacob’s POV)
Book 8: Harley Merlin and the Challenge of Chaos, 2019 (from Harley and Katherine’s POV)
Book 9: Harley Merlin and the Mortal Pact, 2019 from Harley, Finch and Katherine’s POV)
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Romantic Interest: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Action Plot: 4 stars
Astrid Romantic Subplot: 3 stars
Harley Romantic Subplot: 3 stars
World-building: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
Audiobook Narration: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars
great read!