The Old Power Returns by Morven Westfield © 2007 Harvest Shadows ISBN
0-9741740-7-5 309 pages Paperback $15.95 (U.S.) $21.95 (Canada)
This sequel to Darksome Thirst has been a long time coming. (Darksome
Thirst came out in 2003), and I have been looking forward to reading it
all
that time. It isn't often that you find an author who can make a
juxtaposition of vampires, a witch's coven, and the computer world of the
1980s seem believable. Morven does that.
Although I came into the Craft in the mid-'70s, and thus a few years
before
the setting of this story, I can easily relate to the attitudes and
experiences of Morven's characters - from meeting real witches to whether
to
let fellow employees at my job know about my involvement with the Craft.
To add to that, I know these people. Oh, not the names, but the
personalities and circumstances. In fact, in many ways, I wonder if
Morven
and I may have briefly crossed paths long ago. I'm fairly sure we didn't,
but perhaps we knew the same people at different times. Or, more likely,
the characters are drawn from the same sub-culture which was so prevalent
at
that time - college students, young professionals, and the occasional
social
misfit.
There is no doubt the characters are thoroughly believable (okay, maybe
not
the vampires [totally]). You could walk down the street in any New
England
(or Midwestern or West Coast) city and see their kin, even today. These
are
not stereotypes, these are people.
The witches aren't perfect. They over- ( and under-) react to some
things.
They find themselves victims of their own beliefs and doubts. The
non-witches are just like the average person on the street (okay, once
again, not the vampires). The settings are thoroughly believable, if not
necessarily familiar. Although this is a work of fiction, it isn't
escapist
fiction. With the exception of the existence of physical vampires this
book, and its predecessor, require no great stretch of the imagination.
Morven has said that she plans more books in this series and I, for one,
look forward with eager anticipation for each subsequent volume. While
there are lots of occult-themed novels being produced nowadays, there are
far too few being written by writers who know their subjects as well as
Morven does.
Although I would not go so far as to say that this book will hold up as
well
as Dracula has, I can say that it is as well-written and as suspenseful as
that work.
I freely admit to being susceptible to a good story about witches, as well
as about vampires, and combining the two into one well-told story is a
good
way to feed my addiction.
My one complaint about Morven as a writer is that she suffers from a
severe
case of procrastination. It took her almost 2½ years to write this volume
and, while I understand about life getting in the way of writing, I hope
it
doesn't take as long for the next volume.
On the other hand, I had no need to re-read Darksome Thirst to refresh my
memory of the characters. They were, and are, memorable enough to be
brought back to the forefront of memory with only a few lines of the
author'
s talented pen (or more likely her computer keyboard).
Obviously, there are threads left dangling at the end of this story - how
else could the series continue? There are a few, unexpected twists near
the
end. There are also some unresolved conflicts and relation****ps among the
characters.
I will end this review with a heart-felt recommendation that you get a
copy
of this book at your local bookstore, Amazon.com, or
www.harvestshadows.com;
and with a heart-felt plea to Morven - please don't keep us waiting so
long
for the next installment in this wonderful series.
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