Magic for a Price by Devon Monk

Allie Beckstrom, Book 9

Synopsis: For most of her life, Allison Beckstrom has used magic and accepted the heavy price it exacts. But now that all magic is poisoned, it’s no longer just using people—it’s killing them.

With Portland about to descend into chaos, Allie needs to find a way to purify the wells of tainted magic beneath the city. But the only options left to her are grim: attempt to close down magic forever, or follow her father’s plan to set magic into the right hands—even though she’s learned to never trust his word.

Now, Allie will have to make a choice and face the darkness of her own deepest fears, before time runs out for them all…

Review: It took me some time before reading this last novel. I always have a little trouble with the end of the series, especially those that I like. And now, after so many years Allie comes to an end. But fortunately, a spin-off of with Terric and Shame is here and it’s also a very good series. Whenever I begin a final, I wonder if the author will really manage to hook us and finish in style. Something which I think is always a very difficult task.

The chaos extends into the city and the war is approaching more and more for our characters and Portland. And who better to lead this rebellion? You guessed right, our dear Allie. Something that she doesn’t really enjoy, but she will do this with all her heart, especially if it means saving the people she loves. From the beginning of the novel, our heroes decide to close and completely purify magic, but their enemies are approaching increasingly doing great damage in their wake, all that to destroy Allie and Zay. But our heroes are tenacious, even if their life is at stake, they will go through all that.

It was a very good book, a nice conclusion. We can read it very fast as everything happens very quickly, allowing us to immerse ourselves completely in the pace of the action and the speed of the events. Zay and Allie will face many dangers, and even more than we might think, and yet they remain united, supporting the one and the other. We discover the consequences of the magical union between Shame and Terric and I must say that it was amazing. Shame is always equal to himself, still funny and subconscious but we love him like that. I loved his speech at the end of the book elsewhere. I had many questions with the other books and I wondered if Devon Monk would give us our answers and I have to say that I’m really glad I learned the truth about many events. We thus discover Daniel from a new perspective and we then understand his character and the sacrifices he has made throughout his life. But that’s not all, we also know a little better Allie and the person she was before meeting Zayvion. However, I have a little disappointment, I really wanted to learn more about Eli, and although we have a few scraps of truth, his character remains rather vague and I’m a little disappointed not to have learned more about him. We go through many emotions throughout the story, joy to tears, but all well balanced.

So it’s a very good book, a nice conclusion and I’m really glad to have discovered this whole series.