By H. M. Garber
Kyt Dotson’s second volume consists of three more chapters of her “Mill Avenue Vexations”: The Calm Before, The Wanton Wand, and The Hanged Man.
In the first chapter, The Calm Before, Kyt introduces two new characters, Richard and Megan. Richard is charged to carry a message about the mysterious threat from last volume. Korey, Darlene, and Mary Beth probably escaped the consequences of their magic ritual. However, all of them experience nightmares, and David is still missing. In The Wanton Wand, Vex explains to Patrick what’s going on, and introduces him to a Gypsy ally, Madame Summer.
Madame Summer explains that it may not be as simple a problem as Vex was prepared for. In The Hanged Man, a group of “celebrities of the street,” gather to discuss the omens and portents they have seen. Korey and Mary Beth wake up with more than a hangover from their Irish coffees, and Vex is confronted by longtime rival Nathan, who is seeking to apologize!
Once again, Kyt has succeeded in making her readers feel like they really know the street scene of Tempe, Arizona. Even characters who are only in the story for a few moments feel distinct and well developed. While we know from the last volume that only a few will survive the coming apocalypse, she has given us clues as to who it might be. Kyt Dawson has a talent for making the reader care about her characters.
This volume is titled very well. We know that there is a massive storm of dark magic coming, but Kyt keeps adding more and more to the brew. She does a good job of creating the mundane world of before, so that her readers worry about the “after.” While mostly mundane forces are present in this volume, she does not lose the sinister undercurrents and sense of dark horror, with evil lurking just beyond the scenes.
The second volume of Mill Avenue Vexations can be found at http://www.millvexations.com/read/index.php
Yay! The next volume is out. It’s ominous, and foreshadowing, and all those “impending doom” words. Escape? There is no escape! Muahahaha.
Ok, but more seriously. I’m past this volume, but I have been re-reading the volumes available on the web recently. I love Kyt’s writing style: descriptive but not TOO descriptive. Plus Kyt’s characters turn into real people in my head after a bit. I love that!
For all of you that haven’t read the series yet, I highly recommend it. For those of you who have, I recommend you read it again! And read some of the tributes. It’s the perfect time of year to read The Legend of Sleepy Phoenix.