Witchling

Berkley, 276 pages, $6.99

Changling

Berkley, 278 pages, $6.99

Both by Yasmine Galenorn

Camille, Delilah and Menolly D’Artigo are half-human, half-Faerie sisters who find themselves in the middle of a war between good and evil. Think Charmed with a dark twist in which the world has come to know about faeries and other supernatural beings.

Each of the sisters has a talent, Camille is a witch, though her spells don’t always work the way she expects, Delilah is a shape-shifter who sometimes turns into a tabby cat at the most awkward moments and Menolly is a vampire. Each book is told from the viewpoint of one of the sisters.

In Witchling we are introduced to the sisters and their world, or more accurately, worlds. There is Earthside, where the sisters live and work for the Otherworld Investigative Agency and then there is the Otherworld, where the elves, faeries, and other supernatural beings live. Long ago the two worlds intermingled in harmony before events created an Earthside where humans considered supernatural beings to be myth and legend. The Fae never totally left Earthside, having visited constantly over the centuries, but they have now come out of the closet, so to speak, and modern humans have learned that Faeries, vampires and other beings are not the myths they thought they were. Society has adapted: we have Faerie Watchers, sort of a Faerie groupie club, Vampires Anonymous to help vampires and their families get along in polite society and establishments like the Wayfarer Inn where Menolly works, that serves as a meeting place for humans and Faeries as well as a portal to the Otherworld. Add into this mix a Shadow Wing, a really bad guy from the Subterranean Realms who wants to take over earth, a civil war in Otherworld and you’ve got the basic background.

Changeling, told from Delilah’s viewpoint, expands on the plot, and introduces new complications to the sisters’ lives in the forms of new enemies (creepy were-spiders *shudder*), new friends, a band of were-pumas, and new complications to the sisters’ love lives. I particularly enjoyed the scene at a Vampires Anonymous when Menolly meets Wade’s mother.

I am enjoying the plot and the characters, there is a nice balance in the storytelling that sweeps the reader along with the sisters. These are, however, part of Berkley’s Paranormal Romance line and are not suitable for young readers. There is graphic sex as the sisters hook up with their various men friends and somewhat graphic descriptions of the battles.

I can easily recommend this series. Darkling, told from Menolly’s viewpoint, is due out in January and I eagerly await it. - Stephanie L Bannon