Firewall

Magic Born #3

by Sonya Clark

Book three of Magic Born

She was the only Magic Born to ever escape the Rangers. Now there’s a ten-million-dollar bounty for her return.

Trancehacker Tuyet Caron could have left New Corinth for good, but instead uses her magic and risks her life on a daily basis to help the Magic Born. She’s been careful to avoid capture, but a careless glance at a video camera brings her face to face with the Ranger who let her go.

Captain Dale Hayes let Tuyet walk away once, but he won’t make that mistake again. When faced with the ultimate choice, however, he chooses her with barely a thought. But that also means siding with the Magic Born and becoming a fugitive in the eyes of the law.

Tuyet and Dale plan to flee, but are caught in a deadly riot that kills innocent people. Outraged, the pair vows to bring an end to the Magic Laws, regardless of what that means for their own safety.

79,000 words

Genres: Romance, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Fiction

207 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2014

About the author

Sonya Clark discovered she was a writer at the age of thirteen. Ray Bradbury whispered it to her through the pages of his books. The Vampire Lestat encouraged this lunacy in florid fashion, and Pennywise the Clown muttered dire warnings of what would happen should she neglect her calling. It took many years – many, like, a lot, yo – for her to figure out how to actually finish a manuscript. Once she unlocked that mystery, there was no turning back.

Sonya writes a few different flavors of romance – paranormal, sci-fi, and contemporary. She loves music, has a weird thing for the abstract art of Wassily Kandinsky, and a long-standing obsession with Robert Johnson that will one day result in a blues-themed novel. She lives with her husband and daughter in Tennessee.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a world where humans with magical abilities are thought of as 2nd class citizen. Segregation is law. Magic born rights are repeatedly striped away and the magical are struggling to survive. Tuyet Caron is a magical trancehacker working for the government, but when she ran from them she became an enemy of the state.

Captain Dale Hayes has always regretted the woman he let get away, Tuyet Caron. His one act of not stopping her caused him to be stripped of his team, rank and given a desk job. Now he has one opportunity to redeem himself as a Ranger, bring in Tuyet for trial and punishment...but first he must face the woman he never got over. Hayes must decide if he will get the career he always dreamed of or side against them with the magic born…breaking every law he has believed in. Hayes quickly realizes that the laws are wrong but can he and Tuyet make a difference.

Firewall is a highly original story taking place in a contemporary but dystopian world.

Greed and power take on an entirely new meaning when it comes to controlling the magic born.

Clark creates a fabulous world to explore. Her writing is descriptive and highly imaginative. It is a take on segregated camps with a magical twist.

The plot has huge potential but never really gripped me. There is lots of drama and sexual tension but there are also a lot of side lines that distracts you from the overall story. I enjoyed Firewall but wasn’t riveted to the pages so I give it 3 ½ stars.

I received this ARC copy of Firewall from Carina Press in exchange for a honest review. This book is set for publication December 1, 2014.

Written by: Sonya Clark
Series: Magic Born
Sequence in Series: 3
ISBN-13: 9781426899300
Publisher: Carina Press
Publication date: 12/1/2014
Sold by: HARLEQUIN
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy | Paranormal Romance
Find this book on: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

[All Things Urban Fantasy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.

The Magic Born series has been, so far, a very well done, consistently written series, and I was hoping for similar in FIREWALL. After Lizzie and Vadim, I wasn't sure if any couple could be better, or if there would be as much delving into the world. Luckily, FIREWALL delivered everything I hoped for.

I'll admit, I've been looking forward to Tuyet's story since we first meet her in the series. She's mysterious and pretty badass. I wanted to know all her secrets and find out all about her. And what better way than to have her old Ranger partner show up and be the romantic interest? We get glimpses of Tuyet's past and flashbacks to her childhood growing up in a different city's magic zone, which allows the reader to get to know her, and Hayes, in a different way than the previous couples didn't have. The history between Hayes and Tuyet gave another dimension to their relationship and didn't leave any insta-love feelings hanging around. We also get a chance to catch up with all our favorite characters from WITCHLIGHT and TRANCEHACK, but those cameos don't take over the story- it is still very much Tuyet and Hayes that take center stage in this one.

While Vadim and Lizzie remain my favorite couple, FIREWALL reaches beyond the relationship of Tuyet and Hayes into the politics of the world Clark created, which gives the whole story a depth that isn't necessarily felt as much in the first two books. The ending is beautiful and just what I would have wanted for all three couples. I'm sad to see the series end, but glad I got to go along for the ride.

Sexual content: Sex scenes, references to prostitution and pedophila

[A Reader's Heaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Trancehacker Tuyet Caron could have left New Corinth for good, but instead uses her magic and risks her life on a daily basis to help the Magic Born. She's been careful to avoid capture, but a careless glance at a video camera brings her face to face with the Ranger who let her go.
Captain Dale Hayes let Tuyet walk away once, but he won't make that mistake again. When faced with the ultimate choice, however, he chooses her with barely a thought. But that also means siding with the Magic Born and becoming a fugitive in the eyes of the law.
Tuyet and Dale plan to flee, but are caught in a deadly riot that kills innocent people. Outraged, the pair vows to bring an end to the Magic Laws, regardless of what that means for their own safety.

This is the third and final book in the Magic Born series and has to be the best of the lot...

There is a lot to like about this book. Let's just mention a few of them:

The world-building has been a feature of this series from the start. The setting is hard to describe - a dystopian USA but still with a hint of contemporary to it. The Magic Born and their society is brilliantly put together, and the writing is descriptive and obviously of someone with an amazing imagination.

Other things to love: the relationship between Tuyet and Dale. Each of the books has featured a romantic angle but this one works best for me. It is more of a case of sparking a simmering romance, rather than that horrible insta-love that seems popular. We got to see a little more of Tuyet's background and life, and her history makes us just love her. I like the way that was done - flashbacks, rather than info dumps in dialogue. I did appreciate that.

Finally, the ending was such a brilliant way to finish that even the toughest critic would have a hard time saying that wasn't the most appropriate way to bring the series to a climax.

This is a highly recommended series - go and check it out!


Paul
ARH

[Stacy McKitrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of tension and action and romance. This was really a good book and a nice ending for the trilogy. I think if I had realized it was JUST a trilogy, I would have bought and read this book sooner. My bad.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published at Reading Reality

I have to say that I have loved every book in Sonya Clark’s Magic Born series so far (start with Trancehack), and Firewall is no exception. The worldbuilding in this series is chilling, scary and consistently awesome.

I read Firewall just as the deliberations from the grand jury in Ferguson were being announced, and the parallels between the society in the book and the actions of the elected officials in Ferguson was frighteningly close.

When the powers that be are unhappy that news of their abuses has gotten out of their tight cordon of control, they blame social media. This was true in the speech, and is also true in the book.

It gave me goosebumps, and it made me think. And shiver.

Firewall is the final book in Sonya Clark’s Magic Born series. This is a near-futuristic dystopian world where the U.S. has made itself into a dysfunctioning, economically depressed dystopia by locking all of those born with magic into ghettos and taking away their citizenship and rights. Because anyone can have a magic born child whether they themselves are magic born or not, children are taken away from their parents in infancy, as soon as the DNA test is administered.

Needless to say, the birthrate is dropping like a rock, because no one who wants a child wants to face the possibility that the child will be taken away.

By the time of Firewall, things have reached a tipping point. The restrictions on the magic born are increasing, and the total lockdown of magic born ghettos has plunged nearby neighborhoods into economic depression. Since no one initially wanted to live near a Freaktown, those nearby neighborhoods weren’t in good shape to begin with.

Lots of people are more and more sympathetic to magic born. The younger generation is much more tolerant than their elders. And the elders want to hang onto power at all costs.

Forces collide with violence. The government wants to bring in one of the few magic users they trained who escaped their clutches. After her, they send her former partner, the agent who probably let her escape. The agent who certainly has continued to love her in the three years since she left.

Tuyet Caron feels responsible for the new repressive laws against the magic born. As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, she facilitated the escape of a woman and her magic born lover. Unfortunately for everyone, that woman was the wife of a prominent anti-magic politician, who is more than willing to use his professional clout to avenge a person wrong.

As the crackdown deepens, the violence escalates, and encompasses more people, including non-magic born. Into this volatile mix, Tuyets old partner Lee Hayes comes to either take her in, or help her escape again.

Their old enemy is right behind him.

But the climax of the story concerns the effects of the total information blackout on everything wrong in the flashpoint city of New Corinth. All info, including social media, is blocked by a firewall of tech and magic, maintained by a news corporation that wants to continue its monopoly on secret magic use.

Breaking that firewall, no matter what the cost, is crucial to bringing down the magic laws. Everybody pays dearly to make things right.

Escape Rating A+: While the love story between Hayes and Caron is sweetly done (three years of repression makes for a lot of sparkage!) I felt like the real depth in this story was the way that people came together to make sure the word got out.

Everyone in New Corinth knows that things are bad there, but because all true information from the ghettos is instantly repressed, no one on the outside knows about the police atrocities. And yes, there are definitely atrocities, including shooting unarmed civilians as they flee the violence, and otherwise deliberately sabotaging escape routes so that innocents are trapped in the kill zone, if not killed outright.

It’s brutality on a massive scale, but too many people who would be righteously opposed are kept completely in the dark and fed propaganda. It’s obscene in its way, and all too easy to believe.

They can’t beat the police - it’s not possible and it isn’t what they need. What they need, what the whole country needs, is for the truth to get out so that the situation can be repaired. Not just that the magic born can become citizens again, but that the U.S. can recover economically. The cost for disenfranchising and entire population is frighteningly clear.

It is possible to substitute the current treatment of any repressed group and come to the same sad conclusion about the potential future. That’s what made this book, and this series, so incredible for me. It was awesomely entertaining, and it made me think seriously at the same time.

[Jeannie Zelos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firewall, Sonya Clark
Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews
The final book in the Magic Born series, and its a real stunner. I thought after the last book there was still so much discord, and the groups so fractured and struggling for day to day survival, I didn’t see how on earth Sonya would or could pull it all together for a satisfying conclusion in just one more book. But she does,  and its just perfect!!
The people in Freaktown and its outskirts are struggling just to get food, now their jobs and contact with the other side where the Normals live and work has been stopped, and they rely on rations which simply aren’t enough, and are stopped when they protest. Its like the old slavery laws we had where children didn’t belong to the parents, but were subject to owners, in this case any Normals having an child that tests positive for magic has them taken away, the kids that are lucky get adopted by a witch but most end up in orphanages, and struggle once old enough to find a job and home.
 Its been six decades now and recently the Normals who’ve had children taken away are beginning to protest and band together. The news that some wealthy people have paid to get past the test, and secretly keep their kids has added to the furore. Magic Born younger people are protesting, using their skills even though they risk death or long imprisonment by it. Tuyet is one who was brought up in the orphanage, and taken from the streets as a young adult to work for the Rangers, a secret Gov unit. It wasn’t really a choice issue though,  and she was there until they decide she was no longer useful....then three years ago she used her magic to escape. Partner Dale thought she’d be living in a country where Magic Born are free, and contents his mind with that – at least one of them has a decent life. She asked him to leave with her, but he felt he owed everything to the Rangers, having been with them and worked his way up from a poor background. He’s been ridiculed since and demoted though for not stopping her, even though she made it look as though he’d been overcome by her...now he’s told she’s been ID’d in New Corinth and he’s to bring her in or else lose everything he’s worked for – failure isn’t an option. He loves her though – how can he sentence her to death?
Out in the field he’s still trying to work a way out of it when he has to chose sides, and he choses her. Then he sees what has been supressed, that the Gov is hiding what they are doing, and what he’s really been working for...Now he’s able to help Tuyet and her friends with info from inside. When they get caught in a riot that kills many innocents, and know that without their film no one outside will know about this, they don’t leave for safety but stay and help. They end up working with a group spearheading revolution to get the Magic Laws overturned. Its very dangerous though and they come so close to capture I was breathless for them.
Tuyet and Hale have some great chemistry, I could feel their attraction even when they were still on ostensibly opposite sides. It was good too to catch up with the others from earlier books, Lizzie and Vadim, Calla and Nate and others. I love the way they band together once organised, and the way that Sonya works threads from earlier books into circumstances that have now become important. Its easy when people have nothing for them to just get over the top and not see reason, to ruin plans that are so needed, and the team have to work hard to ensure they cover all aspects and changes that can happen- or at least as many as possible. Of course something different always happens, but its terrific the way in the story it turned so that the solution is believable, talents and skills people already have are used to get out of the problem, not some new unheard of superpower – that’s one of my real pet hates and in each of these books Sonya has thankfully avoided that easy, but for the reader intensely frustrating option. It makes for a harder job for the author but ultimately a much better novel.
Sonya did what I thought wouldn’t be possible, and in this book came up with a workable and believable solution to the Magic Laws, and its been a great read all the way through the books, full of action and magic, steam and sensuality and a trio for the keepers file.
Stars: Five of course, its been a fabulous conclusion to a riveting and unusual series. I’m always amazed at how authors create their worlds, and with this one Sonya has worked something that for me at least is almost unique, something I’ve rarely read about, Magic and Technology combined with natural Magics. I’ve read some where this has been combined, but not in the way Sonya has done to create such a believable and structured world.
ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of Firewall from Carina Press on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It’s finally here!! The last book of the Magic Born series! In this world, being magically inclined makes you a second rate citizen. Upon the discovery of your magical talents you are stripped of your human rights. This doesn’t exactly make survival the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. The world is just so fractured and the people are all calling for blood that you honestly wonder how this book will tie everything together in a neat little series ending bow.

Firewall follows the story of Trancehacker Tuyet Caron and Captain Dale Hale.
Tuyet is the magical Robin Hood of New Corinth. She uses her magic to help other Magic Born even though that act of using her magic puts her at risk every day. She wants to make a difference in the poverty stricken Magic Born world. Her resolve to do so puts her back into the crosshairs of law enforcement and back into the mind of Captain Hale. To call their past dealings a muddy mess is not even coming close to describe their interactions.

On the other side of the law is Captain Hale. Tuyet is the root of all his professional problems. She eluded his capture and caused his removal from being the boots on the ground working the streets. Stripped of his team, rank and dare say his dignity, he has settled into a boring desk job. That is until opportunity to redeem himself with capturing the very person to cause his past issues, Tuyet. By apprehending her, he can have his profession dreams back. But, his heart is conflicted with the decision. How can he bring in someone whom he has had past feelings for and cannot get out of his heart and mind? The decision lies squarely on his shoulders and may go against his training, but he will not make it lightly.

The Magic Born series itself is a very unique premise. Its dystopian society focus has slightly contemporary undertones to his complexity. The world is one that could easily be seen on the big screen at a local movie theater. Clark’s ability to describe and animate this dark world literally brings the setting from the pages into the deep imaginations of her readers. This story picks apart the idea of segregation and places the idea into a world where magic is real. The emotional links in this story are marvelous. The sexual tension and drama lift off the pages into your heart. With a few minor issues which honestly don’t bare enough strife to be even mentioned, Firewall is the perfect ending to such a wild ride of a series.

[Kate Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

To read this review and others like it check out my site at www.homelovebooks.com

I picked up this book a while ago, and unfortunately it was one of those books that made its way to the back of kindle and I forgot all about it. Lucky I decided to dig deep and look at all the books I forgot about, and found Firewall. Now as I have said before I am always leery about picking up a book mid-series, but the synopsis of this one just pulled me in. I have really been in the mood for urban fantasy lately, or really anything with a magical twist, so this is exactly the kind of book I was looking for.

So first off the thing that stuck out to me the most when it came time to pick up this book is that its about witches, and I love me some witches. Also this book takes place in the U.S. but way in the future (okay not that far in future, I mean it's not like we are in space or something, but its still the future). In terms of world building, I really liked the whole oppressive version of the U.S. and how the magic laws have effected so much of the population, it's interesting to think about the U.S. being under economic sanctions from other countries because of how they treat their citizens (and can I just say I hope it never comes to that). Anyway, Clark does a good job painting a picture of the protests and the way the people living in the "zone" are feeling. There were moments where the action got really chaotic and sometimes hard to keep up with, but I actually think it works in favor for this book because it was a chaotic situation.

So our main character is Tuyet and she is a witch. She used to work for the government, in a Ranger unit, but she had enough one day of basically having to work to avoid being essentially prisoned (lets call it indentured servitude for just being who she was born as). She left behind her old Captain, Dale, who she clearly has feelings for. But instead of hauling herself as far out of the U.S. as she could she stuck around to fight for people like her. I liked her. She is strong, and has a good sense of right and wrong. She's got moment of sassy attitude and moments of vulnerability. In general, I just really enjoyed her.

Dale I liked too. He so clearly cares about Tuyet. But he is stuck in between a rock in a hard place, does he follow his heart, or does he still with his job in the career he always wanted as a Ranger. He has a good sense of humor too. But I just liked him. He was a great fit for Tuyet, and I liked how great the chemistry between them was.

This book was an intense and wild ride, and I really enjoyed it. The epilogue made me happy too. If you are looking for an urban fantasy and you like witches/magic then this might be the book for you.

[Jasmyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tied up just about all of the loose ends in the series. At the end we have a fairly solid idea of where the world is headed and our people are happy. Firewall is really all about getting the world back to a place where Magic Born can live freely and are treated like human beings.

Center to this whole resolution are Tuyet (Snow) and Dale Hayes. They have quite a bit of history between them but now seem to be on opposite sides of the law. Tuyet would do anything to avoid seeing him again, but Hayes has hunted her down and now he needs to figure out what to do with her.

Their romance is really more of a re-kindling and learning how to trust each other again as opposed to a new one. We even get to see their past through a series of flashbacks - while I enjoyed seeing their past, it came up at awkward times in the story that were just a little distracting. There was also soooo much action going on that at time the romance got just a tad lost.

I really loved the characters and their romance, but it got a little lost in the story of what was going on everywhere else. The city and the riots were a character unto themselves and there was just a lot going on all over the place as everything was getting resolved.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tuyut and Hayes have a history. They worked together as part of an elite Rangers unit, often undercover as man and wife. When Magic Born Tuyut ran she asked Hayes to come with her--and he refused to give up his career. Now the military wants Hayes to track Tuyut down and capture her, but those old feelings get in the way. I quite enjoyed the romance between Tuyut and Hayes.

The movement to end the segregation of the Magic Born that started brewing in the previous books Trancehack and Witchlight comes to a head. I had a harder time getting into the rebellion plot--no fault of the author, I've simply read too many YA dystopias with a similar three-book plot arc--but I liked how the couples from all three books came together at the end to help bring down the Magic Laws.