Magic to the Bone

The Twenty-Sided Sorceress #7

by Annie Bellet

Boss Fight: Samir! Roll for initiative...

Bruised, battered, but not even close to broken, Jade and her friends must reunite, and get ready to take out her psycho ex once and for all. Leveled up and wiser, Jade stands a chance this time.

As long as she takes out Samir BEFORE he turns into a god...

This is book seven in USA Today bestselling The Twenty-Sided Sorceress urban fantasy series.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Shapeshifters, Dragons, Ebooks

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 19, 2016

About the author

Annie Bellet is a full-time speculative fiction writer. She holds a BA in English and a BA in Medieval Studies and thus can speak a smattering of useful languages such as Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Welsh.

Her books include Avarice (Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division: Book 1), The Gryphonpike Chronicles series, and the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series.

Her interests besides writing include rock climbing, reading, horse-back riding, video games, comic books, table-top RPGs, and many other nerdy pursuits.


Want to be notified when her next book is released, receive free stories and books, and be notified about sales and other goodies? Sign up for Annie Bellet's mailing list
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Reviews

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎲 A Let's Play Dice with the Slightly Awesome Crow Sorceress Buddy Read (LPDwtSACSBR™) with the MacHalos of Mischief and Mayhem (aka M³) 🎲

➽ And the moral of this reread is: the color of delicious vengeance? Why it’s purple. Obviously.



Okay, that’s not exactly what I had in mind, but hey, whatever floats your boat and stuff.

P.S. Looks like we’re not in bloody shrimping Kansas anymore, Toto. Ha.





[Original review: April 2016]

❣❣ An Ode to My Girl Jade Crow ❣❣

My Girl Jade Crow eats human hearts
'Cause they taste better than pop tarts

My Girl Jade Crow is a gamer and a nerd
She is as cool as a bean curd

My Girl Jade Crow is a kick-ass sorceress
I'm a little in love with her, I must confess

My Girl Jade Crow is not afraid of blood and gore
And that is something I adore

My Girl Jade Crow has a special skill
But spoiler spoiler spoiler so I can't spill

My Girl Jade Crow has an evil ex-boyfriend
But she's also got some awesome friends

This is one wild bunch you can't tame
They'd put any menagerie to shame

My Girl Jade Crow better beware
'Cause on my crustaceans' heads I swear
That in my Cool Chicks Harem, she shall be ensnared

The End and stuff




• Book 1: Justice Calling ★★★★
• Book 2: Murder of Crows ★★★★
• Book 3: Pack Of Lies ★★★★
• Book 4: Hunting Season ★★★★★
• Book 5: Heartache ★★★★★
• Book 6: Thicker than Blood ★★★★
• Book 7.5: Harper's Tale: Tribes ★★★★
• Book 8: Dungeon Crawl ★★★
• Book 9: River of No Return ★★★★
• Book 10: Balancing the Scales ★★★★

[Denisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kick ass and take screenshots! Love this quote


Yayyy, such an amazing series!
I will only write one review for all the books (sorry for my laziness, but ah well).

Where should I start?


Ok, so what I liked the most about these books was that they were all so fast-paced. There were no unnecessary actions, no useless side-plots, no extra pampering of any sorts. They were all so easy to read, it was impossible to put any of them down. I just couldn't stop 'til I finished the story, see the mystery solved.


The characters were amazing, but I fell in love with the heroine's quirky sense of humor and courage (yeah yeah, we usually have that in most UFs, but this one was special). Her way of handling everything was so much fun!
Oh, and we see her grow! She's not that flat type of character one usually sees in a lot of UFs these days.


I don't know what to say to make you want to read this book.
If you're looking for a kick-ass heroine, great friends, awesome and fast-paced action and amazing, sarcastic sense of humor, this is the book for you. It's not a very well-known series, but it's definitely worth reading (and it only gets better with each book).
So stop wondering and start reading! It's worth at least giving a try!

[Elena Linville-Abdo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stars: 3.5 out of 5

A lot of things happen in this book despite it's small page count. First of all, Jade finally reunites with Wolf and integrates her into her own psyche so to say. This makes their bond stronger and more seamless than before. And she gets back her magic that she almost completely burned out in the previous books by rewinding time to save her friends from Samir.

Oh, and the final confrontation with Samir that we have been building up to for six books now, finally takes place. WARNING - SPOILERS:  So ding dong, Samir is dead by the end of this book. I am not sure how I feel about that. For six books he was built up as this ultimate big bad that Jade was so afraid of, so the final battle was a little... underwhelming? Don't get me wrong, it was still intense and the stakes were high, but not high enough in my opinion. I guess that's the issue with creating an ultimate big bad and hinting at how badass he is for six books - the reader has very high expectations of the final confrontation.

That disappointment notwithstanding, I liked Jade's progress in this book. She finally realized that she can't shelter her friends from danger all the time. And by trying to do that, she paints a big target on their backs and weakens herself as well, since she has to spread her attention so much. She realized that her friends weren't hapless either, and that the best thing she could do was trust them to do their part in the fight.

That's a lot of growth on Jade's part, because all her life she was on the run, trying not to get attached, trying (and failing) over and over again to protect any found family she would create. 

I also liked that her friends trusted her enough to know she didn't just run on them, even though they had no memories of the horrors that happened before she rewound time. I love protagonists who have a strong support system and wonderful friends.

The only question is what happens now? The big bad that loomed over Jade's life for seven books is dead (or as good as dead), and there are three more books left in the series. What can be worst than an immortal sorcerer hell-bent on harvesting your heart and destroying everyone you love in the process? I guess I will have to pick up the next book to find out.

I am also a bit sad that Harper decided to leave town for a bit, though I understand why. 

[Anthea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slower paced than the previous

I swear to all things literary, can someone please spell and grammar check these bleeping books! One book fine, three books annoying, five books in and fire the publisher!
Ok rant over (until the next book probably!).
The story was slower to build than the previous, and then all hell broke loose in the last 15%ish. The EPIC fight scene was also over in a flash.
Onto the next we go...

[Elinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je crois qu'il faut que je fasse une pause dans cette série. Déjà, j'ai mis presque un mois à le lire. Bon, faut dire que en ce moment, entre préparation d'un voyage à Tokyo et trouvage d'un appartement, signature d'un compromis de vente, et multiples rendez-vous chez les banquiers... plus la saison 3 de Lucifer, on va pas se mentir. En gros, en ce moment, je ne lis pas des masses. Mais il faut que je fasse une vraie pause dans cette série parce que je vois trop les habitudes d'écriture d'Annie Belle et et ça commence à me gâcher le plaisir. Ma lecture super fractionnée n'a pas non plus aidé. Donc, voilà, ce livre était bien, mais je ne l'ai pas apprécié à sa juste valeur à cause de tout un tas de paramètres extérieurs au bouquin.

[Ryan Mangrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read, but WAAAAY too short. The page count listed is nowhere close to accurate, it's not 222 pages, it's more like 120 pages if that.

Everything seemed a bit rushed:
From Jade's training with her father, her reunion with her friends, finding and developing a plan to take on Samir, even the fight with Samir, it was all too brief. I would have liked to have seen a lot more exposition and some of the supernatural community that ostracized Jade to maybe come around and realize she's not the bad guy. It also would be nice, and maybe Annie gets to this in the next book, if the supernatural community would have some interaction regular humans and actually get some help from those humans.

I think there's a lot of meat left on the bone for story to tell where these characters are involved.

[Alex Ciz_naughty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another greet one

Sort of anticlimactic with the many books of build up to killing Simar but I’m guessing maybe his story isn’t over. Reading the next one now so hopefully the steam keeps a rollin along.

[keikii Eats Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

TRAINING MONTAGE.
Followed by other shit I guess.

[Leather · Rating 3 out of 5]

A seventh volume which closes the main frame of the series. The end is satisfactory, even if not very original. It looks a lot like the previous episodes.
The universe remains quite interesting, the tone is quite balanced between the nerd-fan stuff and the classic urban fantasy.
The main quality of the series remains its exceptional conciseness.

[Tim Hope McCain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing installment

This series just gets better, and better! The characters in this series are highly relatable. Me being a gamer myself. Love it! On to book #8.

[Soraya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am going to rate the The Twenty-Sided Sorceress series as a whole rather then as individual books.

Jade Crow is a Native American woman and Sorceress with the worst ex-boyfriend on the planet. After running away from him, she and her band of merry shifter's battle it out to defeat her Sorcerer ex.

I have thus far enjoyed the series, they are fun quick reads. They don't have the depth of Illona Andrews's Kate Daniels series but they are written in a similar vein. Geeks and gamers will have fun with all the pop culture and gamer references. My only real issue was editing of the books which was odd, I found grammatical errors in each book. If you are a fan of urban fantasy and like the usual damaged but fun heroine and aren't a grammar Nazi you will enjoy this series.

[Ana Paes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes: I still don't like Harper very much, but Jade was awesome in other levels. I love her relationship with her friends, the way she grew after 7 books was really interesting. I'm loving this series!

[SM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably not worth 4 stars but I've been drinking the Kool-Aid and really like Jade Crow. Her father, Ash, helps her recover the power of magic she lost in a previous book when she shifted time to save her friends from death. Ash also helps her discover her true nature, she is a dragon (and so is he). Too bad she can only shift to her dragon form in a mystery place called the Veil. She also is told she can not kill Samir because of a magic Seal that is weakening. Jade reunites with her friends in time to save them from a trap set by Samir. Then they set about to foil Samir's plans to make himself a god. Jade succeeds in destroying (?) him and freeing all the shifters in Wylde that he had captured. If the review is a little jumbled up, just consider the source. 8th book in series just released.

Kindle e-book. Reading the series.
===============================
Boss Fight: Samir! Roll for initiative...

Bruised, battered, but not even close to broken, Jade and her friends must reunite, and get ready to take out her psycho ex once and for all. Leveled up and wiser, Jade stands a chance this time.

As long as she takes out Samir before he turns into a god...


This is book seven in USA Today bestselling The Twenty-Sided Sorceress urban fantasy series.

[Miramira Endevall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is for the series so far: Fun popcorn read. Not quite as good as either Mercy Thompson or Jane Yellowrock, but better than True Blood. The thing I appreciate most about the series is that the long-lived sorceress (currently in her late 40's), and longer-lived were (in his 60's) are actually written like adults who don't subscribe to the "OMG he loves me/he loves me not" trope. They meet, lust, start dating, fall in love, and WORK THINGS OUT between them when the fight. Yaknow, like adults...how refreshing!

[Kaj Samuelsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I have been waiting for, the final fight. And yes, it was good, but I had to steel myself as I thought it would be the last book in the series and I really like Jade Crow. However I found out that there is at least one more book to look forward to and I hope there will be more.

[Heather Rainwater-Alvarado · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bellet continues her new tactic of adding secondary character points of view in chapters to supplement the main character's point of view. It continues to help the story since for the first part of the story, the characters are all still separated and there's no way for the reader to truly know what's going on without their input. his is useful when everyone is split up, but I still maintain that she should have started this technique much sooner than starting this in the 6th book in the series.

Unfortunately, the final battle between the main character, Jade, and her murderous ex remains as predictable as the previous books have been. Again, the characters continue to have more of one voice (Bellet's) than their own individual voices. When the characters are faced with impossible obstacles, Bellet continues to give them easy yet unbelievable solutions; and the same goes for the villains. She set the expectations high for the final battle for over 6 books now; yet the ending comes quickly. Like in a total of 4 chapters - only 14 pages. It ends up being a severe letdown, even though by now as a reader, you already expect this book to be short. By now, I know there is another book in the series, but after finally receiving a conclusion after 3 books lacking them, I don't know what else remains to justify another continuation of the story. My curiosity has now been satiated in what will happen in the final showdown between Jade and her ex, so I honestly doubt I will read any other books that follow. I sincerely hope Bellet's writing ability grows and develops into much more enjoyable reads. I may read other works of hers in the future, but I'll likely give her time to grow before doing so.

[Anniken Haga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally, I have arrived! Not only because I've been re-reading the whole series now when I got my hands on this book, but also because it's been such a long wait. It's been frustrating seeing the book around on Kindle and such, but not on Audible, I'll admit, but oh well. Here we are!

So, what did I finally think of the book?
Well, it was a lot like the two previous books. Not really with any other plot than beating Samir, and Jade running around doing a lot of damage-control.
These last three books have not been my favorites, I'm sorry to say, because I really do love this world and the characters, but yeah.

Story wise, I had some trouble getting into this book, to be honest. The start was really slow for me - with Jade's training and such. I wish we'd skipped that all together, actually. When she returned, however, things got easier. The flow from the earlier books was mostly back, and it was easy to listen for an hour straight.

Seeing as there's been so much build up to this ending, I was rather disappointed. Sure, these things can drag out, but with this much build up, it was so short and surprisingly boring.

So, yeah. Where does that leave me?
I am, all in all, really glad I read the series. It was interesting and fun, most of the time, and if nothing else, seeing gamers like Jade and her friends, so much like me and my own friends, was a lot of fun!
I am curious as to how someone becomes a profesionall-gamer, though. I'd love to do that for a living!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough Decisions and Seeing The Bigger Picture

I'm already a fan of Annie's writing style and this urban fantasy series. Magic To The Bone is the 7th book and picks up where the previous story ended. The books in the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series need to be read in order to understand the plotline.

I downloaded the narration by Folly Blaine for my Kindle. However, I ended up listening to most of the story through Audible rather than reading it. I like the way Folly reads the narrative, it's good. The majority of this story is told from Jade Crow's perspective and Folly's performance embodies our protagonist's personality. There are also fly-on-the-wall sections showing us what Harper and Alek are up to. My only niggle, is Folly's limited repertoire - she doesn't have the ability to create distinctive voices. Many of the characters sound the same, which makes it challenging to follow dialogue at times.

This book sees a story thread getting a satisfactory resolution. I enjoyed the watching the unfurling threat, feeling the tension go up a notch. Annie is excellent at writing dynamic fight scenes and this book had its fair share of those to keep my adrenaline pumping. I also liked the soul searching that certain situations forced Jade into.

Magic to the Bone has left me wondering where the story will go from here. After all, there are three more books in the series. I'm hoping that Jade's heritage plays a big part and I'm keen to watch her, her friends and the rest of the townsfolk rebuild their lives.

[Liz Etnyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a review for both 6: Thicker Than Blood and 7: Magic to the Bone. It looks like the last 3 books (5, 6, and 7) need to be one book. The ending for 6 is better than 5, but still a cliffhanger. There is LOTS of repetitive angst on the main character's part (Yes, we know you are not sure you can stop/kill the bad guy. Yes, we know you are worried about your friends dying. Yes, we know you feel responsible for every death that has already happened. We do NOT need to remind us every couple of pages.) Good editing could have cut the pages by at least 1/3 and combined it with 5 – and advertised it as a two book ending to the series. Anyone who enjoyed the first 4 would likely be OK with two slightly longer books for the conclusion of the series. A satisfactory end is finally reached, ( – but apparently not the final end! It seems there is an 8th book which should come out in the next few months: Dungeon Crawl. I am totally OK with 'the further adventures of!' Here's hoping they will be cliffhanger free.) 3 of 5 for both book 6 and book 7.

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our protagonist Jade Crow returns; she is no longer living a quiet life running her comic book and game store in Wylde, Idaho. In fact, her store and building were both destroyed in a great fire started by a powerful sorcerer ~ her Ex. “Magic to the Bone” (#7 in the series) opens with Jade’s father helping to train her ~ helping her to discover the dragon within herself. Then, her reunion with her friends and developing a plan to take on Samir which leads quickly into the battle with Samir.

Although I enjoyed the story, it was all too brief. I would have liked to have seen a lot more development of the plot. The characterization is still good; I continue to be drawn to Jade, a Sorceress who is learning her powers especially at the beginning of this story with the help of her father. I especially like that the characters are growing and evolving as the series continues. But, as mentioned before, this story seemed a little rushed and the ‘battle climax’ was unsatisfying. I am interesting is seeing where Bellet takes the story. Consequently, only a 3 star.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars... I really enjoyed this read, but it was way too short... I wanted more, more, more... This is truly a fascinating story and the depth the author could take the storyline as well as the characters is profound... Sometimes I feel a bit cheated as a reader because I feel like I am missing that edge that can come with truly exploring this story... However, all that being said, I still enjoyed this read... We find Jade finally exploring the depths of her abilities and learning of her powerful heritage... We then see her reunited with Alec and her friends and preparing to confront Samir... The moment she finally comes face to face with her nightmare is action packed and exhilarating to read (But again a bit too short!)… The outcome of the battle leaves a bit of a cliffhanger feel, so readers can assume more is to come with Samir... So much more to explore in this series and to look forward to as Jade and friends face more adversities in the future:)

[Nadia Gagnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conclusion *** Spoiler alert***

This was a very good conclusion to the Samir chapter for Jade.
It was well written and executed.
I had trouble with the 2 previous books because I felt the fifth and sixth should have been a single book, but this one brought the story to an end very well.
Getting to the final battle wasn’t easy, just like in a video game, the hero had to rethink her philosophy, acquire tools and partners.
I feel there is a loose end though, with the single drop of “dragon” blood left with the historian vampire (I forget his name), maybe this will come up in the other books. Talking of other books, I am surprised to see there is an eight book since I had read from the author there were seven and this one felt like an ending to the series.
Anyhow, I’m happy to have read this one and I look forward to reading the next one.

[Leah Speller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, the boss fight. We finally get there and then...it's over and seems like it was just a small ring of a triangle. I believe this was because it felt rushed. The reason for this I do not know. However, I do not feel that I have wasted any of my time with this series. In hindsight, I can say I would have liked to seen more depth in Alex's character for I felt that only the surface was touched about him. Not to mention about the Justice's as well.

Overall, I enjoyed this story arc and I hope the author does not get into the trap of writing more about Jade Crow just because, but more because Jade Crow has more to give.

[Gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boss battle mark 2 most definately is the theme for this one. I do love that now the book really has taken on the telling two stories at once. Jade's friends are not just side characters to come in when it is convenient they are doing their own thing. I am glad that was kept in this book. The ending was interesting and I am slightly curious as to how the undercurrent will play out. I know that if this is in gamer style the information given will be useful in the future. I am frustrated that nothing more came of Alec's sister in this book and that she was a side character. However I was still unable to put this down.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

That story could have used a full novel to flesh it out more but, really, it did manage to fit pretty well into novella form. The secondary characters that popped in and out did so quickly and felt flat and, though the conflict and resolution were well played out and the plot didn't really feel rushed, there could have been a lot more dramatic tension. I'd also have liked a bit more of Jade's training period with her father to get a better idea of what she learned and how her abilities expanded. It's a pretty satisfying end to the saga up to this point, though, and I still want to keep reading to see what the last few books are about.

[HeyT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so I'm kind of glad I read all the installments up to this point in one go. It definitely makes the story feel less broken down into smaller pieces. That said I haven't really felt the shortness of the installments until this one. The epic showdown looms large in this one but I didn't feel all that satisfied by it. Everything happens so fast that I feel like I blinked and I missed what happened and then the installment was over. I still love the characters and the world but I wish there was more to this one.

[James Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and fun read

In this book Jade finally has her ending fight with her former lover Samir and ahead she gets help from her father to prepare her magic for the final battle, she also learns of her origin from her father, more than that you have to learn your self by reading, no more spoilers from me, these books are worth to kill time over but way to fast to read and i guess it is the authors way to milk as much money as possible ut of the installment but hey, they gotta have food on the table as well, i get it.

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, very much enjoying these books and I'm always really excited to get to finish one (alas, I am now taking a break to finish the Great Hunt before I switch back from the ebook to the audiobooks for this series).

I will say there was a new POV in this book that just... Was not it. Very heavy with the telling, not showing, and lots of cheese. The rest of the novel was very enjoyable.

Very pleased I downloaded the first book for free approximately one billion years ago and discovered them now.

[Meheli · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author finally finishes the story arc. Jade finds out that she is more than a sorceress. Oh, Surprise!!! She is a dragon....Bleh!!
The gang reunite and together fight samir. blah blah blah....and win.
Jade's father is more interesting than all the other characters put together, and he is not that interesting.
I am so glad this book is over. Of course the author had to leave a chance for Samir to come back....

[Ezri K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a great final in learning more of Jade's abilities and more on her in general. Most of the book deals with her learning and recouping from the last fight with Samir. She definitely grows as a person in this book. We also get to meet another character who could became another addition to the group.
Overall, great story and book. Highly recommend for those who have liked the story this far.