Storm of Reckoning

The Reckoners #2

by Doranna Durgin

Mass Market Paperback. New book some shelf wear.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

Doranna Durgin is an award-winning author (the Compton Crook for Best First SF/F/H novel) whose quirky spirit has led to an extensive and eclectic publishing journey across genres, publishers, and publishing lines. Beyond that, she hangs around outside her Southwest mountain home with horse and highly accomplished competition dogs. She doesn't believe in mastering the beast within, but in channeling its power--for good or bad has yet to be decided! She says, “My books are SF/F, mystery, paranormal romance, & romantic suspense. My world is the Southwest, and my dogs are Beagles!”

Doranna’s most recent releases encompass the three books of the Reckoners trilogy--a powerful ghostbuster raised by a spirit, her brilliantly eccentric backup team, a cat who isn't a cat, and a fiercely driven bounty hunter from a different dimension who brings them together when worlds collide.

Reviews

[Lexie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the problems I had with the first book was in the fact Garrie wasn't given enough details early enough. The threat that she faced, the Krevata, wasn't fully explained until Trevarr nearly died. Then he felt like Mr. Information, though even then he kept a lot back. The other problem was in how repetitive the Reckoners could be. We made definite headway on the first issue and some headway on the second issue in this second novel.

The introduction of Quinn and Robyn was both kind of welcome and a little baffling. During the Winchester House incident Quinn wasn't with the team, he opted to stay behind with his books (for personal and common sense related reasons). However whenever he was on the phone with Garrie he wanted to have the talk. Mind you I'm still confused as to what the talk was about, but it definitely had to deal with their personal shared history. So I expected him to try to have the talk in this book, since they were all together again, but...nothing. Other than some meaningful glares towards Trevarr, veiled censure and snappy remarks they didn't talk about it at all.

Part of that could have been Robyn--his highly skeptical, highly manipulative, highly annoying ex-girlfriend who's entire reason for calling him to Sedona seemed to be for a booty call. Or to see if he would still jump to do her bidding. Probably both. She was not pleased by the team's appearance. She made that displeasure very very evident. She made her derision for what they did very evident. Heck she was given hard to counter proof and she still acted like they were fortune tellers at a carnival trying to con her of her money.

I thoroughly disliked her. She could not, for even a second, relent. Garrie tells her an angry ghost tore up her shop--oh Garrie must be lying to be impressive. Lucia tells her that the spirits are not happy with the way things are--Lucia must be having a mental episode. Quinn even tried to explain to her that she's being a hag and she ignored him! Though truth be told I wasn't keen on Quinn either since he was alternately bristling with jealousy over Trevarr, disapproving of Garrie and for most of the book completely dissing the Reckoners so that Robyn wouldn't get mad at him. When he finally seems to understand Robyn was being extremely rude and offensive, he kind of felt bad. But was still a Robyn Apologetic.

Consequences from what happened between Garrie and Trevarr--when they shared power to defeat the Krevata--run amok. Not only in her physical appearance (blue-silver streaks, iridescent skin) but in how she interacts with her power. She got a level up in terms of power, but with it came a whole lot of cautionary tape. The problem that Trevarr had, with his 'other', got passed onto Garrie, but she's even less capable of controlling it. Simple things quickly spiralled out of control as Garrie tried to come to grips with what was happening. Trevarr, as usual, was rather tight-lipped about it.

A lot of the growth in Trevarr's character we see is seen through others' eyes. Sklayne, still my favorite character, slowly begins to understand just what Garrie has changed in Trevarr. It scares him, makes him worried and fretful, but at the same time he's grateful to Garrie for giving Trevarr a chance to be more than he was. We learned more about his kind as well as what drew him to Trevarr in the first place.

We learn and experience a lot about Lucia. Not just who she is, but the strength she possesses. Her strength of purpose now that she's with the Reckoners. Her belief that no matter what Garrie is an absolute. She's also got some of the best lines (next to Sklayne).

The plot-plot, about Sedona's vortexes and etheral energy being warped and drained, was just as creepifying as the Krevata. Maybe more so because these were humans and that made it worse actually. The Krevata were pretty much indifferent. They came after Earth because it was easy and there, not because of any malice towards humans. The Sin Nombre cult messed with humans and the environment because it gave them pleasure to do such things. It was a difficult challenge for the Reckoners because humans aren't their normal foes.

It simply amazes me how much action Durgin can pack into so few pages without losing sight of the goal at hand. She switches between viewpoints (all third person limited) several times throughout the chapters, but for a few instances I wasn't confused at all. It gives a much more detailed and broader understanding of what's going on and the different motivations or actions everyone takes.

The ending! Imagine a perfect way to end a battle, things looking bright and if not cheery at least better than they were. Wounds are healing, plans are made and all you have to worry about is whether or not you should let your fashionista best friend pick out your clothes anymore. Now shred that up, put it through the grinder and for extra measure light it on fire--yeah that's pretty much what happens to Garrie and Trevarr.

With Garrie's proclamation at the end I am looking forward to the third book for certain!

[TINNGG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright, so after teasing us for an entire book (and…two or three days I think), we start on book two. Half a book later (and a day or two), the H/h finally do the deed.

:ahem…

So having cleaned up the otherworldly mess occurring at Winchester House, our gang heads for Sedona because the crew member who didn't go to San Jose wants their assistance there. They find a ah…dingbat I guess… who is messing with things better left alone because he's power mad. Uh Huh. Much mayhem later, they finally (with the help of some annoyed ghosts) take care of him. In the meantime, the H brings in an alien…varmint of some sort to scare them off, it mutates, and…

The book ends after the Tribunal has sent other hunters to bring in the H - they find him *after* he was busted up fighting off the…thing, so he has not much chance of fighting them off. It also comes out that the Tribunal had requested HER but he refused to hand her over. She is making plans I suspect to go after him, seeing as how all his stuff was left behind.

Now, Ms Durgin, you must not leave us hanging like this. It's been two years I think since this book was released.

[Laura (Kyahgirl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book very much, even more than the first book, The Reckoners. The only thing that stopped me from going with 5 stars is that the dialogue is still kind of hard to follow in parts and, even though I only read the Reckoners about six months ago, I found myself feeling confused periodically. The introduction of the idea that some kind of dragon thing might be happening to Garrie maybe too subtle for me but I got it eventually.

I really enjoyed the characters and the mystery in this story. One of the things I loved about this book was Doranna Durgin's amazing ability to channel animals. To the extent that she is effective at channeling a 'not cat' from another world. How's that for tricky? I just loved the character of Sklayne in the first book and even more so in this one. Speaking of characters, the author did a great job of making Quinn and Robin completely unlikeable, she characterized Caryn and Feather really well as psychic woo-woo types, and she continued to devlop Lucia, Garrie and Trevarr.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

reviewed by http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blo...

Once again I enjoyed the story but the dialogue is still hard to follow. You will be reading one point of view and then all of a sudden you are lost because without warning it switches to someone else's, in all fairness the copy I have is an Uncorrected ARC so it might just be that the spacing will be corrected and ease some of the confusion. Also the characters will figure something out and I'm still in the dark about it because I didn't get enough information to form the conclusion the characters obviously have. The Romance in book 2 is better than Book 1 THE RECKONERS. Lots of sexual tension and finally some action in the sexy department, but I still feel it is more of an Urban Fantasy than Paranormal Romance. Sklayne the sidekick not-cat provides some nice moments of comic relief. Im intrigued enough that I will pick up the next book to see how the events at the end of THE STORM OF RECKONING plays out.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun sequel to The Reckoners. I loved the further development of the characters, and Garrie having to deal with her new powers. It's interesting to see how the team has to deal with people instead of ghosts (well, along with). It's almost as if it is the equivalent of the humans causing a ghostly global warming and then Garrie's team having to deal with the aftermath (and really ticked off ghosts). Everyone is pushed into situations they aren't comfortable with, and it really stretches limits, but also brings them closer. I love how Sklayne (can I just say how much I adore Sklayne?) and Lucia end up having more in common than they thought they might. Looking forward to the next installment.

[E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel to The Reckoners. Much more cohesive story, Lisa (Garrie) has discovered repercussions from events that took place at San Jose's Winchester House and is adapting to her relationship to the mysterious Trevarr. Sedona is a center of uncomfortable occult activity which is going to require cooperation between the visiting Quinn, Lucia, Garrie, Trevarr and Sklayne (the not-Abyssinian) and the natives who aren't prepared to accept outsider interference. Nice progression in storyline, grr...what an ending!

[Tori]

DNF

I was able to make it about 1/2 way through. The plot was interesting enough though weak on the set up. And I liked the romance; it was nice, slow, and steamy. But what stopped it all for me was the character's dialogue. Between their "code speak" half sentences and inner monologues I couldn't understand what anyone was talking about. Or whom they were speaking to. It read like I entered the middle of a conversation and no one wanted to being me up to speed.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read the first book (a mistake I intend to rectify soon) but there were enough hints that that wasn't a major obstacle to enjoying this book. Interesting characters and unusual situations all helped to sustain my reading pleasure. It does end with a bit of a cliffhanger, but the main problem in the book is resolved, and I am eagerly awaiting the third book in this series.
Full disclosure: I helped with proofreading to get this book ready for its ebook status.