Fatal Circle [Mass Market Paperback]

Fatal Circle starts minutes after Persephone Alcmedi returns from the Hallowe'en Festivities that take place during Hallowed Circle (Persephone Alcmedi, Book 2) where Seph killed a Fairy on stage broad casted on live TV. Luckily, she was wearing a costume so her identity isn't known to the public. However, the Fairy Royalty know and they are gunning after Seph in an attempt to get to Vampire Menessos to whom she is bound. In an attempt to find out a spy, Persephone "abandons" her Nana and foster-daughter Beverly and is slandard by the WEC. She joins Menessos' Vampire Haven and attempts to stop a war with the fairies and to find balance as the Lustrata.

Fatal Circle is a much more emotional book than it's predecessors. Seph is struggling with her emotions and keeping them bottled up in an attempt to deal with the problems at hand, because she has a lot of them. As in life, when emotions get stuffed down they have a tendency to erupt. Seph is struggling with her feelings for her waerwolf lover, Johnny, and what she can do for him to discover his past and unlock his powers, with her feelings for bound vampire , Menessos, and the mind games he plays, with her feelings of caring for her foster daughter and making sure she never feels abandoned even as Seph pretends to walk on out, for her feelings for her Nana to who she's never said "I love you." On top of all that, she is trying to find her footing as the Lustrata and bridge the gap between Witch, Waerwolf, and Vampire and being accepted by all 3 groups. That's a lot for a girl to handle.

What I enjoyed:
1. Mirrors real life--I enjoy the fact that Persephone's life mirrors real life. She has a job. She has family she comes home to each day. She doesn't instantly know all the right things to say or do, but she sure tries. She's flawed. She feels real. So do the the rest of the characters.
2. Pasts reveled--We finally get to know Menessos a bit more and to understand what makes him click. Not only that, but even Johnny's past isn't looking so forgotten either. Hmmmm....
3. No Love Triangle--Yes, Menessos wants what Johnny has, but Seph is a 1-man gal. Even though Menessos makes a few attempts, it is clear that to Seph Johnny is an equal and a lover and Menssos is a friend.
4. Growth--Persephone grows so much in the book. Her magical ability continues to grow without becoming all-powerful. Also, Johnny grows into his role as Domn Lup. And Menessos....well, he gets a reality check on his powers.
5. Well Explained Magic--I usually have a hard time with stories about witches because many authors save the day with the wave of the wand. Ms. Robertson does an excellent job keeping out of that black hole. Persephone's world is full of magic, but it doesn't solve everything. Every time she performs magic or visits her meditation place the magic is well explained to it's easy to follow and understand.

What I wish were different:
1. For a good chunk of the book, it looked like it was going to end up like a threesome was gonna happen. I know people do that and some people like to read about that, but it's just not my cup of tea. A lot of people reading the book will wonder where in the world I got that idea and will say I'm crazy, which I might be. But as the book progresses, it's obvious the 3 will have to become bonded in some way in order for them to balance the power and for the Lustrata to succeed. I was just afraid the author would make it sexual. Gladly, she didn't. But because of that fear, I read with some trepidation for several chapters.
2. Nana and Beverly got very little page time. I really like those 2 and what they do for Seph's character so I was sad to see so little of them.

All in all, it was a good book and a fun read. I do think that book 2 is still my favorite, but I did like this one for what it's done to push the storyline forward and the character growth.

Vicious Circle (Persephone Alcmedi, Book 1)
Hallowed Circle (Persephone Alcmedi, Book 2)
Fatal Circle (Circle, Book 3)
Arcane Circle

Picking up where Hallowed Circle (Persephone Alcmedi, Book 2) left off, Persephone Alcmedi is up to her neck in harrowing stuff. With the help of her waerewolf lover, the mysterious Domn Lup Johnny, and the...assistance, so to speak, of not-quite-as-master vampire Menessos, she's got to deal with the fallout of killing a fairy and sparking a war, prevent said war from spilling over into this world, keep her family alive, quickly adjust to the weight of her Lustrata position, and learn to keep the balance while she figures out how to do what she's fated to do, not to mention all the other more mundane tasks. Seph's a busy, busy girl. In an effort to buy some time and prevent the fairies from targeting her family again, she's agreed to hide out in Menessos' haven and take the position of Erus Veneficus - Master's Witch. The repercussions are severe but necessary and offer the only hope she has to both keep her family safe and free Menessos from the bonds connecting him to malignant little fairy psychopaths intent on killing him. The war may be inevitable, but Persephone is determined. She is the Lustrata, after all, and justice's will be done.

I've been a huge fan of this series since the beginning, and I absolutely loved the last book, but to be honest, this one gave me some problems on more than one front. I had some issues with events in the story as well as stylistic issues with the way it was told. The issues I had with events in the story are particularly hard to elaborate on without spoilers, but I can say that I thought the beginning of this book was much slower to start than even the first, and I had some difficulty sticking with it until the plot picked up about a third of the way in. There were also several scenes that left me wondering about their importance to the story. During one of those, Menessos and Xerxadrea have a tender moment about a past event and resolve a conflict between them. Seph doesn't know the details and readers don't either, so I was left wondering about the point of it. Why is it there? By the end of the book scenes like that and other, slightly different sorts left me with the feeling that too much of this book seemed like filler that didn't further series arc progression or even book arc progression. I'd expect to find that, and have, in a transitional book in a series, but that's not the case here, so I was a little bemused. Unfortunately, some of those scenes in particular also seemed a little out there - either too coincidental or too fantastical to fit comfortably in the flow of the story, and that didn't help.

Johnny, who I've loved from the start, annoyed me in this book. His behavior and attitudes towards Menessos seem childish by this point. Persephone wasn't all that much better, though, and there were too many times in this book where I felt her behavior was questionable and a little hypocritical, given her reaction to the twins in the last book. I want Persephone to be the hero that she's supposed to be - that's sort of the point of the series, isn't it? - but it's hard to have faith in her when she's so often all over the map emotionally and so conflicted about Menessos and how she fits between Menessos and Johnny.

I am SO not in the mood for a series of books that have her all "spirit is willing, flesh is weak" when it comes to being loyal to the man she says she loves. I wish I could fast forward through that development straight to some sort of resolution, whatever the resolution is, because I was getting smacked hard with the smelly fish of deja vu during one scene in particular that featured Johnny, Seph, and Menessos. It was too damn close to a Jean Claude-Anita Blake-Richard triangle for me to be comfortable, first of all, and LKH's...unique...writing style long ago decimated and obliterated any tolerance I may have once had for anything even remotely resembling a triumvirate of any sort between a vamp, a wolf, and a woman. Nothing will turn me off a series faster than that, I assure you.

Now, about the stylistic issues I mentioned... I'm freer to express detail, but it's more difficult to put into words. I don't know whether it's because the time frame for the series is so condensed, with the third book picking up almost literally minutes after the second ended and then encompassing only a few days overall, or it's just Robertson's style, but I'm struggling with a lack of exposition in her stories, and this book in particular needed much more of it. This book can't be read as a stand-alone, it just wouldn't make any sense, because Robertson doesn't explain much of anything about what happened previously - and how could she when the books are so close together time-wise and told from Seph's POV in first person? I wish she'd learn how to at least jog a reader's memory, though, because I read a lot of books in the six months between each in this series, and details get forgotten. It was only because I'd reread Vicious Circle (Persephone Alcmedi, Book 1) just prior to the release of Hallowed Circle (Persephone Alcmedi, Book 2) that I vaguely remembered Menessos walked home after Seph burned the stake, and that fact is important to a pivotal scene in this book. Some sort of mental nudge would've been nice, because even with that reread, I didn't get it at first and had to struggle to figure out what Menessos was talking about in that scene.

My final and most significant issue can best be summed up by this phrase: in signum amoris.

Robertson has written a series that's entertaining and, in my opinion, interesting. I've enjoyed the world she's built and the characters she's filled it with. Despite that, however, I'm often left floundering when it comes to understanding it. Sure, I understand the words I'm reading. I get what I'm being told. I can describe scenes and tell you what happened in them. I don't always have the first clue, however, as to what it all means in the big picture.

Robertson is great at making sure her readers understand how names and words like Demeter and Persephone are pronounced. In every book so far at least one name is sounded out for us in Seph's head. Then there's 'in signum amoris.' The phrase is used several times in two different and very important scenes. Do you know what it means? I don't, and I read and then reread both scenes in which it occurs. Not only do I not know the literal translation, but I have no firm idea of how Robertson means for it to relate to the characters or the significance she wants to attach to it. I can intuit a vague understanding of the definition of the words (signum = sign and amoris = love, I think), and I can Google if I want a firmer translation...but that's not the point and it isn't going to explain to me the significance of the phrase for the characters and relating to the scenes in which they occur. And there's the rub.

Frankly, I think the bailiwick of a good author is expounding on and explaining or describing what's going on in such a way that readers understand the meaning and the point. This is especially important in a series in which each book has an arc that supplements and bolsters the series arc. In Fatal Circle I've read the words. I've visualized the scenes. I know who's doing what to whom and I've even nailed down most of the why of it, and yet I was too often left with cases of...in signum amoris and its ilk, wondering what it meant for the characters and book, and unsure what it meant for the series. 3.5 Stars.

Originally reviewed on One Good Book Deserves Another.

Fatal Circle picks up immediately following the events of book two in the Persephone Alcmedi series. Persephone is bonded to Menessos, but she became the master. Her boyfriend Johnny is still playing in his band, but getting more involved in werewolf politics. The faires are threatening war, and a secret enemy is revealed to be working within the witches--putting Persephone and those she loves in danger.

This book is another solid addition to the Persephone Alcmedi series. The characters are well developed and interesting. While I'm a big urban fantasy and paranormal romance fan, I typically prefer shifters or vampires as main characters--not witches. I've read some books with witches as lead characters and generally they didn't grab me. This series does a better job. It does a more complete job with world building with respect to witches and their lives than the other books. We see how the witches are organized, their politics, the mechanics of spell casting, their tools, etc.

The pacing of the book seemed a bit choppy at points, and sometimes it was hard to follow. Some of the decisions made seemed to be made too quickly and without enough explanation. Also I would have liked more focus on Persephone and Johnny's relationship. But overall it was an entertaining read. There were some big surprises towards the end, as well as some major questions left hanging for the next book.

If you are looking for great urban fantasy, here are some other series I recommend. Top favs are marked with an asterisk:

Mercy Thompson* and Alpha & Omega* series by Patricia Briggs (Don't miss the anthology in On the Prowl,which is a prequel to Cry Wolf)
Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews*
Sookie Sackhouse* by Charlaine Harris
Chicagoland Vampires* series by Chloe Neill
Cassandra Palmer and Dorina Basarab Dhampir* series by Karen Chance (I like Dory better than Cassie, but from a timeline perspective Cassie comes first. Dory is a great kick butt character reminiscent of Kate Daniels.)
World of Lupi series by Eileen Wilks (Interesting mix of police/FBI mystery with urban fantasy and a little romance)
October Daye series by Seanan McGuire (First book was a bit depressing but world building, storyline and character development excellent)
Kara Gillian series by Diana Rowland
Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep
Jane True by Nicole Peeler
Fever series by Karen Moning

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