Actually, this one's pretty much what it says on the tin.

I feel like I've been waiting to read this book FOREVER (which, uh, I can no longer type like that, btw, because I also feel like I've been waiting to read FOREVER, FOREVER). Once upon a time, I used to go to bookstores and buy old friends, replacements for books OB-Wan owned that I had destroyed by re-re-re-re-reading in the bathtub (or in the garden. Or the dock. Or on a deserted island five hours off the coast of Australia (funny story, involves a jelly-fish)). Now I meet people here, stalk them read their journals for months and months, and by the time the book comes out I know their styles, their way with words, and if they are likely to use the word "nauseated" properly.

(For the record, "Blood Magic" is a definite yes for that, at multiple turns, even.)

It's fun! I like it. I love it when I'm reading a book written by someone I've spoken to online. It gives me hope.

I was especially excited for "Blood Magic", as it would complete my Merry Sisters of Fate hat-trick. I was not disappointed.

(Spoilers from here on out!)

I think my favourite part of this was the body snatching. I spent about half the book wondering when Josephine would show up, and then woke up at 3AM this morning to realize that Josephine was Lilith, only to read the confirmation after work. At first, I was disappointed. I had been holding out for some heroic rescue or something later on in the action. But no, the STEP MOTHER NAMED LILITH was the villain (who, hilariously, writes seedy crime dramas a la Richard Castle, which, really, when you're an immortal witch with a penchant for INSTABILITY what better way to make yourself famous than by becoming the next Patricia Cornwell?)

Except she totally wasn't.

And as soon as I realized that, I realized that I'd forgotten to think about Philip, and then everything became about fifteen times cooler than it already was (which, for the record, was PRETTY DARN COOL).

I lied. My favourite part was the cemetery. If I lived next to a cemetery like that, I'd be there all the time.

Anyway, the other thing that was really cool about this book was how bloody it was. I have this weird thing where I don't mind actual blood, but fake blood makes me nauseated. So last night, making hamburger patties was no problem, but when I tried to pour my spaghetti sauce into a tupperware container? Yeah, not so much. Except it wasn't DISGUSTING. It was just blood.

I love how tied together everything was. Nick and his mother, Mr. Harleigh, dead from the beginning, Silla and Reese, even Gram Judy in her own weird way. The forest and the cemetery and the old houses, painted over new. MacBeth and the crows and the Dairy Queen. It just kept going and going, and it was awesome.

Josephine is exactly the kind of villain I love: selfish, manipulative, utterly talented and completely ruthless. Poor Philip, to have unleashed that on the world, but of course he loved her. Heck, I loved her, right from the first. Because she's terrifying. And when Silla gets her, she gets her by being smart, and choosing her gifts, and becoming Lady MacBeth, and it was really, really great.

(And then, of course, Lilith gets her Redemptive Scene and gives Nick a Story for the Police and juuuuust when you think all she wants out of it is her name back (because, did I mention that? HER NAME'S NOT LILITH, that's just Nick being a TEENAGER), she surprises you AGAIN and demands the story of BLOOD which means she's TOTALLY PUTTING IT IN A SEEDY CRIME NOVEL and I love her forever.)

Objectively, this book is really difficult to describe (except for the obvious, because it's exactly what it says: Blood Magic). I kind of don't want to know what inspired it (LIES! Of course I do!). I kind of love how much blood there was in this story. It was everywhere.

(There's a line in a poem by Agatha Christie that's been in my head since I started this: "His answer trickled through my brain, like bloodstains through a book". That's exactly what this was: bloodstains through a book.)

Of course, after everything, I find out there's a sequel. I didn't know that until yesterday, when Gratton mentioned it by name on her twitter. And again, I begin the waiting game (you'd think I'd be better at it; at least I have a use for my day-planner now). Because, really, I want to know WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THE DEACON!!

9/10 of creepiness with a side of awesome (with a side of blood), and for being one of the most storied stories I've read in a while (and for the line about the magnetic knife strip, because that's one of my favourite short stories).