William Shakespeare’s The Tempest ends with sorcerer Prospero and his daughter Miranda reconciled to their betrayers, and Prospero about to give up magic. It didn’t really end like that. Prospero stayed a sorcerer and Miranda’s wedding to Ferdinand ran afoul of a new betrayal; instead of happily ever after they’ve spent most of the intervening 500 years as Prospero Inc, working to help humanity survive. Prospero is once again all alone except for his children (it’s children, not just Miranda), and Miranda has turned into a classic, egocentric, icy virgin who is very much her father’s child, dedicated to what he wants. Magic is still very much alive and here in the modern world. A lot of what Prospero Inc does is make deals and bind the demons, elves, elementals, magicians, etc who would otherwise be busy creating volcanic eruptions, explosions and other problems for humanity.

Prospero has disappeared. Actually, he’s been gone for a while, but Miranda wasn’t really worried until she got a message from him saying effectively that he might be in over his head and she should warn the rest of the family. As they’ve fought and scattered and changed, this is easier said than done, although Miranda devotes most of the rest of the book to trying to find and warn her siblings. The story is really about what this search and related discoveries do to her as a person. She’s aided in the search by Mab, Prospero Inc’s primary gumshoe (author’s word choice, not mine). He used to be one of the winds.

All of which tells you a bit about the book, but not much of what it’s really like. It’s a style that you will love or hate, and I have to admit that I enjoyed this one more in theory than execution. I still do like the idea, but I need at least one fairly sympathetic character to enjoy a story, and everyone here is just too annoying. That starts with Miranda, and could end there for some, since the story is so dependent upon her for its primary voice. Mab’s 30s-era detective wannabe seems overdone and awkward, not really fitting the story—especially his annoyingly repetitive, pointless instructions to give up anything magical, when it's the essence of what his bosses are and do. While the first of Miranda’s brothers she finds—who stays with her going forward—is an adult with the personality of a pre-pubescent boy set to maximum annoyance.

The writing is well done, except for the isolated problems I have with some things being overdone. This is clearly someone who knows how to handle words and enjoys them. And the story is certainly interesting. I’m engaged enough to wonder what will happen in the next book despite my issues reading this one. I also suspect some of my problems with the characters may be generation based. So, if you’re tired of modern fantasy being all vampires and werefolk and those mean streets they prowl, give this one a try for something that is certainly very different and may well be more to your taste than mine.