House Name
The House War, No 3
Michelle West

Daw Books, Inc
January 4, 2011 /ISBN: 075640651X
Fantasy
Amazon

Reviewed by Jan Fields

Here's another series book where I came into the series well past the first book. The politics and intrigue of the ten ruling houses was already well established -- so the book took a bit of getting into to make sense of all the people and relationships. Luckily, with a 728 page book, there's still plenty of story once you get your sea legs.

In this installment, Jewel Markess and her den are trying to find their place in the most powerful of the ten houses. Jewel's unusual gift -- that of a seer -- makes her quickly indispensable to the head of House Terafin. But Jewel and her young followers find that life on the streets little prepared them for fitting into the careful etiquette of such a house. And while we watch Jewel adjust, we also see a terrifying unfolding of an attempt by the Lord of Hells to make a place for himself on earth, a place that will destroy or enslave all of mankind.

Apparently the large events of this book -- the events beyond the scope of Jewel Markess and her young followers -- is actually a repetition of events in a previous book. So if you're a longtime fan of Michelle West, much of the book may feel familiar. For someone like me, coming upon it for the first time -- I found the unfolding of the battle against demon kind to be tense and exciting. And I found Jewel and her friends to be charming viewpoint characters into this amazing world. Though the shear number of characters made it hard to keep up sometimes, overall, I found it unexpectedly fascinating.