And Blue Skies from Pain -- Stina Leicht

About a year ago, I said a few words about Stina Leicht's first novel. Good stuff, and now we have the sequel, which is even better. At the end of the first novel, there's an uneasy truce between the fey and the mortals, who have a common enemy, the nephilim. The new book picks up right where the first left off in 1977 Ireland. Liam Kelly, shape-shifter, half mortal, half fey, is to be tested by the Church to see if he's really what he claims to be or if he's really the enemy. Can he trust the inquisitors to be fair? For that matter can he trust anyone in the mortal world, other than his mentor, Father Murray? And what about those ghosts? It's no wonder that Liam wonders if he's going mad.

Of Blue Skies and Pain is gloriously gory, violent, full of color and action, and packed to the walls with incident. In other words, there's a lot going on, and the truce is in the balance. By the end, Liam has grown up a little and some things have been resolved, but Leicht has left herself plenty of room to explore the worlds and characters she's created. Bring on the sequels!