Lisa Shearin - Wild Card

A prequel novella in the Raine Benares series, published November 25, 2014.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: good



My name is Raine Benares. I'm a seeker, a finder of things lost and people missing. I've never had to do both in one day, or had this many lives at stake - including mine. The search for a missing ring leads me to the abduction of eight magically gifted children. Their souls were stolen while they slept, and unless I find those souls by sunrise, their bodies will die.
Both cases have one thing in common - they're linked to a goblin secret society high-stakes poker game, whose members are practitioners of the blackest of black magic. As a seeker, I can track those captured children's souls, but to spring them will take magic I haven't got.
That's where Tamnais Nathrach comes in. He's the seductive embodiment of sin itself. He's also a goblin dark mage with an even darker past, the owner of the city's most notorious casino - and the only person with magic enough to reach the kids in time. Why are the most dangerous predators the most beautiful? The stakes are high; the odds of success are low. And I'm betting with my life - a life I'll have to trust to a darkly tempting goblin mage I just met.


The paper books in this series had been on my shelves for years, until I finally started reading them two years ago, and immediately fell in love with it. I devoured all 6 books. And somehow, I missed this prequel novella.
I only recently saw it on Amazon, and asked my friend Freya to buy it for me.

It is a sweet story, the first meeting between Raine, the heroine in the series, who is an Elf, and Tamnais Nathrach, who is a Goblin dark mage. It was fun to witness, and I really liked how Tam came to Raine's aid in this story, to save those children's souls from the Khrynsani.

Cousin Phelan, the pirate, plays a nice part in this story as well, so if you like him (and I do), you will be happy with his role in things. He does his best to protect Raine, while also having fun.

I really enjoyed reading this little novella, and getting involved in the series again for a short while. And yes, it was very short, as this is only 83 pages on my Kindle App. But it is fun to read about the start of a series you love, and to remember what makes you love it. And now I want to re-read them all before the new book is released.

9 stars.

© 2016 Reviews by Aurian