Magic Time: Ghostlands (Magic Time)

Rating:
Summary: excellent fantasy
Review: The experiment Source devastated nature by destroying electric energy and changing people by enhancing their key traits into a caricature like magical essence. Many have died including those who have trusted weary former attorney Cal Griffen; he feels he failed them all in the end though none would fault him. Still he has no time to mourn as his evanescent younger sister Christina the ballerina vanished to wherever the storm floated her like a bubble.

His quest to find Tina took him from New York to Chicago where Magritte, one of the people Cal feels he failed died. The journey for Cal and his pilgrims continue westward through deadly cities where the Source holds sway with magic that threaten to destroy the earth. Cal's band of brothers, sisters, and other essences enter the dangerous Ghostlands reaching Mount Rushmore, pivotal foci of the Source. The troupe faces their worst magically enhanced customized nightmarish fears in this last stand to save human existence on this plane; to succeed against the overwhelming powers of the enemy, they need Tina on their side and not part of the Source.

Fantasy fans will devour the final Magic Time tale that is a terrific confrontation between the remnants of metamorphosis humanity vs. the offspring Source. Interestingly the theme is not a simplistic good vs. evil scenario, but instead is more along the lines of the Frankenstein warning. The story line is action-packed from the first pyre to the final fire, but never neglects the key characters as their characteristics remain critical to the entertaining story line. MAGIC TIME GHOSTLANDS can stand alone, but is further enhanced with reading the previous two novels, MAGIC TIME and MAGIC TIME ANGELFIRE.

Harriet Klausner