Musings and Ramblings

This is the second book in the Sentinels of New Orleans series by Suzanne Johnson. I was lucky enough to start reading it almost immediately following Royal Street, so I didn't have a chance to forget anything from the first book. The recap summaries of what happened in the first book were well done and didn't delay the story at all.

This story starts out a few years following the events of the Royal Street. The city is rebuilding and the concessions wrung from the Elders at the conclusion of book 1 have affected how the DJ and her partner and Enforcer Alex do their jobs. DJ is getting ready to go into a "meeting" with the pirate Jean Lafitte. Basically she is answering his summons and hoping against all hope that he isn't about to start demanding some of the more outrageous things she had promised to him for his aid 3 years ago. Luckily for her, he just wants her official assistance with a problem.

It seems that someone or something is poisoning the waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Two mer-clans are ready to duke it out, each blaming the other for the problem. When DJ and Alex go to investigate, they find something even more worrisome - dead wizards. But are the two cases connected or is it just circumstance that has them finding 2 dead wizards near the poisoned waterways? DJ takes the poisoned water issue and Alex starts working the dead wizards, really hoping the cases don't cross.

This was an amazing book. The pieces are all in place from the first book, and now the author expands on them. We get new creatures - like the merpeople, nymphs and even were-gators (though we never actually meet one), plus a return of characters introduced already - like Jake, Alex's cousin and Eugenia, DJ's neighbor and of course, our favorite pirate Jean Lafitte.

The action was much faster paced in this book and started sooner. I was kept on my toes because I already knew the author had no problem killing off characters and there were plenty of dangerous situations to be had. For me, this book was even better than the first. I can't wait for book 3, Elysian Fields to come out, especially with the ending of this one. 4 stars on Goodreads.