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MATTERS OF THE BLOOD
by Maria Y. Lima
Quiet Storm Publishing, March 2005
232 pages
$14.95
ISBN: 0975857150


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Keira Kelly, we learn very quickly, is an uncommon woman currently living in Rio Seco, a small town in Hill Country, Texas. She is babysitting her cousin Monty who runs the local funeral parlor. But it is clear that Keira is not exactly human for she has abilities and assets no human could match. And she is undergoing a major change, normal to her clan, after which her dominant power will take over.

Keira has been having nightmares, first about some slaughtered deer and then about her murdered cousin, that seem to be coming true. When the local law, in the form of a former lover Carlton Larson, shows her the very real dead body of her cousin she knows there is a problem she must solve. Fortunately one of her brothers is dispatched by the head of her clan to offer his help at this frightening time.

With just a few deft pen strokes, Lima creates a realistic and believable alternative world. It is so subtlety yet deftly done that we segue into it while effortlessly suspending our disbelief. Then, as more outrageous events happen, we are conditioned to accept them on their terms. I am usually not fond of mysteries that contain woo-woo or that take place in an alternate world of magic or vampires or parapsychological powers, but this one grabbed my interest so much that I was eager to find out more about the strange and particular culture in which Keira lives.

It turns out there is more than one alternative culture sharing the earth with humans, who are uniformly scorned by the other, more powerful groups. Each has its own set of laws, government, and of ethics. It is absolutely fascinating to watch and contemplate how creatures not-human must develop ethics and morals which may not match with what we might approve. And the intriguing plot hinges upon some of these ethical dilemmas.

There is a vast array of characters here and all are fairly well delineated. Certainly we get to know Keira quite well and understand her background, her powers and limitations, and her poignant emotions. The other characters are perhaps more stereotypical but easy to understand and they fit into the story very nicely. Even the humans in the story are important and provided with faults and virtues.

I love the setting of the book. Lima does Hill Country very well. The descriptions make this area come so alive to the reader that it is like being there in person. For example:

"I'd always liked this part of the night. It seemed as if you were poised on the edge of something, a promise kept secret by the almost dark. You could almost not see, but enough light remained to turn even the most mundane shapes of bushes and mesquite trees into living things that hovered just on the verge of movement. As if with the right words or ritual, they would pull up their roots and slide out of the imprisoning ground."

It is this kind of description that makes the supernormal paranormal happenings of the book not only completely acceptable but also believable as well.

Lima tells a fascinating story of other possibilities. It is a mystery, it is a romance, but it is also a 'what if' there were actually more to our philosophy than we have dreamed of.

Reviewed by Sally Fellows, February 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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