Hexborn by JP McLean

Reviewed by Wendy Hawkin

The “Mistress of Complications” returns with a meticulously plotted urban fantasy/supernatural thriller. Its hallmark, an intricate web of magical systems and relationships in a well-developed fantastical world. Yet at its heart, it’s about people we care about, how they live, love, and survive the forces of evil who would see them destroyed.

In this sequel to The Never Witch, JP McLean offers an ingenious illustration of the dangers of xenophobia. Two interwoven subplots converge at the climax in an epic battle to destroy a near-unstoppable assassin whose goal is to annihilate the Hexborn. That’s what this group of young soldiers call themselves. Others call them cursed. They are mixed blood, carrying the DNA of both witches and warlocks and persecuted by both, who fear their power. The Hexborn work like an intelligence team. They are the hunted hunting the hunter—their mission to execute this “killing machine.”

Meanwhile, in Vancouver, the sparks between Adeline (a magically barren witch carrying warlock magic) and Luke (a sexy warlock determined to teach her how to control her magic while winning her heart) explode into a fiery romance. The couple can now communicate telepathically and spend hours at his nature sanctuary where Adeline learns to draw her power from trees and hold it in check as Luke tests her. Adeline and Luke are two of the narrators. The third is Mia.

One of the leaders of the Hexborn, Mia is tasked with protecting Alice, a twelve-year-old telepath tied to the hunter’s signet ring. Alice leads the group across Canada as they pursue this monster who’s murdering innocent families. Adeline can not only hear Luke, she can hear Alice, and this is how the two entities converge to join forces against the hunter.

McLean transforms Vancouver into a magical underworld reminiscent of the Harry Potter stories. Gastown’s Arcane Alley “oozed a quiet menace aimed at non-magicals. Anyone who resisted their influence would find themselves in an empty alley with an overwhelming compulsion to leave.” Arcane Alley is where witches and warlocks go to buy supplies but here also “stolen artifacts, questionable potions, and magical tools of the trade—many fake—change hands.”

Adeline and her witchy sister, Sarah, are combing through archives at The Sanctuary, researching magically barren witches and telepathy as Adeline’s health declines. Having mixed magic is a dangerous and relatively unknown proposition. Could it kill her? Perhaps. The stakes are high.

Yet, there are moments to sink into the lushness of nature, the excitement of love, the tastes and textures of food, and to chuckle at Zane’s snarky t-shirts: “I didn’t mean to push your buttons. I was just looking for mute.”

Fans of Deborah Harkness (The Discovery of Witches) will appreciate McLean’s multi-faceted magical universe where a desire for the freedom to live pushes against cultural transgressions, rules, and prohibitions in an effort to alter the status quo.

McLean’s imagination is at its peak; her writing cinematic and sensory, fuelled by relentless action and sustained with tension and intensity. This is her third supernatural fantasy thriller series. She’s been the recipient of numerous honours for her Dark Dreams series and her six-book Gift Legacy series. Among them: an Eric Hoffer, CIBA and National Indie Excellence Awards, the UK Wishing Shelf Book Awards, and the Whistler independent Book Awards. McLean lives on Denman Island and is a favourite at Vancouver Island markets and festivals.

Hexborn is published by Windstorm Press.

W.L. Hawkin writes an urban fantasy/crime series about a coven of Vancouver witches who solve murders using ritual magic and a little help from the gods.