Starred review from July 21, 2014
Bookseller and debut novelist Szarlan gives an informed and assured launch to her Revelation Quartet. The Amazing Maskelynes—Revelation “Reve” Dyer and her husband, Jeremy—are acclaimed Las Vegas stage magicians. After someone tampers with their equipment, Jeremy is fatally shot by Reve as they perform the “Defying the Bullet” trick. Horrified, Reve and her three daughters seek refuge with her maternal grandmother in her childhood home of Hawley Five Corners, Mass. The Dyer women all have supernatural abilities, and Reve can vanish at will from the world. When she encounters the titular volume, she’s drawn into generations-old mysteries involving magical objects, government spooks, and malevolent fey. Readers will be thoroughly engaged in the lives of the literary, magical, horse-loving Reve, teen twins Grace and Fai, and 10-year-old Caleigh. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.
August 1, 2014
When Revelation "Reve" Dyer loses her husband in a tragic accident during their world-famous Las Vegas magic act, she moves back with her three daughters to Hawley Five Corners, the New England town that her family founded. But her husband's death was no accident, and when Reve finds a book that ties into the legacy of power that the Dyer women possess, her family may be in grave danger. VERDICT Debut novelist Szarlan, who was at one time a magician's assistant, sprinkles some intriguing tidbits from her own life into her story, including details about horseback riding that will probably interest some readers and distract others, but the core narrative is strong and the setup for what is apparently to be a four-book series introduces a proper hook. If the budding romance between Reve and her childhood sweetheart seems a little hasty for a new widow, the scenes with Reve and her daughters ring true. [See Prepub Alert, 3/17/14.]
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from August 1, 2014
Revelation Maskelyn kills her beloved husband, Jeremy, when something goes drastically wrong in their Las Vegas magic production, which featured more than mere stage magic. Like all the women in the Dyer family, Reve has a magical power; she can disappear. She knows that an evil ancient foe was behind Jeremy's murder, and now she and her children are its targets. She's told to go to Hawley Five Corners, a town in the Massachusetts forests connected to her family history. It turns out that her childhood best friend and first love, Jolon, is the police chief. While living in and renovating a historic mansion, Reve and her youngest daughter experience some bizarre dreams, including one of a book hidden behind a secret panel. It turns out to be a mysterious guide to an unseen world, its text appearing, disappearing, or changing every time the book is opened. Szarlan's enthralling debut, a magic-fueled tale of contemporary romantic suspense, skillfully draws in elements of Celtic myth. Readers who like Juliet Dark's Fairwick trilogy or Tanya Huff's Gale Women series will enjoy this.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)