Burning Bridges

Wren Valere used to be almost invisible. But now she's not only being seen, she's getting involved.

Recent attacks against nonhuman Fatae have escalated into hate crimes against magic users in general—humans included. With the Mage Council distracted by internal power struggles, Wren is guilted into stepping up as spokesperson for the fragilely united Fatae and lonejack communities….

And, because the cosmos deems her without enough complications, her partner-lover Sergei is drowning in his own problems. But not only can't she help him—she's the cause.

With lives on the line—including her own—Wren's going to have to break the lonejack credo, ditch her long-cherished invisibility and take a stand.

But burning bridges can be deadly….

Wren Valere used to be almost invisible. But now she's not only being seen, she's getting involved.

Recent attacks against nonhuman Fatae have escalated into hate crimes against magic users in general—humans included. With the Mage Council distracted by internal power struggles, Wren is guilted into stepping up as spokesperson for the fragilely united Fatae and lonejack communities….

And, because the cosmos deems her without enough complications, her partner-lover Sergei is drowning in his own problems. But not only can't she help him—she's the cause.

With lives on the line—including her own—Wren's going to have to break the lonejack credo, ditch her long-cherished invisibility and take a stand.

But burning bridges can be deadly….

Publishers Weekly

At the start of Gilman's convoluted but diverting fourth Retrievers fantasy (after 2006's Bring It On), set in a near-future Manhattan, Wren Valere, a professional thief with magical "Talent," and her demon sidekick, P.B., discover the brutalized corpse of an angel. The gutted angel, or winged nonhuman "fatae," turns out to be just one casualty in a heated conflict between Nulls (humans without Talent) and the powerful human Talents, along with the fatae. Not only are bigoted human vigilantes going after supernaturals, but it appears the Silence, a covert organization that used to employee Wren's partner and lover, Sergei Didier, has become corrupted from within. Several Silence Talent operatives have gone missing, and Sergei is drawn back into the group's politics as a new truce falls apart. Though newcomers to the series might find the plot and multiple cabals a little confusing-with the spy stuff a little too derivative of TV's Aliasand not enough fey-Wren's can-do magic is highly appealing. (June)

Laura Anne Gilman is the author of the Cosa Nostradamus books for Luna (the “Retrievers” and “Paranormal Scene Investigations” series), a YA trilogy for HarperCollins, and numerous works of short fiction. She also writes paranormal romances for Nocturne as Anna Leonard, and her e-book novella Dreamcatcher was released in August 2008. A former executive editor at NAL, Laura Anne is an amateur chef, oenophile, and cat-servant. She lives in New York City, where she also runs d.y.m.k. productions.