The Secrets of Blood and Bone
In The Secrets of Blood and Bone, Rebecca Alexander picks up where she left off in the first part of her trilogy, combining modern-day fantasy, vampirism and 16th-century sorcery in the hands of Dr John Dee’s erstwhile assistant, Edward Kelley.
In the contemporary story, Jackdaw Hammond describes herself and Sadie, the girl she is looking after, as “borrowed timers,” people who have been saved from death by magic. But in order to stay alive, Jack and Sadie must protect themselves using 66 centuries-old sigils inscribed within protective circles – in tattoos, in Jack’s case, and drawn on the walls or floors in invisible ink for Sadie. In the first novel in the trilogy, The Secrets of Life and Death, Jackdaw encountered Elizabeth Bathory, an infamous 16th-century murderess with dangerous consequences that play out in this sequel. And now she has also crossed the path of an aristocratic English family, the Dannings, who have an urgent need for herbal tincture made by Ellen, a modern-day witch who has died in mysterious circumstances, and in whose house Jack and Sadie are living.
As in Alexander’s previous novel, events in the present are inextricably linked to the past, in particular to the life of Edward Kelley. In The Secrets of Blood and Bone, Kelley has parted company with Dr Dee and set off on a dangerous mission to Venice – a mission he has undertaken for the same family that, centuries later, is so interested in Jack and Sadie.
Readers who enjoyed The Secrets of Life and Death will be eager to know what happens to Jack, Sadie and Jack’s love interest, Felix, but may find the initial pace disappoints. The story moves frequently from past to present and to different points of view in the present, giving it a disjointed feel. Alexander’s mix of popular urban fantasy elements – such as vampires and werewolves – and her beautifully realized historical sections, however, should win her many fans.
