Review: Wicked Enchantment by Anya Bast

Wicked Enchantment

Dark Magick #1

When you’re a half incubus, your reputation precedes you…

All eyes are on Gabriel Mac Braire the day he makes his first appearance in the Seelie Court, including those of Aislinn Finvarra. Despite deep bitterness over her last failed relationship, Aislinn cannot help but be curious about the half incubus who is known to possess dark magick, both lethal and sexual in nature. Rumors abound of the women who have become enslaved to his irresistible charms.

So when the Summer Queen of the fae orders Aislinn herself to act as his guide in the court, she is understandably on guard. She’s fallen under the spell of far less persuasive men before. In addition, Gabriel might be more than he seems and his true mission is far from innocent.

This time, Aislinn must protect not only her heart, but her very life...


Aislinn is a fae from the seelie court. When one day Gabriel, from the unseelie court, requests to live in the Rose Tower to the Summer Queen and she decrees that Aislinn must be his guide, she is less than happy with the job. Gabriel is half incubus, and is rumored to be able to enslave his lovers. Aislinn shows Gabriel around while he tries his best to try to seduce her, but it's not an easy task, Aislinn has barely recovered from her last break up and is weary of all men.

She is lonely and feels out of place in the seelie court, something that would be very dangerous to admit, and appart of that she keeps a dark secret. Gabriel has always had a hidden agenda and when he realizes that she's lonely and manages to find out what her secret is, he tries his best to lure her to the unseelie court with promises of freedom and education. When he admits that he was never going to stay in the Rose Tower and then tells it to the Summer Queen, she gets mad and orders his men to kill him but Aislinn intervenes and stops them, but not without repercusions. It's then that she decides to escape to the Black Tower, but things don't go as expected.

At the same time we get glimpses of the Phaendir, the race of druids that managed to contain the fae in one place called Piefferburg. The fae are trapped there and the only way they can break the spell is findind the three pieces of a puzzle box that when united transform into a key that unlocks a part of "The Book of Bindings" where the counter spell is assumed to be located. Needless to say, this is the only thing in which the Summer Queen from the Seelie court and the Shadow King from the Unseelie court help each other.

I had a good time reading this book. I liked how the romance between Gabriel and Aislinn evolved. I had a hard time believing that Aislinn hadn't investigated her gift more or at least tried to do something when she was younger. I loved all the members of the Wild Hunt, they were really interesting and I hope we get to see more of them in the next books. I think the part with the Phaendir at the end was a little too much for the novel, I thought that by then the book was already nicely tied, and that part could have been saved for the next one.

In short, this novel was a great start for the Dark Magick series, it had it all: romance, mystery, action and magic! I can't wait to see if the fae finally get to be free.

Memorable Quote:

She laughed out loud, the prettiest sound he could imagine. "You're a great dancer."
"Thanks". He stared down into her eyes and put everything he was thinking about doing to her into his gaze. "It's the second best thing I can do."
She swallowed hard and looked away. "Yes, I can imagine what the first thing is," she answered in her characteristically dry tone of voice.
"I'd be more than happy to show you."



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