Archive for category Fantasy

Magic, Mensa & Mayhem
Karina L. Fabian
Swimming Kangaroo Books, March 2009
Paperback, 232 pages
$13.99
Reviewed by Agnes Dee
Vern is a dragon, subdued by St. George. He is now around half his former size, and though no longer possesor of “The Knowledge of the Ages”, Vern has learned to put his trust in the Lord. His partner is Sister Grace; a nun gifted as a mage who works God’s magic with a beautiful singing voice. That’s the way it is in their Faerie principality, an alternative of our own, and that’s the way it would stay, if a rift hadn’t opened between their world and ours.

On this side of the rift, Vern has found a calling as a private eye, and that is what he is in most of Karina’s stories. This time, however, he and his partner get to watch over a group of Fairie folk at a Mensa convention - without even getting paid.

There’s no telling how the customs and idiocyncracies of the Faerie world, and of our world, clash. Vern and Sister Grace do a good job of keeping everything runing smoothly - if you don’t count the Elvish war declared against Florida, or the enviornmental uproar over Vern’s late-night snacks.

Karina manages to weave in some wonderful ideas about the nature of quantum physics, the nature of time, and the dangers of artificial sweeteners: That, and many funny situations. Throughout the book, her ideas remain faithful to christian thought, Catholicism in particular. This book is a funny read all the way through, engaging  in the smaller as well as the larger parts of the story.
DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION
I have a material connection because I received a review copy that I can keep for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was not expected to return this item after my review.