Industrial Magic marks the fourth addition to the highly popular "Women of the Otherworld" series by author Kelley Armstrong. Paige Winterbourne, that enterprising witch, now finds herself an outcast, kicked out of and by her own coven. Having moved from Boston to Portland, Oregon, Paige’s attempts to create and establish a new and more supportive coven for the technological age are failing disastrously, largely because she’s dating Lucas, a sorcerer (who are generally mortal enemies of witches) and but primarily because she is also the guardian of a black witch’s powerful young daughter, Savannah.
Events take an unexpected twist when Lucas’ father, the head of Florida-based Cortez cabal (a sort of demonic mafia), asks their help in solving the growing murders of teenage offspring of some of the most powerful Cabals around. As a rebel son and unwilling heir, Lucas reluctantly accepts the assignment with Paige’s support. While busily battling Lucas’ bitter half-brothers, trying to persuade vampires, werewolves and demons to work together, meeting and dealing with all sorts of fascinating and terrifying beings in the process, this duo has little time to worry about the bizarre turn this investigation will soon take and catapult them into a forbidden world. Question is, will they make it back - safely?
Kelley Armstrong’s deft, engaging and undeniably realistic depiction of such mythical stuff as magic and supernatural beings in normal society and within human context is what sets apart her "Women of the Otherworld" series from others. Paige and Lucas are both appealing and intriguing, and their love that is so against all their rules and natures remains enduring. Although the sensuality in slightly dimmed and the love angle takes a back seat to all the action, the sheer magnitude of this saga increases with the introduction of many more fascinating new supernatural beings even as the author deepens and expands on the lives, abilities and inter-relationships of the continuing characters. Whether she is taking a look at the highly organized but deadly and self-contained world of Cabals or providing an engrossing peek into the history and hierarchy of the world of vampires, Armstrong is at her usual imaginative and consummate best. As a result, the pace never falters; the narrative has satisfying amounts of intrigue, action, bloodthirsty violence, terror and overall magic. While this story lacks a certain kick-ass pizzazz that characterized Armstrong’s werewolf books in this series, it nevertheless remains an intensely complex, fascinating and well-written one that promises of even more captivating stories to come.