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House of Shards
Reviewed by Tim McCree
November 2006
BOOK: House of
Shards
AUTHOR: Micol Ostow
NOTE: This review may contain plot spoilers.
There is an old saying,
home is where the heart is. For generations, the Halliwell
family has come to treasure their Manor in San Francisco. So,
what happens when that Manor seemingly turns against them for no
apparent reason?
As this story begins, strange events are
occurring in Halliwell Manor. The plumbing has gone wonky
(leading the washing machine to do an impression of Old
Faithful), the upstairs bathroom has turned into a black hole,
and Phoebe can hear the food in the fridge talking to her.
However, the strangest events are taking place in Paige’s
room. In this room, visions of the past are being presented,
visions of the Halliwell girls as children. Grams is seen
playing with little Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and...Paige! How can
this be, since Paige would not encounter her birth family until
she was an adult? How can she be seeing visions of a life she
never lived?
This is an interesting book as most of the
story takes place within the walls of Halliwell Manor. The
sisters have come to see the Manor as their home, their safe
place. Therefore, they are quite upset when all this weird stuff
starts happening. Also, unlike the events of the episodes Is
There A Woogy In The House and The Importance Of Being Phoebe,
there is no clear explanation for these occurrences. The
Halliwells are fighting in the dark here, and we, along with
them, are wondering just what the heck is going on.
Once again we get some wonderful
"Halliwell moments" that the series had been lacking
in its last few years of life. We get Piper learning to live
with her new role as mother to Wyatt, we get a Phoebe who truly
cares about helping her readers, and we get Paige coming to
realize that she truly belongs in the Manor. I love these
moments, they made the early years of Charmed so enjoyable. I’m
glad that the books have retained these moments.
Leo gets a lot to do in this book, and
that is a nice thing for his fans. He does quite a bit of the
leg work in this story, helping the sisters get to the bottom of
the mystery. As most of you know, Leo was all but dropped from
the show in its final season, so the books really make up for
that. Leo is a vital part of the family, and has been for years.
Although he does have other charges around the world that he
looks after, his family will always come first, and rightfully
so.
Once again the No Personal Gain rule in
this books is mentioned and the penalties for breaking it are
implied. They really should have made the shows writers read the
books, as they seemed to have forgotten that as the series
progressed.
Some other points:
-once again, Cole is mentioned several
times in a book.
-there are some nice references to several
past adventures the Halliwells had. I nice nod to continuity
(another thing the series sadly lacked in its last years).
-there is an amusing subplot of Wyatt
conjuring up magical being based on his toys. This actually
become a major part of the story towards the end of the book.
-once again, no Daryl. Come on, writers,
let’s have him back in the books. The series made the mistake
of dropping him, but you don’t have to.
-once again, Chris is AWOL. This is
curious, since the books mentions Phoebe’s empathic powers and
her dating Jason. This would place this story sometime in early
Season Six, so where is (Adult) Chris?
-the author made a small blooper. She
mentioned that the sisters moved back into the Manor when their
mother died. Of course, it should say when their grandmother
died.
All in all, I found this book a
delightful romp. I give it a 9/10.
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