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Trickery Treat
Reviewed by Tim McCree
January 2008
BOOK: Trickery Treat
AUTHOR:
Diana Gallagher
NOTE: This review may contain plot spoilers.
Well, everyone, this will be my
final Charmed Book Review. The reason being is that the
series of Charmed books has been discontinued and this is
the last one to be published. It is fitting that this
series should end on a high note. Like the previous Charmed
book, Leo Rising, this book is a real winner.
As the story opens, five months have passed since the
events of the final televised episode. The Charmed Ones are
enjoying a Demon free life, they know that it will be years,
perhaps decades, before the Underworld reorganizes. They
are determined to live those years in peace. With the
approach of Halloween, the Halliwells decide to throw a
party and invite all their neighbors. It's been years since
they have thrown such a party, and now that they don’t have
to worry about Demons coming through the door, they feel
they can resume normal neighborhood events such as this.
However, Paige is still feeling guilty about letting
down the magical community during the Ultimate Battle.
Although she had been under a spell at the time, she still
blames herself. When she wishes she could patch things up
with the leprechauns, they promptly show up. It turns out
they will forgive Paige if she grants
them a small favor. Could she summon the spirits of those
leprechauns who had died in the battle against evil (include
Seamus who died back in Season Five, and Liam, who was
killed in the Ultimate Battle while Paige had been under
that spell)They want to spend Halloween, or Samhain, with
their old friends. Paige agrees, and Seamus and Liam cross
over. All the leprechauns, both living and spirits, attend
the Halliwell's Halloween party (the sisters convince
everyone that they are a troupe of midget actors). However,
Paige's opening the portal between the two worlds may have
let some other spirits in as well. Most of them seem
harmless enough. However, soon the Manor is invaded by a
powerful ghost. This ghost is clearly evil, and he will
stop at nothing to get what he wants. Can the sisters get
rid of this evil ghost, before innocents get hurt?
Well, folks, once again we get a great Charmed book. Not
only are the characters spot on, but continuity is greatly
paid attention too (something the show had been greatly
lacking in its final years). We get to see that even though
the Halliwells won't be hearing about Demons for a while,
they are still other evil
beings out there, and they will always be innocents to
protect.
I found the subplot about the leprechauns very
well done. One of my pet peeves about the show was what
became of the spirits of magical beings when said magical
being died. This book answers that question, at least in
regards to leprechauns such as Seamus and Liam (another nice
nod to continuity in bringing them back). Also, it was good
to see Paige patch things up with the leprechauns. No doubt
it happened, but it was nice to see it happening.
This book is the first to feature Henry and Coop, the
men Paige and Phoebe married in the last season of Charmed.
I more or less found them to be well written. No doubt had
the book series continued, they would have been in more of
the books.
I must comment that I think it's a shame that the
Charmed books are ending now. Judging from this book, they
no doubt were moving into the post-series time frame. This
might have given the authors more creative freedom, like the
Star Trek book authors have, now that those shows are no
longer in production. Without the show to tie them down
creatively, the authors might have been able to take chances
like they couldn't before, such as brining back characters
like Prue and Cole. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.
Some other points:
-this book has two interesting guest characters. One is
a woman named Fiona Dunne, a ghost hunter who helps the
Halliwells in this story. The other is a man named Ken
Carson, an associate professor who's hobby is to go around
and try to debunk ghostly activity. No matter what happens
in this story, the man will not accept it. When he finally
sees more than he bargained for, he faints!
-as I mentioned above, this book is full of continuity.
While dealing with the situation, the Halliwells refer to
all their previous encounters with ghosts, both good and
bad, on the show.
-Daryl does not appear in this story,
unfortunately. Sorry Daryl fans.
-since this book takes place after the series, I was
first worried that Billie would be in it. As most of you
know, I never liked this character. Thankfully, she is only
mentioned in passing and does not appear in this story.
-on page 122, there is a blooper. At the top of the
page, the name Cole appears twice, instead of Coop! Oops!
To sum up, I highly recommend this book. I give it a
10/10!
Finally, since this has been my final review, it is only
fitting that I conclude it with the following: I want to
thank Andrea Haag for allowing me the honor of doing the
Charmed Book Reviews on her site. Thank you, Andrea, you
rock :)
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