Symphony for the Devil

Set in a culture of wealth and witches, the second book in Marcus James’s Blackmoore Legacy series – this Gothic gay romantic adventure – is a whirlwind of paranormal blended with the finer things of life. Two young lovers, Trevor and Braxton, set out from their home in Bellingham, WA, to launch a fresh start in Seattle after narrowly escaping an ancient family curse. The two have supernatural abilities, but seek a life as an “average” gay couple. The occult powers they had hoped to escape quickly permeate their new life, as well as that of family and lifelong friends. There is also a superb story-within-the story about the unfortunate fate of a dead violin virtuoso, who is desperately trying to communicate with the Blackmoore family about the looming evil. Symphony for the Devil is a compelling, plot-driven, and structurally-sound story. The characters are interesting and intelligent. Because the characters are well-to-do, much of the story’s detail focuses on designer brands, color, and style. The settings are lit with cultural, historical, and architectural details, which give the story a rich and engaging sophistication. There are also several scenes–one where one of the characters is destroying someone in his head, and he has the epiphany that he would never do this for real, but there is a certain satisfaction in imagining that he would get even–that just rings so true that the reader might forget they are reading fiction.
The book contains several straight, as well as gay and lesbian, sex scenes. While parts of the book are brilliant and consuming, parts of it lack traditional technical writing skills. The use of pronouns is confusing, the overuse of demonstratives, like “this,” “that,” and “those,” is distracting, and there are some typos and word misusages, as well as dialog placement confusion.