March 23, 2009
Hoffman (Spirits That Walk in Shadow
) infuses this entertaining supernatural thriller with cozy, sexually explicit scenes of reawakening and personal growth. Opal Lazelle’s magical gifts and her talent as a makeup artist have earned her a career in the movies, most recently on the set of Forest of the Night
. She soon discovers that actor Corvus Weather is being transformed in both appearance and soul by Phrixos, a mysterious being with designs on Opal and the rest of the cast and crew. Although Phrixos seems generally helpful, Opal wonders whether its ultimate goal is benevolent. Opal’s struggles to anticipate and stymie Phrixos are undermined by her failure to act decisively and Phrixos’s inability to deliver on any of its veiled threats, but Hoffman manages to sustain the tension to the slightly bizarre end.
May 15, 2009
Hoffman returns to the LaZelle family of A Fistful of Sky (2002) in a book focused on Opal, an artist capable of transforming actors into strange beings by using her magic for augmentation. Her latest creation is the Dark God in an upcoming horror film, but when she affixes the gods mask to actor Corvus Weather, he inhabits his role too well, becoming oddly menacing and regal. Opal realizes Corvus is possessed and to save him must discover what the being possessing him wants. To do that, however, she has to unleash a part of herself she has buried deep. Frequent touches of droll humor enliven what is a rather confusing story. The moviemaking details and the set, on location in the Oregon woods, constitute an intriguing backdrop, as the horror movie in production mirrors the horror unfolding off set. The prosaic manner in which everyone reacts to the danger undercuts drama and suspense, however, and the prose lacks Hoffmans customary finesse. Still, fans of the LaZelles will enjoy this deeper look at Opal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)