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Savannah Levin is down in the dumps, thinking she could have done better on her first solo job. In fact, she's so depressed she thinks if wishes were possible she'd be willing to give up her magic in order to change the lives for the better of those who are suffering for her mistakes. The next morning she awakes to find she can't do any spells -- not even the most elementary. Some one was listening and acted on her unspoken wish. Now she's defenseless and afraid to confide in Paige or Lucas or anyone about her problem.

Of course, she feels she still has to hold up her end of the agency. But then she learns that there is a darkness that threatens many she cares about and may tear apart all that has been done to stabilize the politics between cabals and supernaturals. Without powers, Savannah will be fighting along side her peers when she's defenseless and there is an assassin on her trail -- one who was difficult enough to survive when she was at full power.

Savannah is older now but still has the tendency to jump into things with both feet before thinking or planning. The story is many faceted and brings in a lot of characters from previous books, including some pretty dangerous villains. This is very much a story that shows that Savannah is coming into her own and learning to think about others and consequences -- at least she's making a start.

This is a universe where the supernaturals live among us -- not so much hidden as disguised. But their affairs, crimes, and decisions can often impact the normal world even if they don't realize it. The cabals run multinational corporations as well as controlling much of what goes on among the supernaturals.

Armstrong's characters are multifaceted and well fleshed out. The plots are often intricate and convoluted, which serves to pull the reader into the story. Once begun the books are always difficult to put down. This one seemed like the first half of a longer story -- at least I felt this way after reading it. Hopefully, the next story will tie up some of these, to me, loose ends. Even if they don't get tied up, I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment in Savannah's life.