Long Hot Summoning: The Keeper’s Chronicles #3 is the third book in Tanya Huff’s fun Keepers series set in Ontario, Canada. The back story is that a few people, called Keepers, patrol the world and keep it safe from otherworld, aka demon incursions. Claire with her cat Austin saved the world in the first book and now younger sister Diana has graduated from high school and ready to take on the Keeper role with her cat Sam.
The Long Hot Summoning has much of the fun that Summon the Keeper had and second book in the series, The Second Summoning, just misses. Diana answers the summons to a mall in Kingston where the evil powers are trying to overlay their hellish mall onto the real one. Unfortunately they are very close and sister Claire is a bit distracted trying to save Dean and his hotel guests from a mummy who is sucking their lives to power her own. Diana gets help from mall elves, a magic mirror and a pink plastic magic wand.
The plot is fun, with multiple subplots that do not distract from the main story. Can Diana save the mall kids, Arthur (yes, that Arthur), Claire, the cats and herself? Can she shut down the hellish segue into our world? Will Osiris weigh Claire’s heart and find it heavier than the feather and doom her? Will Lance shut down mummy Meryat? Can she save the magic mirror Jack?
Claire’s, Lance’s and Austin’s characters are well done, although Diana’s and the minor ones are a bit fla, although even the less well-developed people are funny and you can imagine meeting them. Diana grows up a bit, begins to accept The Rules, although she still wants to bend them every which way. Of course any book where the cats are intelligent (as we know they are) and play major roles in saving the Earth has got to be good!
Overall I recommend The Long Hot Summoning and the first book, Summon the Keeper if you enjoy fantasy with a bit of a bite and strong characters, humor and good writing. This is a fast read, perfect for a late evening or take it to the porch this summer and enjoy!
4 Stars for The Long Hot Summoning and Summon the Keeper gets 5 stars.
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