Sue Pokorny & Anne Roquemore

Author at Starfox's Mansion http://www.wolfpanther.com/.

Three Way Mirror (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 13th April 2002 (4)
Tags: Novella
(263K)

This was a sequel to Sentinel Too (the whole two-parter, not just part 1) which uses the supporting characters from "Beneath the Surface" so I guess you could call it a bit of a sequel to that too. This was yummy; angst, troubles, arguments between Jim and Blair, and of course reconciliation (would absolutely Not Do if that didn't happen!). I liked the way it was done; having Blair desperately needing someone to talk to because of the weird things that were happening to him, and knowing that while Jim might have been the person he would want to talk to, being closest connected to all this, Jim was also the last person who wanted to talk. Good character stuff, all this. And the mystical stuff was not over the top or unsubtle. I liked how it all started, built up slowly, with Blair having nightmares he didn't remember, recognising things he didn't know anything about, and so on.
    "Blair?"
    "Yeah, Jim. Sorry, man. This is all just freaking me out a little."
    Jim forced a laugh, relieved to hear a bit of normalcy creep back into his friend's voice. "No kidding, Sherlock. You're doing a pretty good job of freaking me out, too."
    Jim was relieved to get a rush of laughter from the line. "Well, you know how I hate to freak alone."

I also liked the way that Blair's strengths were used (as well as Jim's) to solve the problem. And also the way the culprit was built up not to be an evil psycho (you know, ho hum, evil psycho witchdoctor wants to rule the world by doing ritual killings, been done too many times) but something more plausible; and the way the people in this story were all tied together in different ways.