As excellent and intriguing as the first in the series. Danger and mystery in the streets and seas of Portugal. ( )

This continued both the things I enjoyed and the things that annoyed me from the first book. In the former camp: a delightful world of manners and magical waterfolk; a proper grown-up romance with genuine issues to make work; a great cast of capable and foible-icious characters. In the latter camp: a predilection for detail that often swamps the big plot and emotion points.

Those details seemed particularly problematic in this second book because there was so much going on that I really begrudge the use of those words to give us all the little twiddly bits of society manners and explanations of things. Indeed, the awesome foursome of special investigators were almost entirely sidelined because there just wasn't space for them amongst Oriana and Duilio's story. Now, I love Oriana and Duilio, but I love Nadezhda, and I really wanted to see more of her arc throughout this, especially considering how important she is for the finale.

But overall, I enjoyed this and look forward to the third one bubbling to the top of my to-read list. ( )

The Seat of Magic is the sequel to the absolutely amazing The Golden City. It's been over two weeks since Oriana left the Golden City, and Duilio is starting to get nervous. Especially once it turns out that he is not the only one concerned about the situation. His quest to solve that mystery leads him to the palace where he makes some new friends and gets the key to bringing Oriana back. Meanwhile, someone is killing magical creatures in the Golden City, and our dynamic duo quickly find themselves pulled back into the world of police investigation. Plus, after ten years of separation and two years of actively avoiding each other, Oriana's father has decided that he wants to reconcile, which opens a whole new can of worms for a sereia already facing the important decision of whether or not to remain in the city and play at being human the rest of her life. It kills her to hide her sereia nature, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

What makes this a good middle volume, something fairly rare in trilogies, is how it manages to build on the world Cheney built in the first book without merely being filler and a set up for book 3. Now that we know Oriana and Duilio, it's time to learn more about them and the things that make them tick. It turns out that not all the bad guys were caught in The Golden City, so it's time to make some new friends and do some mopping up. So that by the time the book's done, we know so much more than when we started. And are totally primed for book 3.

More fun adventures with everyone's favorite siren and her half-selkie partner-in-crime-fighting. If you liked the first book, there's no excuse not to pick this one up. ( )

Selkies, Sereia and Otterfolk are being preyed upon – lock up your womenfolk

The Seat of Magic sets the stage with a string of grizzly murders of young women that all happen to be a non humor. The methods of their death are each different and yet somehow tied together. In addition there are a large number of deaths in the city where the deceased appears to have suffered no obvious cause of death. How are all of these people tied together? Duilio and his cousin Joaquim are determined to find out – all the while Duilio is agonizing over when Oriana will return from her homeland.

A little sizzle if it pleases you

So in it’s predecessor we saw the setup for what was potentially going to be a romance between the two main characters of Duilio and Oriana. Many a reader will be pleased to know The Seat of Magic delivers much more romance between these two.

Some odd bit of perspective

For the most part this is a dual perspective story told from the POVs of Oriana and Duilio. However, occasionally a third perspective is thrown in, that of Duilio’s cousin Joaquim. While I think he is a great character I find myself torn over whether or not his perspective was really needed. I know that the bits he contributed via his POV were necessary in setting up portions of the story but that is all it felt like they were to me – setting up parts of the story. I still care about this character and find him interesting but I think he needed to be made more interesting or given a truer chunk of the novel if he was going to have these inclusions. Otherwise he’s just a convenient plot device at times.

Politics and personal vendettas

The Seat of Magic has a bit of politicking and personal agendas going on and where one lets off another one begins. It isn’t as complicated as it sounds and all comes together towards the end very nicely. I definitely enjoyed the direction things went for all of the characters and eagerly await the third volume that is going to take us into the heart of Oriana’s Sereia homeland. ( )

This is just my sort of book in every way. Historical fiction in a unique setting with a murder mystery, magic, and selkies. Plus, it includes a gentle romance with genuine chemistry. I loved the first book, The Golden City, but this one is even stronger because the characters had overcome their natural distrust and everything came together. ( )