The third book in Melinda Snodgrass’ Edge Series, [The Edge of Dawn], delivers. After an unsatisfying first-person detour into Richard Oort’s internal dialog, she returns to her strengths – well-crafted and descriptive writing and a broad canvass of unique characters.

Oort is still uncomfortable, and not terribly effective, as Lumina Enterprises’ CEO. But he is scorching the earth, taking the fight back to the magical forces bent on consuming the earth. Easily the best addition to the story, and to Oort’s alliance, is a Navajo girl, Mosi, who is immune to magic like him. Snodgrass takes the story, and her writing, to a new level introducing this character. Very few novels feature Indian characters without viewing them either stereotypically or in rose-colored glasses. But Mosi is a rich character, her culture only one facet in a beautifully colored prism.

Another bonus is that Snodgrass’ background in screenwriting makes it a given that each book provides a new and exciting climax. This one culminates in Turkey, and she nails the details for the land and architecture to the muddled cultures in the region.

As I wrote in my review of the first book in the series, [The Edge of Reason], Snodgrass is a gifted writer with a truly poetic command of language. Whether she’s writing film scripts or her high-concept, alien civil war series or installments in the [Wildcards] science fiction superhero series, she brings a keen eye for detail and deeply imaginative mind. She’s a valued and important local treasure

Bottom Line: The Edge Series leaps to another level with the introduction of a wildly interesting new character and hero.

4 bones ½!!!!! ( )