“I almost feel sorry for her, the Oracle thought gleefully. Here it is the last night of her young life and she’s dancing.”


All the warmth and charm — no pun intended — of the fun television series is captured nicely by Elizabeth Lenhard in this breezy novelization of the two episodes, All Hell Breaks Loose, and, Charmed Again, both written by Brad Kern. It’s a good novelization, not trying to do more than the series did, and is much like watching the show itself. Any fan will recognize these episodes because it was a changing of the guard, with Prue being killed, and the sorrow over that blended with the discovery that there existed a half-sister who could not only give back to Piper and Phoebe the Power of Three, but also help them heal after the loss of their sister Prue. Because just about anyone interested in the book has no doubt seen the series, I won’t mark anything as a spoiler, but if you don’t want to know what happens, this might not be the review you want to read.

Crushed by the loss of Prue, the oldest and the lynchpin of the sisters’ magical abilities, Piper is taking the loss even harder than Phoebe as this one begins. There is frustration as well, because Leo chose to save Piper over Prue — he could only save one. The Source is after Phoebe’s love, Cole, and he’s shadowed by the Source’s bounty hunters everywhere he goes. A plea from Piper to the Book of Shadows brings back — at least briefly, in ghost form — Grams, and then their mother, but not Prue. But when a lovely young woman who reminds Phoebe a bit of Prue shows up unexpectedly at Prue’s funeral, something strange happens. As Phoebe takes Paige’s hand in hers, she gets a vision, and knows Paige is in danger from the demon bounty hunter, Shax. But why would the Source be worried about Paige?

Well, we know, of course, but as yet Paige has no inkling that she’s part witch, part whitelighter. Paige only knows that she feels close to the Halliwell sisters, and was drawn to Prue’s funeral. It’s only during a battle on a rooftop as Cole and Phoebe attempt to protect her from Shax that Paige’s power to whitelight kick in. It freaks her out. As the remaining two sisters attempt to figure out what’s going on, while grieving the loss of Prue, Inspector Cortez is very intent on taking down the Halliwells. The Charmed Ones’ cop friend Darryl Morris, tries to help, but Cole has a very hot solution!

Paige wants to get away from all these crazy people, and the arms of her boyfriend Shane seems as good a place as any. Eventually, however, the Source decides to use to his advantage the 48 hour period during which Paige can choose of her own free will whether to be good or evil. And to that end, he takes over the one person Paige trusts, Shane, using Paige’s work as an assistant to a social worker, and her good heart, against her. But Phoebe has a trick or two as well, including some pink glasses which allow you to see the evil. Seeing evil and defeating it is an entirely different matter, however.

Someone doesn’t survive going up against the Source, but it’s best not to forget that Leo’s not the only whitelighter in the family now. There is a nice, warm ending to this breezy and enjoyable narrative, as Piper and Phoebe get a new sister, and begin moving forward after a terrible loss. At 181 pages this is a light and easy, yet extremely enjoyable read anyone who loved the show will like. It doesn’t go further, since it’s a novelization based on the two aforementioned episodes, but it’s nice to read, and a good way to get you back to San Francisco, and the magical world of the Halliwell sisters. Really nice for fans. ( )

This was season 4's episode exactly written out. I couldn't catch any changes at all, so this one has me really disappointed. ( )