Queen of Wands

Special Circumstances, Book 2

By: John Ringo

Narrated by: Liv Anderson

Soccer mom and demon fighter Barbara Everette is back in this intricately interwoven monster noir thriller, the sequel to best-selling Princess of Wands by eight times New York Times best-seller John Ringo.

Barbara Everette has a problem. It seems Janea, Barbara’s assistant and The Foundation for Love and Universal Faith's best operative, has been thrown into a coma by some very nasty magic she’s stirred up. Barbara must track down the perpetrators and break the spell or Janea's soul will be forever lost on the astral plane. Oh, and if she can't break the spell, zombies will destroy all mankind.

Meanwhile, Janea, a high-dollar call girl, stripper and High Priestess of Freya when she isn’t fighting demons, must contend with a spiritual journey of her own.

It’s a journey into Janea’s acceptance of herself in all her dimensions (and what dimensions they are!). Where to locate one’s true inner essence? At a science-fiction convention, of course. But when rescuers pursue Janea into her vision of a geeky alternate reality, we find this is one science-fiction convention where the Guest of Honor could turn out to be Death Himself.

Finally, the Christian soccer mom and the Norse priestess stripper face their greatest challenge ever when an ancient Old One rears Her ugly face, and the Mother of Darkness walks among us. Since this is one Mother who is quite immune to any conventional power, including nuclear weapons, it seems humanity’s only hope is God. The question being: Is God willing to save humanity? Fortunately for the rest of us, Barbara and Janea are determined to fight to the last ounce of faith to find out.

©2012 John Ringo (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

I love this world!

A Christian soccer mom that battles evil is a neat concept. This particular book was bittersweet at the end. A shocking conclusion that leaves me wanting more Barbara Everett stories.

Spooky Combat

In Princess of Wands, John Ringo introduced the world to Barb Everette, a soccer Mom who discovers the hard way that the occult and the supernatural are very deadly perils in the world today. Fortunately, Barb is both a devout Protestant and a military brat with extensive martial arts and weapons training. The combination makes her a very effective warrior of the light in this enjoyable urban fantasy series.

In Princess of Wands, Barb joins forces with a secret organization composed of an eclectic group of wiccans, devotes of the Norse gods, Buddhists, etc. who for centuries have been trying to protect the world from supernatural evil. They are secretly assisted by government teams investigating cases they euphemistically term “special circumstances”.

Queen of Wands is divided into three novellas. The first involves what I would consider to be a standard investigation for Barb. Bad things are happening that the police are having trouble understanding—things bad enough that Barb’s friend is yanked out of her body and trapped on the astral plane by the bad guys. Barb has to go in and solve the “real world” problem before she can even think of trying to help her friend. Ringo makes the investigation interesting and the ultimate threat fun—showing how some supernatural phenomena have filtered into the culture through movies and television. It’s a good, exciting, story.

The second builds on Ring’s fascination with science fiction conventions. While in the previous book, I thought he did this rather poorly, he’s fixed his problems in this sequel. Picture a science fiction convention on the astral plane in which serious spiritual players are involved and maneuvering against each other in ways that will seriously affect our earth. Barb’s friend is in the middle of this problem, but handicapped by not remembering much about her earthly existence. It’s a fun story in which we see the effects of actions taken in the opening novella play out in this one—if you keep your eyes open to recognize what is happening.

The third story is the best of the lot, because Special Circumstances are finally coming out of the closet in a very big way. Families are being slain horribly. Women are being kidnapped for a fate that is even more horrible. And a test of faith (or faiths) is confronting the nation and it’s very easy to imagine America failing.

This is a good one. I really wish Ringo would write a third book in this series.

Church Lady

The books are a fun read or listen. I am only writing this review for one reason. The protagonist is a beautiful church lady that wouldn't sin to save her life. Yet Ringo has her driving like a maniac everywhere she goes. Not just too fast (seventy mph on a city street) but she drives all over the road and anywhere else she wants. She never gets stopped by a cop or get in an accident. Here she is, a serious and devout Christian yet though she won't let anyone else drive her she constantly breaks ever traffic law there is and puts everyone else on the street in serious danger. Come on John, it totally drags the listener out of the story. Ok, maybe not everyone but me for sure.

wtf ending

great story, unique perspectives and tale. but wtf with the ending. ugh, is there going to be more?

A very different religious tale.

John manages to always come up with a different take on just about any story trope that he cares to address. You should see what he does with zombies in Under a Graveyard Sky.
In any case, this is a very good story that builds well on the previous one. I first read this several years ago, but John has started on the next book of this series, and early chapters are available on his substack.
So, I decided to get the E and audio versions of the first two and re-read them.
Excellent!
The Bubba Likes It!
Do Recommend!