I've always enjoyed Diana Pharaoh Francis and the new Magicfall series doesn't disappoint! It did start out a bit slow but world building takes time lol - look forward to more with Kayla and Ray. Thank you NetGalley.

This a spin off from the Hornsgate series, so it's an Urban Fantasy book set in a post apocalyptic setting. But in this, the plot is a detective story, so it reads more like a crime book. Not really my thing.

As always the writing by Diana Pharaoh Francis is great. She is a great story teller. I just didn't like this story. We all have different taste.

I'm not again of the cover and feel it deserves a better one.
I enjoyed this urban fantasy, romance and all. It's a good mix of action, fantasy, detective story with a pinch of romance.
I would absolutely ship Kayla and Ray.

I do believe after all the characters horny thoughts, we did deserve a good sex scene. What we did get was a rushed ending and sort of a cliffhanger.

I'd say if you like Mercy Thompson or the Sookie Stackhouse series, you'd probably like this too.

I'm definitely interested in reading the second book.

Thanks Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

Set in a slightly alternative world, magic has made things difficult for some. Kayla is a former cop who left the field due to magic transforming her into a monster. She left everything behind, including her former partner, Ray. Kayla is forced back into her old life when she stumbles on the bodies of some local witchkins. Things only get more complicated from there. Now Kayla is dealing with witches, family drama, gods and her strong feelings for Ray. What is a girl to do but to fight back against those that try to hold her down.
I liked the world building in this book. The ending did feel a bit rushed to me. I am interested in what the future has in store for Kayla and Ray.

Wow! This was so good. This was a fascinating world with amazing characters.

Magicfell was an explosion of magic that revitalized and unleashed magic upon the world. Old creatures came back to life and some humans found they were no longer human. Kayla, a ex-cop, left the force right after magicfall when she realized she was a shifter. Four years later she comes across a magical murder and calls in her old partner, Ray, to investigate.

I really loved all the characters in this book. Kayla was strong, powerful, and was born to be a cop. I really loved her shifted side. It was very unique and mysterious. Ray a good cop who is really stubborn. He knows he messed up with Kayla and is trying to fix their relationship, and take it further. I really enjoyed their struggle to overcome their past and have a future relationship.

I can't wait to read the next book.

*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*

I didn't realize this was a spin off series. I highly recommend you read the other one first. While I was confused at some points, excellent world building made it so I didn't get lost. The characters are complex and intriguing as they are still developing. And while this story was resolved, the next one was set up nicely. I was sucked in quickly and wasn't ready for the book to end.

Overall, a very enjoyable, if occasionally formulaic urban fantasy story, featuring a murder investigation and many mysteries to be solved. The world building is excellent, and the characters well developed.

Magicfall ripped apart the world as it was. Kayla, like many, was transformed - not a fact she could hide from her colleagues on the police force, so she quit precipitously. When she encounters a triple murder several years later, she contacts her former partner Ray. That case quickly tangles with another that reveals some of Kayla's secrets and forces the two to continue working together. And Ray, too, has his own giant secret.

Gods, shape shifting into non-standard shapes, magic from multiple traditions - there's really nothing not to like here! I'm also a HUGE fan of what Kayla is and LOVE LOVE LOVE that she comes to better accept herself by the end.

I will note, for those picking it up for the romance angle, there is a fair amount of mutual pining and lusting and a bit of making out at the end, but no sex. Understandable, given how much action is in the book, but given that it's categorized as both romance and sci-fi/fantasy, figured it was worth a mention.

Four years ago, the world was rocked by the fact that the magical beings of myth were real, and they were tired of hiding. Known as Magicfall, the supernatural world declared war on humans. Tensions are still fraught between witchkin and humans, but the world is trying to adjust to its new normal. 

Kayla Reese loved her job as a detective, but with Magicfall, she became something more. A shifter but as to what kind, even she doesn't know, only that she has no control over the change and that water is her trigger. She had to leave her beloved job behind for fear of how they would react. Her partner Ray did not take her going well. Furious, he told her he never wanted to see her again. Now four years later Kayla is a scavenger, hunting for items to trade. When she stumbles onto a crime scene, her new life and her old come crashing into each other. 

Ray was furious when Kayla left, the bond between detectives is stronger than any romantic relationship. He couldn't believe she would abandon him when he needed her most. When Magicfall happened, Ray discovered he had become a witch, and Kayla was the one person he could have shared it with. He can barely suppress his magic, using it only when necessary for fear the people he works with discover he is not human. Humans have no love for witchkin, and when Kayla reaches out to him about three bodies, she has found he is quick to the scene, finally a chance to speak to her again. There's just one problem the victims are witchkin, and the police do not consider it murder. Nobody cares about them. Called to an abduction of a wealthy family Ray is reluctant to leave Kayla, but unbeknown to him Kayla has ties to this family, and there is something brewing in the city of Portland. 

The two former partners must work together to solve this mystery before more lives are lost. With so many secrets being exposed and unknown threats at work, this is a rollercoaster of tension, intrigue and discovery. This was a gripping read, and I loved both Kayla and Ray. This is a continuation/ offshoot of the authors previous series, the Horngate Witches. I've read the first of that series, and I will definitely go back and read the rest. The ending let this series down, it was too convoluted and difficult to follow.

I have read other reviews of this book, including one that was written by someone who purchased this book, and I felt I should include a formatting issue in this review. I would not usually mention this as publishers typically fix formatting issues before release, but that doesn't seem to be the case. This book is challenging to read as most of the text is italicised, making it difficult to read. I had to take breaks from the book affecting my overall enjoyment of the story. This is not the author's fault, and I hope the publishers take steps to correct the issue as it is impacting reviews. 

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts an opinions are my own.

Excellent start to a new series. Lots going on but the author kept it going with the pace at a high level. Very enjoyable, well done.

Diana Pharoah Francis introduces the Magicfall series with The Witchkin Murders. Wild magic reentered and reshaped the world at Magicfall. Kayla has become a shapechanger and quit the police force and her detective partner. She changes into what she thinks is a monster, but is the form of a protective river spirit. Kayla and Ray, her former partner, reunite to track the kidnapper of her grandmother and aunt. Spirited paranormal police procedural.

A great read, definitely not what a I expected from the outset. Loved this world, I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I received an ARC from net galley in exchange for a honest review.

A really nice foray into urban fantasy. Really has the potential to become a great series.

I reminded me a lot of the Kate Daniels Series. I plan to read more of this author in the future.

Diane Pharaoh Francis “The Witchkin Murders – Magicfall” is a great addition to the paranormal urban fantasy oeuvre. Francis knows how to write interesting stories and this “kitchen sink” urban fantasy successfully melds the paranormal, post-apocalyptic, romance and detective genres in the first in a new series about a much changed world after Magicfall and the Witchwar. The world erupted in a cataclysm, magic was strewn around affecting a vast slice of people. Magical creatures have come out of closet and a war was fought prior to the start of the novel. Now humans and the magical creatures live in an uneasy peace, both needing each other. But some humans have gained powers as well and have stayed hidden. But the time for hiding for one of them has ended.

Kayla Reese is an ex-cop, who quit the force four years ago when magic caused her transformation into something else. Her ex-partner Ray Garza is still on the force. When Kayla left the force abruptly, without revealing the reasons, Ray erupted on her hurt and shocked. They have not talked since then, although Garza has been spying on Kayla.

On Kayla' way back into town, she stumbles onto the remnants of a murder scene. Three witchkin shifters have been gruesomely killed and staked out in a park. Kayla calls Ray to have him investigate. The police arrive in force, but are reluctant to investigate. The witchkin are not their jurisdiction.

But it seems across town another crime has occurred, two prominent citizens have been kidnapped, and they were secretly witches with familial ties to Kayla. Now Kayla and Ray are forced to work together to investigate both the murders and kidnappings. And we also learn that Ray has been having problems with Kayla leaving the police force because he had emotional feelings for her, feelings that have become harder to hide. Now they will be forced to work together and face their feelings.

Soon enough we learn that Kayla can transform into a 35 foot long magical sea dragon and that Ray has been hiding that he has magic.

Francis expertly doles out the revelations slowly about Kayla’s powers not wanting to give away the store in one big gulp, but there is much more to Kayla and these Witchkin murders than we first suspect.

There are big players involved, gods have come to town and are engaged in murder as the preliminary steps in a god war, which it will be up to Kayla, Ray and some witches to stop.
While the novel builds a little slowly through the first few chapters, there is plenty of action to go around. These detective magical mashups are like quest novels, with the investigation, impelling the action forward like the traditional quest. Kayla will soon have to learn to harness her powers and Ray will have to confess his feelings and his magical skills.

I know that Francis has won a few awards for Romance novels, but I thought the Romance angle was a little overdone. But liked the magic confrontation as Kayla comes into her powers and understands her new place in this world. The ending fight has all of the best elements of fantasy magical battles, and the characters and story are rock solid.

Definitely worth a read. Cannot wait for the next.

Witches, mages, and Gods. Oh my! Great characters with an exciting new world to explore. Action, mystery, and romance kept me glued to my ereader. The Witchkin Murders is the first book I’ve read by Diana Pharaoh Francis and definitely won’t be my last! I’m looking forward to more in the series!

*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

Thanks for the arc Netgalley,

I have not ever read this author before, but what ad me very curious about this one was the element of romance along with fantasy. What was a little disappointing was that the world is already established in previous series and you can tell that i should have been well knowledge with them before i started this one, I couldn't connect with the world, characters and the pacing was bumpy

'

Title: The Witchkin Murders (Magicfall Book One)

Publisher: BelleBooks Inc

Author: Diana Pharaoh Francis

Pages: 288pp

Price: $17.95 / $7.99

Magic returned to the world, and it came back with a vengeance. Gods, fae, dryads, shapeshifters, witches, and many others -- most in hiding for millennia, others newly-created with the upswell in magic -- made war against humanity, hoping to wipe out the infestation that was destroying the world. But humanity had it's own weapons: technology, and the technomages whose own powers unexpectedly blossomed. The war crawled to a standstill, and an uneasy truce was reached .... And so it is in Portland, the landscape remade, the people traumatized, but getting on with their lives. Among the survivors are Kayla Reece and Ray Garza, once partners in the Portland police department. But when Magicfall came, Kayla was transformed into ... something. It took her years to learn to control the change. And Ray ... well ... he has secrets of his own related to Magicfall. But now someone is killing witchkin all over Portland, and the dryads and witches are demanding that Kayla put a stop to it. Additionally, Ray has been saddled with a politically tricky kidnapping. When the two cases unexpectedly dovetail, the former partners find themselves reluctantly working together, racing to save the city they both love ... and one another ....

Wowza, where to start. Okay, first, I love the world-building here. Francis does a terrific job of describing a remade Portland, from the abandoned buildings to the salvaging to the sentient forests and glass mountains to the burgeoning toilet paper manufacturing industry (really, do not under-estimate the importance of toilet paper in a post-collapse society). Humanity has done its best to maintain the previous level of civilization, including transportation, agriculture, and technology. For the most part, small pockets have succeeded in doing so, but they are isolated: there is no longer a national government or an internet, but the technomages are working on a magical version of an inter-city computer network.

In the wake of the war, there is also (understandable) prejudice on both sides. The Portland police are technically only supposed to investigate human-on-human or witchkin-on-human crime. Witchkin are not considered human (even those who were changed during Magicafall), and are barely tolerated by the human-dominated citizenry. Healing has begun, though, if only slowly. And it turns out that Kayla and Ray are the key to bringing together the people of Portland.

Well, eventually. I have the feeling that's going to take a few books.

As for Kayla and Ray: they are great characters. Kayla comes from a wealthy, but abusive, background. As a result, she grew up tough and extremely protective of others. Ray is dedicated and intelligent and hates the current state of affairs in Portland; but only with Kayla's reappearance in his life does he begin to see a way out of it. Together, they make just the sort of team who can take on the Big Bad which is coming to wreck havoc.

Happily, the polytheism in the books is quite explicit. As the witch Raven notes:

You are aware that the gods of most of the religions of the world actually exist? [....] From Zeus to Jesus to Quetzlcoatl and everything in between. They all exist [....].

At another point, fellow witch Sarah says, "There are and have been many divine beings in this world. Some are small gods, some are powerful deities."

And that is where Kayla comes in. But to say more would spoil the surprise. Suffice to say, there is more than one pantheon at work in Portland.

(Speaking of Kayla, please ignore the cover. She does not dress or pose like that. She wears very practical scavenger clothing.)

The Witchkin Murders is a terrific addition to the growing corpus of polytheist-friendly urban fantasy/paranormal romance, and I can't wait to read the next book. There are Deities aplenty, magical species, technomages, witches and covens, and heroes fighting the good fight because someone has to save the day. Recommended to fans of Ilona Andrews, Zoe Archer, Clara Coulson, Jolene Dawe, and Helen Harper.

*Review can be found at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

When the Guardians rose up, tired of the magical community living in hiding from the humans, they brought forth magic and war to the humans. But many people who thought that they were just simple humans had hidden powers brought forth as well, causing them to be altered in surprising ways, even at times losing their human shapes. Kayla is one of the altered ones, leaving behind her past as a police officer to instead scavenge and attempt to get a hold of her unwelcome new abilities. But it seems like the past can't leave Kayla behind, instead dragging her into a murder investigation that brings both sides of her life into conflict.

I have been a super fan of Diana's ever since I discovered her urban fantasy series Diamond City Magic and I have been keeping an eye out for a new world from her. I was so excited when I discovered The Witchin Murders was coming out, which sounded exactly like what I needed in my life. The world that Diana created was really interesting, almost like a mix of post turn Atlanta from the Kate Daniels' series where an event triggered humans to turn into something other with out any real reason or desire, mixed with the dystopian feel of the Diamond City Magic series, where crime and corruption run rampant. I really liked what was created here, I was able to be completely submerged in the world, never able to predict what would pop out next, keeping em on my toes.

The story is narrated by two different characters, Kayla and Ray, both which have secrets and are involved in crime solving. Kayla gave up everything about her life to try to get a grip on her personal changes, distancing herself from the job and the people she loved, but now she has come across a murder that the police won't touch since the victims are hot of the human variety, making her the only person who can help the magical community. I spent a good majority of the book trying to guess what Kayla was now but I can tell you my guesses did not do her justice. Ray on the other hand has kept everything about his life the same- even though his secret could change that. He has spent the last four years since the change hating Kayla for running away, but really he felt abandoned and hurt. Can I just mention that while this is an urban fantasy/police procedural story, it is also every bit the romance I like to see as well? Yep, there is some unresolved feelings between the two former partners and boy was it fun to watch unfold.


I am so glad that this is a series because I am not ready to say goodbye to the characters or the complicated, dangerous world, but it is really nice that the story seemed to wrap up and not leave the reader hanging. I am a fan of Diana's writing and I can't wait until I can back to the Magicfall world.

As with every book I've read by this author the world building is top notch. The characters were engaging and full fleshed out, they read as real people and not flat or two-dimensional. The storyline was very interesting and hooked me from the beginning, I really enjoyed it and I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you NetGalley and Bell Bridge Books for this arc.

I don't believe I've read this author's work before. But a quick check on GR let me know that it likely would have some romance mixed in with the fantasy story. While I'm usually okay with some romance mixed in, I found this to be too heavy on the romance for me in that it was a distraction from the main story.

The world was an interesting one, but apparently there's a previous series -- The Horngate Witches -- in which the world is more fully developed and this book just picks up where the Horngate Witches left off.... so if I had some questions that if I really want answers for, I'd need to read the 4 books of that series to find out.

I found the pacing of this read to be "bumpy". Seemed like every time the action started to ramp up, it was interrupted by either Kayla's or Ray's internal dialogue about their sexual fantasies of the other. Oh good grief.... y'all aren't teenagers anymore, just get a room!

I like Kayla's character a lot better than I liked Ray's. But I liked Raven and Logan better. While it wasn't exactly a cliff-hanger ending, it's very apparent this is just book #1 of a planned series and there were several story lines left unresolved.

2.5 stars rounded up

The Witchkin Murders is the first book in the Magicfall series by Diana Pharaoh Francis. Four years ago, my world—the world—exploded with wild magic. The cherry on top of that crap cake? The supernatural world declared war on humans, and my life went straight to hell.I used to be a detective, and a damned good one. Then Magicfall happened, and I changed along with the world. I’m witchkin now—something more than human or not quite human, depending on your perspective. To survive, I’ve become a scavenger, searching abandoned houses and stores for the everyday luxuries in short supply—tampons and peanut butter. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, but anything’s better than risking my secret.Except, old habits die hard. When I discover a murder scene screaming with signs of black magic ritual, I know my days of hiding are over. Any chance I had of escaping my past with my secret intact is gone. Solving the witchkin murders is going to be the hardest case of my life, and not just because every second will torture me with reminders of how much I miss my old life and my partner, who hates my guts for abandoning the department. But it’s time to suck it up, because if I screw this up, Portland will be wiped out, and I’m not going to let that happen. Hold on to your butts, Portland. Justice is coming, and I don’t take prisoners.

The Witchkin Murders is a good series starter. I loved the world building and thought that the majority of the characters were very well built with complex personalities and stories that I would love to learn more about. I liked Kayla's determination and ethics. I thought she was a solid character and dealt with a series of huge problems in her life the best she knew how. I though that some of the secondary characters were fantastic, and I would continue reading the series simply to find out how their lives play out. I also thought the mystery and action parts of the story were extremely well done. The creatures and mythos used were complex and varied- and I loved trying to guess what kind of creature each was by the descriptions that were given.

I did have some problems with the book. One is that for one character they kept switching if he was referred to by his first or last name with no discernible reason. The first time it happened I had to go back a few pages to see if the person I thought was talking was, and I found it distracting. My second issue was with Ray's character, he was just so angry and explosive in his own head. I admit that I skimmed a good deal of his inner dialogue because I just had no interest in reading all that angst over and over. Speaking of inner angst, the lust at highly improbable moments- and the self flagellation over it by Kayla drove me a little nuts, so I often skimmed over that too.

The Witchkin Murders is a urban fantasy with good world building. I was not thrilled with everything, but it was well worth the read and some might really enjoy it as a whole.