A Wild Ways, by Tanya Huff

The Wild Ways by Tanya Huff

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In Enchanted Emporium we first meet the Gales of southern Ontario , a matriarchal clan dominated by the Aunties who could, if they wanted, dominate the world with their magic. Allie Gale, one of a tribe of cousins, inherits a Calgary antique emporium/junk shop, whose clientele include many of the fey, among other strange beings. She and other cousins, her brother, a leprechaun, and Jack, a teenage Dragon prince, wind up saving Calgary . The story of this otherworldly family is continued in Wild Ways. Six months or so later after the events in Emporium, Jack, who is living with Allie and her partner, is booored. So is Charlie— Charlotte —one of the cousins—who also happens to be a member of a country music band and a Wild Power. For a Gale, this means she can’t be bound to a place, and that she has enormous powers.

This unlikely pair, Charlie and Jack, wind up in Halifax, along with the band, and involved with a Celtic music festival, and involved with a family of Selkies fighting to stop an offshore drilling project of the epitome of corporate evil, Carlson Oil, run by Amelia Carson, who is not a nice person. Carlson Oil is being helped by Auntie Catherine, bringing Charlie and her Auntie into direct conflict. To say complications ensue is an understatement. Good is fighting evil, although these terms are grey, not black and white.

GLBT fans won’t be disappointed: gutsy tough heroine, sometime lover of her cousin, and attracted to a ravishing (and, alas, straight) Selkie woman, a 15-year-old Dragon Prince, a band that includes two gay lovers, and various other magical creatures. Huff’s sure and deft style, rich with humor, sustains this story set in a world where who you are matters, not who you love.




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