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Despite one of them being unemployed and the other two having to maintain the Manor (which seems to get a bit of a pounding most weeks), the Halliwells are off to New Orleans for a vacation in Voodoo Moon, Pocket Books' fourth original Charmed novel.

Things get off to a bad start with Prue almost missing the flight, and a run-in with a passenger on standby who thinks she's getting the elder Halliwell's seat.  A quick time freeze from Piper allows her to make it the check-in desk on time.  Once they've arrived, the girls find that Phoebe's hotel booking skills aren't all they could be, and only a second meeting with the now placated Gabrielle Toussaint finds them somewhere to stay, and invites the sisters to visit her voodoo museum.

The girls have vowed not to use their magic while they're on vacation, but with Piper using hers even before they've left the airport, you just know that promise will last about as long as one of Phoebe's jobs.  And it does, because after a run-in down a back alley, the girls' plans go out of the window, even though they haven't got the Book of Shadows to consult.

Voodoo aside, New Orleans' other specialty is food, so Piper is in her element, although Phoebe would rather go clubbing.  However, the youngest sister is soon suffering from some sort of bug, but is it something she ate or something more sinister?

The shift in location from San Francisco to New Orleans makes a pleasant change, and there's no chance of the usual Charmed cop-out solution of running up to the attic to find the Book of Shadows.  Unfortunately, once the early travelogue part of the novel and Gabrielle's history of voodoo have been got out of the way, we're left with a bunch of fairly uninteresting characters to deal with.  Phoebe might appear to be in some danger, but let's face it - she's hardly going to die is she?

My usual bugbear about continuity that crops up in some of Pocket Books' other spin-off ranges also applies to their Charmed novels as well.  Basically, when is this book set?  Piper is still interested in restaurants, so it seems more of a season one story, but her powers in particular seem more like they are in season two.  Perhaps this doesn't matter, but when the girls' powers develop over time, it would be nice to know when exactly the novel is supposed to be set.

Overall Voodoo Moon is a slightly better than average TV spin-off novel.  Nothing exceptional happens, but it's reasonably entertaining, helped to an extent by the change in location.  If you're buying the rest of the Charmed novels then this is a reasonable addition to the range - if you're looking for a good introduction to the original fiction range then I'd probably still be inclined to go for Whispers From The Past first. back to the top

VOODOO MOON

Written by WENDI CORSI STAUB

POCKET BOOKS

$5.99


RATING: 6/10


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