Dark Heart of Magic

The second installment of Jennifer Estep's Black Blade trilogy drops thief Lila Merriweather into a Tournament of Blades against mob-family competitors in the magical city of Cloudburst Falls — while a separate string of monster murders runs in parallel. The combination of tournament action and murder-mystery plotting gives the book an addictive forward momentum, and the world-building around rival mob families with distinct magical abilities is one of the series' genuine inventions. Reviewers at MuggleNet's Book Trolley highlighted the strong character growth and the way the ending sets up the trilogy's conclusion. The honest caveat is that the tournament occasionally overshadows the mystery, and the chief villain Draconi lacks dimension. Readers who skipped book one will want to start there first.