Author Amber Benson has a knack for a cliffhanger. THE LAST DREAM KEEPER, second novel in the Echo Park Coven series, is filled with them, right up to the end.

For most of her life, Lyse MacAllister had no idea she was born with witchly powers or that her grandmother was the leader of a coven in California. After her grandmother's death, Lyse was expected to fill that role. It's a lot more difficult than she ever imagined, in part because a threat is clouding over the world, threatening the destruction of everything she now holds dear.

THE LAST DREAM KEEPER is a richly textured novel. Benson is an extremely tactile storyteller, describing their world so thoroughly that you can feel and see and taste what they do—and sometimes, it's downright horrifying. Evil is alive in this world, and Lyse and her coven mates are among the few who have the power to stop it.

I have not read the first book, and sometimes I found it tough to keep track of all the characters. We have all the members of her coven, their families and friends, some very bad people, and a few folks we're left wondering about—can we trust them or not? Other than having to flip back a few times and remind myself who this character is or where they were when we last left them, I didn't have any trouble catching up to the story and understanding each character's magical gifts.

Lyse and all her friends find themselves in some terrifying situations as they try to learn more about this seemingly unstoppable evil that's infecting the world. They put their lives at risk time and again to help each other and their friends. They sometimes have to trust on faith alone—and even at the end, we don't know if that trust has been misplaced or not.

I had a rare chance with this book to speak to the author briefly at a convention. She says she's working on the third book in the series right now. I hope she works fast, because every character is in a dangerous situation by the end, and I am eager to know what happens next.

I highly recommend THE LAST DREAM KEEPER to readers who enjoy supernatural fiction and stories with strong and varied female characters.