Something Occult This Way Comes

Ach, I've really been slacking on these posts (by my standards, anyway). Honestly, I haven't been reading enough of my book (again, by my standards); I'm only on page 50 after a week. Either this book just isn't lightin' me up, or I've been occupied by other things (namely, videogames); I'd say that the latter is the more likely.

As far as what I have read:

We open to 12 acolytes and a Head-Master. The Head-Master wears a Celtic torc of meteoric iron. With it, he summons a storm, which quickly rises, destroys a tower of the castle Balmoral with a crack of lightning, and disperses again. This is widely believed to have been a terrorist attack, despite numerous reports that it was lightning that destroyed the tower.

This attracts the attention of Sinclair, Peregrine, and McLeod, but the first two have to take care of something first. Along with Sinclair's friend, Christopher, who is a priest and a fellow Initiate, the three go to the house of Helena, who has been complaining of bad dreams; Christopher believes it to be magical in nature; not a haunting, but something similar.

When they get there, they discover that the cause is a negative echo of a past event. Sinclair hypnotizes Helena, and Peregrine sketches the event using her descriptions and his power. The resulting image is that of a ritual initiation or one of the Lodge of the Lynx around one year ago (this is occuring no more than a few months after the last book).

They preform a short cleansing ritual, then leave.

We rejoin the Head-Master in his chateau in the Cairngorms. There he speaks to his associate, the rich Mr. Raeburn, also part of the Lodge. He speaks of the disruption of his plans at Urquhart, and the death of Geddes. He destroys Geddes's ring (which Raeburn "recovered" from the police), and seems to imply that this act also kills Geddes himself. Other than this, he is not concerned over the loss at Urquhart; the spell-book was unnecessary, if a bit safer, and of unknown power. The torc used at the beginning of the book will work just as well.

Raeburn suggests keeping track of Sinclair, McLeod, and Peregrine, as they may have been the cause of the failure to take the spell-book, but the Master again shows little concern.

Hmm, I really ought to stop posting at night; I can tell that this post is poorly written, but there isn't really much that I can do about it right now. It feels redundant even as I write it.

On the topic of the book, I'm not really sure what to say. I'm really not even sure if I like it yet; I'm leaning towards yes, but again, I haven't read too much of it.

Post script: 12/13/10
I would like to clarify that the reason they wanted Scot's spell book is because it was safer than the torc. Being much older, and unused for a long period of time, the torc's magic was more unpredictable. This is waved aside by the Master because he had already tested the torc earlier; the lightning strike from the beginning of the book.