Trickery Treat

Information
Trickery Treat is the final novel in the series of Original Charmed novels. It was written by Diana G. Gallagher and published in 2008.

My 2008 review of the novel
BOOK: Trickery Treat

AUTHOR: Diana G. Gallagher

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2008

NOTE: This review may contain plot spoilers.

Well, everyone, this will be my final Charmed Book Review. The reason being is that the series of Charmed books has been discontinued and this is the last one to be published. It is fitting that this series should end on a high note. Like the previous Charmed book, Leo Rising, this book is a real winner.

As the story opens, five months have passed since the events of the final televised episode. The Charmed Ones are enjoying a Demon free life, they know that it will be years, perhaps decades, before the Underworld reorganizes. They are determined to live those years in peace. With the approach of Halloween, the Halliwells decide to throw a party and invite all their neighbours. It's been years since they have thrown such a party, and now that they don't have to worry about Demons coming through the door, they feel they can resume normal neighborhood events such as this.

However, Paige is still feeling guilty about letting down the magical community during the Ultimate Battle. Although she had been under a spell at the time, she still blames herself. When she wishes she could patch things up with the leprechauns, they promptly show up. It turns out they will forgive Paige if she grants them a small favour. Could she summon the spirits of those leprechauns who had died in the battle against evil (include Seamus who died back in Season Five, and Liam, who was killed in the Ultimate Battle while Paige had been under that spell). They want to spend Halloween, or Samhain, with their old friends. Paige agrees, and Seamus and Liam cross over. All the leprechauns, both living and spirits, attend the Halliwell's Halloween party (the sisters convince everyone that they are a troupe of midget actors). However, Paige's opening the portal between the two worlds may have let some other spirits in as well. Most of them seem harmless enough. However, soon the Manor is invaded by a powerful ghost. This ghost is clearly evil, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Can the sisters get rid of this evil ghost, before Innocents get hurt?

Well, folks, once again we get a great Charmed book. Not only are the characters spot on, but continuity is greatly paid attention too (something the show had been greatly lacking in its final years). We get to see that even though the Halliwells won't be hearing about Demons for a while, they are still other evil beings out there, and they will always be innocents to protect.

I found the subplot about the leprechauns very well done. One of my pet peeves about the show was what became of the spirits of magical beings when said magical being died. This book answers that question, at least in regards to leprechauns such as Seamus and Liam (another nice nod to continuity in bringing them back). Also, it was good to see Paige patch things up with the leprechauns. No doubt it happened, but it was nice to see it happening.

This book is the first to feature Henry and Coop, the men Paige and Phoebe married in the last season of Charmed. I more or less found them to be well written. No doubt had the book series continued, they would have been in more of the books.

I must comment that I think it's a shame that the Charmed books are ending now. Judging from this book, they no doubt were moving into the post-series time frame. This might have given the authors more creative freedom, like the Star Trek book authors have, now that those shows are no longer in production. Without the show to tie them down creatively, the authors might have been able to take chances like they couldn't before, such as bringing back characters like Prue and Cole. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Some other points:

- this book has two interesting guest characters. One is a woman named Fiona Dunne, a ghost hunter who helps the Halliwells in this story. The other is a man named Ken Carson, an associate professor who's hobby is to go around and try to debunk ghostly activity. No matter what happens in this story, the man will not accept it. When he finally sees more than he bargained for, he faints!

- as I mentioned above, this book is full of continuity. While dealing with the situation, the Halliwells refer to all their previous encounters with ghosts, both good and bad, on the show.

- Daryl does not appear in this story, unfortunately. Sorry Daryl fans.

- since this book takes place after the series, I was first worried that Billie would be in it. As most of you know, I never liked this character. Thankfully, she is only mentioned in passing and does not appear in this story.

- on page 122, there is a blooper. At the top of the page, the name Cole appears twice, instead of Coop! Oops!

To sum up, I highly recommend this book. I give it a 10/10!

Reason for inclusion in the R&H Chronicles
In my 7th R&H Chronicles Story, The Troubled Spirit, Paige makes a reference to the events of this novel. However, the novel was published after the show had ended, and nothing in the novel contradicted what was revealed on the show (in fact, Diana Gallagher, along with Paul Ruditis, were the two authors that always paid careful attention to the continuity of the show). Therefore, I felt it was okay to refer to the events of the novel in The Troubled Spirit.

However, this was the only time a non-canon source was used in the R&H Chronicle