Capable addition to the subgenre. Necromantic hitman is drawn back to LA to avenge the murder of the sister he left the city to protect. Violence and unwise deals with minor gods ensue. ( )

I did like this book, but gosh this character can cock up
more things than Atticus O’Sullivan, the Iron Druid. Couple that with the mysterious “you have no idea how powerful you are” ala Dresden Files, just too much going on in one book. I don’t think I will read the series just because it’s just too much going on at once for me ( )

It's not really that good. Carter is super powerful, yet clueless. But, worst of all, there iso humor at all. Nothing made me laugh or even smile. Nothing. ( )

I listened to a multicast audio of this book and really liked it. The downside was listening to it in the car and police sirens would go off in the story. Eric is a necromancer that left LA after tangling with a drug boss in order to protect his non magical sister. But 15 years later he gets a call that his sister has been murdered and he come back with a vengeance. He quickly gets involved with Santa Muerte, asks for a favor for information on who killed Lucy. Eric catches up with his old friend to find out exactly what has happened with his sister and what is going on in the magical LA community. Eric isn’t Mr. Nice Guy, but he gets the job done. He is hard on himself and his allies, and everyone will pay for that during the book.
I’m late to this series so I get to binge on the series in audio.
( )

Mages are born with a knack. Illusions, transformations, divinations. Some people are just better at some things than others. I got dead things. Yay me.

Wow.

This book hits a lot of things I haven't read in a long time.

It's a quick read. I finished it a day. After the much more wordy tomes of the expanse, this was a welcome change.

It's absolutely chock full of cursing (barely a page goes by without at least one f**k thrown in) and violence. Off the top of my head, I can't think of another book I've read which comes close to the former. The latter is just a hairs breath away in my opinion from gratuitous, but it works.

One thing to particularly like about this series is the worldbuilding. It's not particularly novel among urban fantasy that I've read, but it's done well. There are bits and pieces of all sorts of things thrown in--in particular, it was interesting to read about Santa Muerte, the 'Patron Saint' of Narcos--with something of a thematic theme throughout.

But sometimes the best tool for the job is a tool that shouldn’t exist.

On top of that, the main character--Eric Carter--is a necromancer. He's got some serious magical chops when it comes to manipulating and using the dead while at the same time manages to get the crap beat out of him by the bigger bads. It's an interesting take on a main character to be so intimate with death from the get go.

Despite the language and violence, there's also a lot of humor in the series. Eric's full of snark and wisecracks. Makes for a nice contrast to the otherwise grim world.

We pull off the 110 at Anaheim and head south to the docks. Outside the gates I pull off a few nametags from the roll in the glovebox and write GRAY HONDA CIVIC TOTALLY NOT A CADILLAC on one, slap it on the outside of the windshield.

(That totally works)

And then, there's the ending. Eric makes a deal with the devil--in a manner of speaking--and the deal comes due while at the same time answering a few other lingering questions. There are some pretty hard hitting twists and changes that really make me wonder where this series is going next.

Well worth the read. If you're worried about the language or the violence, perhaps try the first chapter. You'll know by the end of that whether this is the book for you. ( )