Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Steph Reviews Broken Souls by Stephen Blackmoore

Publisher: DAW

Series: Eric Carter #2
Format Read: E-Book
Source: ARC from Penguin for an honest review
Release Date: August 5, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When necromancer Eric Carter returned to Los Angeles after fifteen years on the run he knew things were bad, but he never imagined how bad they could get. Sister murdered, best friend dead, married to the patron saint of death, Santa Muerte.

And things are just getting worse.

His link to the Aztec death goddess is changing his powers, changing him, and he’s not sure how far it will go. He’s starting to question his own sanity, wonder if he’s losing his mind. No mean feat for a guy who talks to the dead on a regular basis.

While searching for a way to break Santa Muerte’s hold over him, Carter finds himself the target of a psychopath who can steal anyone’s form, powers and memories. Identity theft is one thing, but the guy does it by killing his victims and wearing their skins like a suit. He can be anyone. He can be anywhere.

Now Carter has to change the game, go from hunted to hunter. All he has for help is a Skid Row Bruja and a ghost who’s either his dead friend Alex or Carter’s own guilt-fueled psychotic break.

If things go right, he just might survive a week where everything is trying to kill him and nothing is as it seems.


Steph's Thoughts:

I’ll admit I was hesitant to pick choose this book for review because I have not read the first book. However, the story idea just kept teasing me, so I decided what the heck. I am really glad I did! Stephen Blackmoore just made it to my "Gotta have it" authors list.

I was sucked into the story from the first page. Blackmoore has a very down to earth way of writing that I really enjoyed. He hit me right off with pop culture references and I loved it! There are not too many and they are perfectly placed, so they work. Some authors try too hard with pop culture references but Blackmoore has the skill to pull them off every time. His humor is also right up my alley. It is not slapstick or crazy, just enough to make you chuckle in places. Before we go to much further, I probably should mention there is swearing in this book, a lot of swearing. Now this does not bother me, but it might not fly with other readers. So you have been warned.

Eric Carter is a necromancer and I loved him right from the beginning. He is hard to explain. Powerful, magical, tattooed. He is covered in magical tattoos. (I might add that the scene with his artist is great and somebody share with me the design for the one that keeps mosquitoes away.) He is the type of character, I would love to sit down with, have a beer and chat about ghosts, crazy goddesses or the local Shadow Market. Not sure I would want to hang around with him too often, as trouble seems to be attracted to him in a big way but he sure does have some cool toys.

Every City has a Shadow Market, those places you go to buy things Walmart’s never going to carry. Luck charms that really work, low-grade curses that’ll give your enemies warts or a bad case of the clap, protections and wards for all and sundry.

He covers where the ones are in N.Y., New Orleans and L.A. but not Atlanta, figures!
Eric is in trouble, somehow in the last book, he managed to get himself hooked up with a death goddess. Oops! Now on top of that somebody or something wants to kill him and wear his skin. He gets some aid from the Bruja. She is one kick butt lady with lots of power and a sense of humor.

She has bandages on her face, stitches in her forehead. Wearing Doc Martens, camo cargo pants, a black t-shirt with the words "BULLETS CAN'T HURT ME" on the front in iron-on letters.

Broken Souls has everything I love in paranormal books; action, magical fights, demons, ghosts and more. It moves fast and sucks you in right from the beginning. If I had not had an impatient 3 year old demanding me to play choo choo trains with him, I would have not been able to put this book down and would have read this in one sitting. This is a definite 5 star read and I can not wait for the next book in this series. Until that time, I am going to grab Dead Things, which is book number one in this series.


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