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    SERIES REVIEW: Necromancer Rising Books 1 & 2 by Richard Amos

    Necromancer Rising: Death Eternal – Richard Amos

    Death is supposed to be the end.
    Not in my world.

    The dead never move on, not since Death walked off the job and disappeared. As a necromancer, itโ€™s my job to police the spirits while they remain stuck and, well, problematic a lot of the time.

    Death really needs to take his head out of his backside and get back to work, wherever he might be.

    After a horrible incident in the tunnels of the London Underground, my life takes a sharp turn. Itโ€™s all my fault and Iโ€™m sent off to a small town, a move to keep me out of sight and mind for the time being. Shamed, reputation dragged through the dirt.

    Iโ€™m not getting that promotion anytime soon.

    On my first day in the town, I get caught up in a strange murder case, and Death saves my life.
    Yes, the Death. The delectable, mysterious Death.

    Goodness, he is hotness personified. But what happened to make him walk away from his responsibilities? And why is he so deliciously tempting, my desire a raging inferno every time he looks at me with those incredible eyes?
    I shouldnโ€™t be thinking of an immortal being like this, but with every passing hour I canโ€™t stop myself from falling deeper into infatuation.

    I want him.

    Resistance is… impossible.

    Death Eternal is the first book in an M/M Paranormal Urban Fantasy Romance series packed with mystery, danger, a knitting necromancer, a delectable immortal being, plenty of sizzle, and rather disgusting liquid mushrooms.


    Rating:
    4 Stars โ€“ minor quibbles but I loved it to bits

    Soundtrack: Cosmic
    Artist: Benjamin Carter
    Album: Self_Portrait: Vol. 1


    Necromancer Rising: Death Enraptured – Richard Amos

    Follow my heart and make a mess…
    Thatโ€™s putting it mildly.

    My life has really taken a complicated turn here in Oakthorne. I keep hoping some fairy godmother will show up and offer me a nice bit of time reversal. Not too much, just enough to ease this pain.

    Yeah. Right.

    Anyway, as much as thereโ€™s hurt, thereโ€™s also Death. He is the complication, but a beautiful one I canโ€™t resist when I really, really should. He consumes my every waking moment, submerges me in raging desire I never want to break free of.

    Damn.

    On top of that messiness, thereโ€™s a mystery to solve, a bad guy to defeat, and other new developments within myself to deal with.

    So much to do.
    So much danger to face.

    Where the hell is that fairy godmother?

    Death Enraptured is the second book in an M/M Paranormal Urban Fantasy Romance series packed with mystery, danger, a knitting necromancer, a delectable immortal being, plenty of sizzle, and rather disgusting liquid mushrooms.


    Rating:
    4 Stars โ€“ minor quibbles but I loved it to bits

    Soundtrack: Enter The Mirror
    Artist: Everything Everything
    Album: Mountainhead


    In the graphic novel Sandman, Lucifer quit his job and handed the keys to Hell to Morpheus. Then, he went on to have fun. The world went on spinning.

    Necromancer Rising, an urban fantasy by Richard Amos, sets a world where Death quit. Which begs the question, WHY?

    Death hanging up his scythe means ghosts. Lots and lots of ghosts and people acquiring necromantic powers to handle them.

    Necromancers are easily identified by their silver hair. They have five threads of magic that can be used to bind or release ghosts to sanctuaries, a place made specially for them since without Death, they cannot move on to the afterlife.

    Marcel August is a London-based necromancer suddenly transferred to Oakthorne after a mission gone awry that left his bestfriend, Jenn, severely injured. On his way to the town, he encountered a ghost that led him to the famous caves, where there were some trouble. He got injured and was rescued by a mysterious man.

    Later, Marcel met his new boss, the High Warden, a friendly man named Nicholas West and his taciturn husband, Leon. Nick was a stark contrast to the stone cold High Warden of London, Emma. Marcel has the worst luck in bosses as it later turned out.

    Marcel is tasked to look for a missing ghost. Then the mysterious man who rescued him turned up his door bearing gifts.

    This is where things get dicey and hell of a lot swoonier.

    The overarching plot is to stop the lich from taking over the world. As an urban fantasy, this is a twisty-turn-y, action-packed necromancer procedural, a.k.a. murder mystery, with plenty of magic spells thrown about. I loved how the events of Death Eternal and Death Enraptured go from grim to complete clusterfuck to freakin’ catastrophic. No rest for our weary boy, Marcel.

    Marcel goes from dreaming of a promotion to pretty much exiled to a small town to being lulled into a false sense of security to being lich fodder, only to evolved into something more. Add to that his forbidden romance with Death that has apocalyptic consequences, this series has all the mellow drama and the epic awesomeness!

    So, Death. Hmm, I don’t know. The immortal is conflicting mix of drool-worthy and cringe. That he’s gorgeous is pretty much a given. But the fashion sense, ew!

    The lich is right in criticizing his lame style. Tight leather pants, satin shirt open at the chest with multiple piercings? That screams sleazy rather than sizzling. I’d rather he go the John Wick route in tailored suits or a 70s punk in plaid bondage pants with distressed sweater.

    But as a love interest, the immortal is a master of seduction and muffins. Death could be a cheesy mofo but mostly, he says the most romantic things.

    At first doing the hot/cold dance, then later a steadier presence in Marcel’s life, Death fights a secret battle against the forces that kept him and Marcel apart. Been doing so for centuries, he and Marcel are cursed to repeat the cycle of love and destruction.

    In Death Eternal, it took a while for the book to get to the meat of things, taking its time to establish the world and have Marcel interact with the secondary characters. Death lacked depth as a character since he was presented as a mysterious entity.

    In Death Enraptured, the lovers work to circumvent the curse. They make questionable decisions, suffer betrayals, and just plain suffer. High Warden Emma is the worst character here, absolutely heartless.

    The books in the series end in cliffhangers so they must be read in order.

    Necromancer Rising is an entertaining series I’ll be reading till the end. The romance is one for the ages, heartbreaking but so fun to root for. The characters are a mix of intriguing and abysmal. The fight scenes pulled no punches. Overall, a bit all over the place, but worth hanging up the death scythe.


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    REVIEW: Lust and Other Drugs by T.J. Nichols

    Mytho: Lust and Other Drugs – T.J. Nichols

    Police officer Jordan and dragon shifter Edra might have to work together, but they donโ€™t trust each otherโ€”even if sparks do fly between them.

    If anyone finds out Jordanโ€™s a mytho sympathizer, it could kill his career. No one can know that he frequents the satyr dens and uses the drug Bliss. A dead satyr might not get much attention, but two dead humans who appeared to overdose on Bliss? That shouldnโ€™t even be possible.

    And it might not be an accident.

    Edra, the Mythological Services Liaison, has been covering up mytho crimes to protect the communityโ€™s reputation. With a mayoral election looming, the last thing his people need is a scandal.

    To get a murderer off the streets, Jordan and Edra will be spending a lot of time together, and it wonโ€™t be easy to keep up with their deceptionsโ€ฆ or to keep resisting each other.

    Book 1 in the gay urban fantasy series that follows Jordan and Edra as they solve crime and figure out how to improve Mytho and human relations. For readers who like dragon shifters and forbidden romance.


    Lust and Other Drugs is the first book of Mytho Investigations and my first book by T.J. Nichols. It’s part dragon shifter romance, part police procedural, part commentary on humanity.

    The book opens by explaining how mythological creatures, a.k.a. mythos, came to be in our world. The mythos are from a world called Tariko which imploded into ours when physicists fucked up their hadron collider. At first, it was pure chaos, and then slowly, some European countries came to recognize creatures who can communicate as people and the mythos gradually integrated into society.

    It’s been ten years since the collapse. In the US, some states and cities are mytho-friendly, and many are not. Jordan Kells lives in San Francisco, where the current mayor is anti-mytho, and many crimes against the mythos are swept under the rug. Jordan is the rare police officer who acknowledged mythos are people and he is determined to work their cases seriously.

    A case involving satyrs and their infamous drug, Bliss, had him crossing paths with Edra Tendric, a.k.a. Knight Tendric, the mytho liaison. Edra piqued my interest immediately. At first blush, he’s nothing more than a glorified social worker, helping mythos integrate, find schools and jobs, and help them with their cases.

    The mythos greatly respect Edra. They call him by his title, Knight. And he really is a knight! He’s no longer allowed to carry a sword, which is a pity because he would cut a fine figure in complete regalia. Apparently knights can do lots of things, from protecting dragons, making sure people follow the rules to super secret black ops missions.

    The world-building here could be info-dumpy. Understandable as many things needed to be explained, from satyr culture to what happened to Atlantis to Edra’s backstory. It’s a fantastic world to get lost in, the kind where you can create an infinite number of stories.

    As much as I love the fantasy and lore, the circumstances surrounding the murder mystery was painful. The story showcased the worse side of humanity: the bigotry, xenophobia and violence towards those who are different. Some mythos could pass as humans, but some, like satyrs, were seen as nothing more than animals.

    The story is in dual POV. In Edra’s POV, we see insights on mytho nature versus human nature, particularly religion, culture, and sex. The scenarios in the book reminded me a lot of what’s happening in some countries. There is even a side plot about the imminent election, and it’s a close fight between the pro and anti mytho mayoral candidates.

    One key theme of the series is how no one cares about mytho cases, especially if the perp is human. And this is one fight Jordan refused to give up. Our boy set out to investigate the satyr deaths with everything he got. Sadly, said investigation and the conclusion of the case wasn’t well-executed. This is on the writing itself rather than on Jordan.

    The scene that touched me the most was when it hit Edra that Jordan was indeed genuinely determined to get justice for the murdered satyr. Our dragon knight almost burst into tears. They, the mythos, matter to a human!

    The romance was a slow-burn second chance, especially for Edra, who lost his mate in the collapse. It’s a good enough start, but my interest was more on Edra and Jordan doing their jobs and navigating the fragile trust they built with each other and the other human and mytho characters. Although, I am curious to see how they fare when their secret relationship becomes public, so I’ll be reading the rest of the series.

    Lust and Other Drugs is a well-conceived urban fantasy. It’s a very fascinating world, even if it’s a troubled one, with intriguing characters I’d love to read more about. All in all, a tale worth a dragon knight’s loyalty!

    Rating:
    4 Stars โ€“ minor quibbles but I loved it to bits

    Soundtrack: Matter
    Artist: Yatch
    Album: I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler


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