Dead Things [Eric Carter #1], by Stephen Blackmoore

Talking to the Dead sounds like a meddling business. Hell, at most of the times, I don’t even like talking to the living. Maybe the Dead are more nice? Well, Eric Carter would disagree. Let’s follow him into the Twilight world!

Before we get to the bones of the story (chrchr, bones, you know? Story about dead and necromancy? Ah, forget it), let’s talk about why I picked up a series that has existed for so long. And it’s all Carol.’s fault! She recommended the series to me due to my liking of urban fantasy series like Harry Dresden. She’s one of my favorite reviewers in the whole wide world, so I decided to trust her. After all, what can go wrong?

Well, nothing, apparently, besides the fact that I’m now addicted to another series. Well, thanks for that!

Urban fantasy series tend to have an in-built reason why the magic is kept under cover and shadow from most people. For dramatic purposes, it’s there so the reader can fool themselves into thinking this might actually be going down, right now, somewhere out there! It’s a vital instrument for immersion. But most series take the same rationalization for why the magic is being kept secret: Because the wizards and vampires don’t want to cause a ruckus and have a fight between the magical and the mundane world, where the muggels would win by sheer number of forces.

Eric Carter is either sarcastic, or this series has found a way better reason. In Eric’s words, they don’t want people to know that magic is real – less they have to share! And that’s finally a reason I can get behind. I wouldn’t want to share that either, because if everyone is special, no one is.

But Eric is special. Special enough that Santa Muerte herself is taking an interest in him. And making an impression on a god-like entity is probably not a good thing for a mortal.

Not only is Eric sarcastic, he’s also a wise-ass, smart mouth, loveable rogue. He feels like early Harry Dresden, and I mean that in a positive way. This story was all about survival in a supernatural world, and I am thrilled to have met Eric Carter. Because I know there’s a lot more for me to read.

So there we have it. Thank you, Carol, and also – dang.