A case where an author not being able to go on site for their research didn't hurt the sense of place or the flow of the book, and a fun read. Decent culmination to the series, and I'll look forward to the possibility of followup works later on. ( )

Quinton and Harper go to Portugal to try to thwart Quinton's father's plans to disrupt all of Europe by using supernatural means. Harper turns to Carlos, both a vampire and a necromancer, who is, if not a friend of Harper's at least owes Harper some favors. Together they piece together the activities of some bone mages to try to thwart their plan to bring a very destructive magical being into existence.

I enjoyed this - thus, four stars out of five (but a strong four).

The action happens mostly in and around Lisbon (Portugal), where Carlos is from. Carlos is a major character in this book as the plot is mainly based on necromancy, and his old enemies - now working with Quinton's father.

I've always liked the way Richardson portrayed the vampires in this series - they are reliable allies as well as enemies, and not always enmeshed in the kind of petty, pointless point-scoring that vampires are in many books. Here, Harper is working with Carlos directly, instead of just going to him for advice when she needs it, and we get to see a bit of more him. I have to admit, I do like ambiguous characters - I find those who are wholly good or wholly evil to be dull. So Carlos is one of my favourites: the man who makes his own choices, good or evil, and lives by the results. He doesn't make excuses for himself, and he doesn't repent. I like that.

Quinton and Harper work together well and without silly pissing-contests - though not without disagreement. Quinton is also a pleasant change from the usual fare. He's not some gorgeous alpha-male hunk (or, worse, he's not two of them). He and Harper have a relationship that's based on love and friendship, not just sex and lust.

But the one thing I liked best about this book was the end. This is the last of the Greywalker books - as I suspected it might be, because there's only so long that the situation with Quinton's father could be made to last. While we could be pretty sure that Good Would Triumph in the end, as it does in the majority of fantasy series, in this case, the end was not without cost. Often, the reader gets the impression that having Saved The World, the heroes go home for tea and medals, and back to ordinary life. No muss, no fuss. In this book, Good might well Triumph, but not without cost. Harper will have to live with the consequences for the rest of her life.

The book ends suddenly, and without all the loose ends tied up. But I like that. The heroes have to go home, but now they have a life to build. Their own life, free to make of it what they will, with gains having been made as well as losses suffered.

We don't know what Harper, Quinton, et al will make of it, but whatever it is, they will probably be doing it off-page. I hope they will, because if there is anything worthy of writing a book about, it won't be the happy life they deserve!

I shall certain look out for what Richardson writes next. ( )

This is the ninth book in the Greywalker series. I have really enjoyed this investigative urban fantasy series and how each book focuses on a new topic. This was a wonderful continuation of the series in which the vampire necromancer Carlos plays a large role.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. The narrator for this series sounds exactly like I imagine Harper would sound. She also does a great job distinguishing between character voices and adding emotion to her narration. Definitely a series I would recommend listening to on audiobook if you like audiobooks.

In this book Harper rushes over to Europe after getting an urgent request for her help from Quintin, Carlos accompanies her. Quintin has uncovered a plot initiated by his father to take out vast portions of Europe; the whole scheme involves a bone mage cult.

This was a well done continuation of the Greywalker series. A lot of major plot points are wrapped up in this book. I enjoyed that Harper and Quintin were actually both in the story together again.

Harper has grown a lot throughout this series. She’s become a very able Greywalker and makes good decisions when she is navigating the Grey. I love that her and Quintin have a loving a stable relationship and trust each other implicitly. There isn’t a ton of romance in this book, but I have enjoyed watching Harper and Quintin form a stable relationship with one another.

We spend a lot of time with Quintin’s family in this story. Quintin's fathers is causing most of the issues here, so he is in the story quite a bit. We also meet Quintin's sister and niece.

There is a lot of history on Carlos, he features in the story a ton. We learn how he ended up becoming both a vampire and a necromancer. We also learn about his family and wife. The majority of the story takes place in Portugal, so we get to learn a lot about the history of that country and about some of the traditions there.

As I have mentioned before this won’t be the type of urban fantasy everyone will love. Richardson has a very analytical and precise writing style, she gives a lot of information to the reader quickly and has a lot of detail. I really enjoy this style and I love how Richardson does research into a new place/topic every book. In this book we learn a ton about Portugal and Portuguese traditions.

Overall I continue to really enjoy this investigative urban fantasy series. All the books in this series have had excellent mysteries with a heavy dose of paranormal/ghost elements. I love that some of the major plot points were wrapped up and am curious to see what adventures the future holds for Harper and Quintin. ( )