Wow what a great book! The first and second Marla Mason books were good, but this is the first one that had everything, a kick ass heroine who is smart, quick witted, and willing to kick ass to save her city. It has the side kick, who is not quite all that he says he is. It has death, incarnated on Earth, and John Wilkes Booth, accidentally reanimated. The characters are believable, they have heart underneath their violent tendencies, motives make sense. I can't wait to see more of the valet, Pellham. ( )

The world of Marla Mason is one I discovered just before starting this blog and I devoured the first two books: Blood Engines and Poison Sleep. Marla is an ass-kicking sorceress in a cloak with a lot of attitude. As chief sorcerer to Felport, her job is to guard the city from magical threats and to keep the regular folk from knowing what's going on. She does it with style.

In this third installment, Marla goes up against Death. In Felport, a magical dagger has been passed from chief sorceror to his/her successor for generations, and it turns out that this was once Death's great sword, which he lost in a game. Now there's a new Death in town, though, and he wants it back so Marla finds herself going up against a god.

My favourite things about this series are that the story is fast-paced, the dialogue is quippy and sharp, and Marla's surrounded by interesting people. These things hold true in Dead Reign. In fact, we get to see a lot more of Rondeau's character in this one, as he operates away from Marla, which is fun. Death is also a good nemesis and the story ends in a really neat way (which I won't describe here) so I'm really satisfied with this book, and the series as a whole. Can't wait to read book four!

Originally published at http://ireadgood.wordpress.com ( )

Apparently a Walking Death is a much bigger wanker than a Sitting Death.

So, when this one turns up, the first thing Marla does is insult him and try and beat him up, neither of which is too effective.

He also wants her knife of office, apparently being his. She also has to deal with getting a valet, a necromancer that decides he'd like to be Death's toady and play with John Wilkes Booth, as well as the usual opportunistic not so nice sorcerers around the place.

If you are going to fight Death, a trip to Hell is of course in order.

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