Richard Kadrey

Richard Kadrey, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE???

Well, okay, where the heck have I been the past fifteen years that I'd never even heard of Kadrey or this series?

And yes, I know, this is only the second in the series, and there's a lot to go, but holy hell, this book was insanely good. It feels like Kadrey's madly pulling in everything here... zombies, angels, porn stars, vampires, lost souls.... Lucifer. There's absolutely no reason for this to work. This should be a terribly written hot show more mess.

Instead, it's fantastic. Incredibly well written, with humour, heart, and horror. It's engaging from the very first page to the very last. Reading this is the closest you'll get to riding a rollercoaster without actually being in a rollercoaster.

I freaking loved this. show less

Fun, dark, and sort of heart-breakingly ridiculous, this is one of those books that you can't help falling into and catapulting through. I have to imagine it's a little like what could result from a mafia boss locking Stephen King and Christopher Moore into a room, and demanding they write a book for him. It defies genre, and it makes you laugh at things that, if you thought about them for any length of time, might make you cry or crawl into the closet to hide.

In other words, it's kind of show more awesome, and I can't wait to read the next one.

So, yes, absolutely, I recommend it. show less

Extraordinarily interesting characters—a self-destructive demon killer, her estranged best-friend/crush that has fled her abusive marriage, her apocalyptically ambitious ex, a high priest to tech gods, etc. Interesting new setting Kadrey has created, and his gift for describing gore, violence, and mayhem is unmatched. It ends up being a big much for me, but I appreciate that he does it very, very well, and there's a good chance I'll probably keep going with the series.

I’m not gonna lie: I loved the hell out of this book. (Pun intended.) I wish I could have given it 6 stars, or go back and adjust my other previous 5 star reviews down to 4’s because this one set a new bar for me. It was a ton of fun to read. It grabbed me immediately and did a great job of balancing character history with running plot.