The one person standing between Hell… and an innocent girl… is a man without a soul.
A regular life isn’t in the cards for Dorian Lake, but with his charm-crafting business invigorated, and the prospect of a serious relationship within his grasp, life is closer to normal than Dorian could ever expect. In the heat of the Baltimore mayoral campaign, Dorian has managed to balance his arrangements with Deputy Mayor Julian Bright with his search to find his lost soul. Dorian soon learns of a Netherworker, the head of a dangerous West Coast cabal, who might be able to find and return his soul. The price? Just one curse.
Sounds easy… but nothing ever is for Dorian. A dark presence arrives in the city, hell-bent on finding Dorian’s soul first. Innocents are caught in the crossfire, and Dorian finds it harder to keep his commitments to Bright. When the fight gets personal, and the entity hits too close to home, Dorian must rely on those he trusts the least to save the ones he loves. As he tests the limits of his hermetic skills to defeat this new enemy, will Dorian lose his one chance to avoid damnation?
I recently read and reviewed the first book in this series as well; you can find it here. Today, I'm part of the blog tour promoting the second book, The Curse Servant.
I'll try to keep the spoilers down as much as possible, however there may be some minor spoilers for the first book.
A few months have passed since the first book, and as I'd only read The Curse Merchant very recently everything was still clear from the beginning. Dorian's life seems to stabilize at the beginning of the book, only to be disrupted again when women around him start getting attacked by demons. When his friend Edgar's daughter is the victim, Dorian won't stop until he has her cured.
Like I said before, I'm not overly experienced when it comes to Urban Fantasy series, so I'm not able to compare it with let's say The Harry Dresden Files about which I've heard a lot but never read. I've quite enjoyed myself with this series so far. They are what I like to call snackbooks. Some nice and fast to read without having to concentrate on it too much. Those are very nice every now and then.
Dorian is still very egocentric even though he tries to help a young girl. He's not a likeable character, but not so bad that I like to hate him either. I didn't find him really annoying, but I can see that some people might.
I didn't like the story in this book as much as the other one. It's basically the demon possession and city politics. I hope the next one will be a bit more interesting again. I also hope to get more answers about the magic system. Exactly what is the Presidium? Why is there a war going on outside the Presidium's territory? Why is that territory not covering all of the US? Why are demons hunting his soul?
I will be reading the next book in this series!
The Curse Servant is the second book in the Dark Choir series. The first book is The Curse Merchant.
Thanks to the publisher Curiosity Quills Press for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find Online: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads
About The Author:
I am a storyteller, eager to transport the reader to strange yet familiar worlds. My writing is dark, fantastical, at times stretching the limits of the human experience, and other times hinting at the monsters lurking under your bed. I write science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, and several shades in between.
I am a husband and a father, living in the “wine country” of central Maryland. I’m surrounded by grapevines and cows. During the day I commute to Baltimore, and somehow manage to escape each afternoon with only minor scrapes and bruises. I am also a homebrewer and a certified beer judge. My avocations dovetail nicely!
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