Dead Reign

Dead Reign by T.A. Pratt

Marla Mason series

ISBN# 978-0-553-59135-4

Available now

Published by Bantam Spectra/ Random House, Inc.

Format: mm pbk., 321 pages

Genres: fiction, urban fantasy

Somehow in all my scrambling for releases dates and typing up said release dates on various calendars I missed this book. The first book in the series, Blood Engines, took a little reading to get into because Marla is very much an original and unique main character. She isn't all good or all bad, she's somewhere in the middle like most of us, but because she's also a very powerful sorceress and doesn't always do the "right" thing it makes for a more interesting and believable series. Even though the Marla Mason books are a series with re-occurring characters each book can be read as a stand-alone since the only hint of story arcs seem to pop up in this third book.

Marla Mason is the rough around the edges, take no shit, head sorcerer of Felport. She didn't get to that position by sitting on her ass or giving into demands from up-and-comers and Death coming to town isn't about to change that. He's come looking for his sword which has been considered the head sorcerer's dagger of office since Felport was founded. The Walking Death is new to the job and cocky so he attacks Marla directly only to rebuffed by the knife itself. The new plan is to banish Marla from her own city and prove that the city can survive without her until she hands over the dagger willingly, if he only knew Marla. While Marla is putting her own plan of attack together her right hand man, Rondeau, is busy leading the secret revolution back home in Felport. Marla soon sets off on her own very ambitious plan of taking over the Underworld in order to trade it back for her city. She finds out just how ambitious her idea really is when she realizes that everyone's hell is different and her's just happens to revolve around every person she's killed, either purposely or by accident.

Personally, I love when Death makes an appearance in books so Dead Reign had me from the start. There's a lot to like about this series and this book in particular. A necromancer accidentally calls up John Wilkes Booth when all he wanted was a zombie helper. Instead of a quiet helper he gets a Shakespeare quoting, racist who thinks heavy lifting is beneath him. To annoy him the necromancer later glamours one of his zombies to look like a young Abe Lincoln. You also meet a lot of sorcerers throughout this series and they all specialize in a certain area whether it be with the dead, technology, chaos, or prophecies. I strongly suggest this series if you're looking for something a little different where heros doing heroic acts are mostly an accident and not the norm. I also think this series will strongly appeal to readers of The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

Zhye