City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane – review

From the author’s site:

IT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN ALIVE AND UNDEAD.

Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime boss—and Chess’s drug dealer—gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magic—all while coping with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.

City of Ghosts, the third book in the Downside Ghosts series, follows quickly on the heels of Unholy Magic. Chess Putnam has been healing for a few weeks, and while most of her troubles from the previous book are over, there’s one that is not.

Terrible still isn’t speaking to her, and if you’re a fan of his character–and I’m pretty sure you will be–then you’ll find the majority of this book heartrending. Granted, Chess brought it on herself, but you can see that she’s honestly trying to rectify the matter. Given the ending of Unholy Magic, you know that she really cares about Terrible, but getting him to understand that when he feels (rightfully) betrayed is a whole other issue.

Chess is also beginning to understand a few things about herself, particularly her tendency to lie–both to others and to herself–which got her into this situation in the first place. I think any human being can relate to this painful self-discovery. I know I sniffled more than a few times.

Of the three books so far, this one was probably the slowest for me. The plot was still very good, and there was plenty of action. The problems came from the other characters. Chess spends a lot of time attempting to convince Black Squad member Lauren to listen to any of her ideas regarding their case. Meanwhile, she’s attempting to get Terrible to listen to so much as a word that comes out of her mouth. Watching them constantly ignore her was an exercise in patience, not to mention it was pretty tiring. There are reasons for why they behave this way toward her, granted, but in my opinion it served to slow Chess down.

Despite that, however, there are plenty of things that I liked about City of Ghosts. First of all, the return of the Lamaru was unexpected. They haven’t forgotten about Chess, that’s for sure, and they’re not too good for a little revenge. But they have bigger plans than that, and figuring out just what those plans are gives Chess a challenge. Moreover, there’s a wild card thrown into the mix: the mysterious new magician who seems to be at odds with the Lamaru. This character is quite unsettling and very interesting, though we see him only a few times in the novel. I have to say, I wouldn’t mind if he popped up again in the future.

We’re introduced to a little bit more information about the Church in this book, as well, though, as usual, Chess spends as little time within Church grounds as possible. As with Unholy Magic, we also get to see Elder Griffin more often, which is something I enjoyed immensely. He’s one of the peripheral characters that I really like and, unlike in other series where there’s a kind, older mentor figure, I’m not constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and to find out that he’s, in fact, a bad guy. (Though, having said that, I should probably start crossing my fingers.)

One thing that I believe City of Ghosts does for the series is to help make it something larger and ongoing. By bringing back a few things from the first book, and by giving us a gradually larger view of world, it expands our experience of the story. All we know, we learn from Chess’s point of view, and as she grows and continues to learn things about herself and the things around her, so does the reader.

So, sure, I had my issues with the pacing during the middle of the book, but overall I think this is another great installment from Stacia Kane. With her fourth book coming out next year, I’m eager to see what Chess might learn next, and where the story is likely to go.