Monday, January 13, 2014

Review: Deadtown a novel by Nancy Holzner

Reading urban fantasy and horror is something I love to do almost more than anything. Notice I said 'almost'.  The thing about urban fantasy that attracted me to it in the first place were the characters. For me, the main character is always female, and always has some kick ass power of some sort or are shape shifters with powers.

These bad-ass women, fight and break their way thru the streets and  cities, as either police detectives or private investigators as well as maybe some other side line. But those female fighters usually have at least one power they can use to fight off the big baddies form taking over the city if not the world.
These urban fantasy novels are and have been, for the most part written by women. Recently, some male authors have come on the scene, writing females characters as well, and not to take anything from them, but  its just not the same thing.

So, with that brief intro about what urban fantasy is, I'd like to comment and recommend on one of those novels right now.

Deadtown by Nancy Holzner is one of possibly five favorite urban fantasy series and could possibly be my fave. Possibly. I have this weird feeling that if I make one of the series my favorite then the others will feel betrayed. Rightttt.
Deadtown is one of the most original urban fantasy novel and series that I have read to date.
 
In a nutshell, Deadtown is about the dead coming back to life. Yes, zombies, but not in the way you'd suspect at least. Five years before, the paranormal happened to become normal. Meaning that every beastie and monster that anyone ever looked under the bed for came virtually out of the closet. Vampires, werewolves, trolls, ogres, witches and just about any off things. But not only in the downtown Boston area, but in all the major cities thru out the world.
 
Then two years after that, the plague hit the center of downtown Boston, also known as the new Combat zone. The plague only hit humans. so in less than an hour a couple of thousand humans all fell lifeless.  Soon the humans had a use for the paranormals by enlisting them to help build up a barricade around the combat zone to keep everyone out. IN about three days though, those dead bodies began to come back to life. As Zombies. But not in the way that you would think. They came back to life looking like zombies but acting the way they did  in life before they all died from the plague.  Scientists, after examining the strain found that it was a million in one weird virus that had effected everyone. They also found that there was no trace of it left in the air at all. But now, the norms outside the borders of Deadtown, as the combat zone had officially been called, were afraid of these zombies, even though they came back to life as they were mentally, they still had the hideous look of night of the living dead population. So, the borders stayed up and passes were issued to those zombies that were able to attain work. But their lives and work places and family, no longer cared or recognized most of them. So Deadtown came into being.
 
This series follows the exploits of on Vicky Vaughn. a cerredonian, a family lineage that has both males and females of that race  as demon slayers and shape shifters. Vicky is a shape shifter and Boston's only resident demon slayer.
Vicky's demanding job of keeping the city safe from all manner of monsters and demon entities keeps her more than busy. Throw in the fact that she has a teenaged zombie apprentice, a demon plagued client and a mysterious research facility that has become interested in Vicky's normal sisters family outside the borders of Deadtown, and the fact that one of them most hideous demons from Hell, the one that killed her father 10 years before is now coming after her, is keeping her form getting a least one good night sleep.
 
I can say enough about this book and the rest of the series. So far there are five books, I'm almost done reading the fifth now. This is the type of book that you really don't want to end. And so far as I can tell there should be more novels on the way.
The writing is great, refreshing plots and characters that you can care about. This is one of the series I read that each book comes off like its actually just one chapter in a much bigger book. Its definitely worth picking up.
 
If you have any questions of course, please feel free to ask or comment.
 
 
 

DEADTOWN
 

 
                                                                                                                    

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