Downside Ghosts (1) - Unholy Ghosts
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"Gripping... Vivid characters, superior world-building and a wonderful sense of pace... I was enthralled." "The world-building is unexpected and complex, the characters are alive, and the protagonist Chess is a treasure." "The characters are complex and indelible, the plot is fascinating, and I can hardly wait for another book..." (all) Charlaine Harris
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Review
“Gripping… Vivid characters, superior world-building and a wonderful sense of pace… I was enthralled.”
“The world-building is unexpected and complex, the characters are alive, and the protagonist Chess is a treasure.”
“The characters are complex and indelible, the plot is fascinating, and I can hardly wait for another book…"
(all) Charlaine Harris
‘I'm so excited about this book - I LOVED it! I haven't read an Urban Fantasy this good in quite a while. ‘
bookchickcity.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This was an utterly compelling read. The story is totally original and in the crowded urban fantasy/horror market, Stacia Kane has produced something that stands out as wonderful. Some of the cover quotes mention 'ideal for fans of Charlaine Harris' and on this I would exert caution. If Charlaine Harris is at the softer end of your reading pleasure (as she is for me, a die hard horror fan) you will love this. If however, Charlaine is as dark as you want to go then Unholy Ghosts is not for you. because this is dark, sticky, violent stuff.
The basic story revolves around a not so distant future or alternative now where there has been a horrific surge in ghost activity. No moaning, chain rattling, making you jump type ghosts these. These are killing people indescriminately, violently, horribly and are not interested in communing with their ancestors. And so an offshoot of mystical belief that has the power to banish and subdue these murderous entities has replaced governments and religeons globally as the seat of power. This is the Church- but nothing remotely christian about it and this is not a religeous book in the slightest.
Chess is our notional heroine, a drug addicted adult orphan, been through the care system, been abused and hurt countless times and seeks refuge in the safety of Church power and her beloved drugs. As a largely functional addict, she bumbles through her life until she suddenly finds she has racked up more drug debt than she can pay back. Politely declining the offer of working the debt off on her back, she takes the alternative offer of clearing an abandoned airfield of a ghost so the local drug lord can start shipping in new product more cheaply. How hard can it be right? This is, afterall what she does for a living.And there the pedal firmly hits the metal- plot spirals into counter plot, threats mount and soon Chess is up to her eyeballs in trouble and sinking fast.
With a clear, detailed and well written style, moments of chilling fear, gruesome, horrific violence, gore and sweaty action, this is a truly exciting read. Be warned, there is quite a bit of drug discussion in this novel and addiction is never really discussed as a bad or problem ridden thing, just as the norm, so avoid giving this novel to an impressionablle or teen reader.
Just to really spice things up, Ms Kane has given us a bevvy of truly hot, hard and violent men that pepper the story. This includes the hottest, meanest, most intriguing and perplexing guy to stalk the pages of fiction for a while- Terrible. Wow what a character. If he was real i'd have to go find him, so hot under the collar did he get me! Unlike other urban horror though, this isn't a bonk fest like Laurell hamilton nor a twee romance like Ms Harris. This smacks of real life and the confusing, bewildering attraction we can all feel for someone who may do us no good whatsoever- or be just what we need.
I can't wait for the next installment of this series. Highly recommended.
The basic story revolves around a not so distant future or alternative now where there has been a horrific surge in ghost activity. No moaning, chain rattling, making you jump type ghosts these. These are killing people indescriminately, violently, horribly and are not interested in communing with their ancestors. And so an offshoot of mystical belief that has the power to banish and subdue these murderous entities has replaced governments and religeons globally as the seat of power. This is the Church- but nothing remotely christian about it and this is not a religeous book in the slightest.
Chess is our notional heroine, a drug addicted adult orphan, been through the care system, been abused and hurt countless times and seeks refuge in the safety of Church power and her beloved drugs. As a largely functional addict, she bumbles through her life until she suddenly finds she has racked up more drug debt than she can pay back. Politely declining the offer of working the debt off on her back, she takes the alternative offer of clearing an abandoned airfield of a ghost so the local drug lord can start shipping in new product more cheaply. How hard can it be right? This is, afterall what she does for a living.And there the pedal firmly hits the metal- plot spirals into counter plot, threats mount and soon Chess is up to her eyeballs in trouble and sinking fast.
With a clear, detailed and well written style, moments of chilling fear, gruesome, horrific violence, gore and sweaty action, this is a truly exciting read. Be warned, there is quite a bit of drug discussion in this novel and addiction is never really discussed as a bad or problem ridden thing, just as the norm, so avoid giving this novel to an impressionablle or teen reader.
Just to really spice things up, Ms Kane has given us a bevvy of truly hot, hard and violent men that pepper the story. This includes the hottest, meanest, most intriguing and perplexing guy to stalk the pages of fiction for a while- Terrible. Wow what a character. If he was real i'd have to go find him, so hot under the collar did he get me! Unlike other urban horror though, this isn't a bonk fest like Laurell hamilton nor a twee romance like Ms Harris. This smacks of real life and the confusing, bewildering attraction we can all feel for someone who may do us no good whatsoever- or be just what we need.
I can't wait for the next installment of this series. Highly recommended.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
An urban fantasy novel, and the start of a trilogy. Urban fantasy meaning it's not a Tolkein style world, rather the modern world with fantasy elements.
In this life hasn't been the same since the day when the dead rose. Citizens who survived that - world population is down a lot as a result - can find themselves haunted by the ghosts who now walk the Earth. The world is now run by a church who saw things coming and who deal with the ghosts. And those who make false claims of haunting to get money out of it.
Main character Chess [short for Cesaria] works for the church dealing with the ghosts. But she has a drug habit and is deep with her supplier in terms of how much she owes.
So she has to do him a favour to clear the debt. Deal with a haunted airfield.
But that's only the start of her troubles, thanks to a rival gang and an even more deadly threat of the supernatural kind. Plus also her burgeoning attraction to a rather ruthless man.
It runs for 339 pages of rather short chapters. It contains a fair amount of strong language and a few adult situations. And it's a pretty interesting world in which the story is set. But whilst the plotting is capable and contains a few good twists and turns there's nothing really to make the main character, even with her dark and damaged past in the foster care system, really stand out or be desperately sympathetic.
As such whilst this is a capable piece of writing it didn't really stand out for me and rates being good enough rather than above average.
Probably more suited to ladies who enjoy this kind of thing rather than me. If you do like it, then the trilogy continues with Downside Ghosts (2) - Unholy Magic which is out soon.
In this life hasn't been the same since the day when the dead rose. Citizens who survived that - world population is down a lot as a result - can find themselves haunted by the ghosts who now walk the Earth. The world is now run by a church who saw things coming and who deal with the ghosts. And those who make false claims of haunting to get money out of it.
Main character Chess [short for Cesaria] works for the church dealing with the ghosts. But she has a drug habit and is deep with her supplier in terms of how much she owes.
So she has to do him a favour to clear the debt. Deal with a haunted airfield.
But that's only the start of her troubles, thanks to a rival gang and an even more deadly threat of the supernatural kind. Plus also her burgeoning attraction to a rather ruthless man.
It runs for 339 pages of rather short chapters. It contains a fair amount of strong language and a few adult situations. And it's a pretty interesting world in which the story is set. But whilst the plotting is capable and contains a few good twists and turns there's nothing really to make the main character, even with her dark and damaged past in the foster care system, really stand out or be desperately sympathetic.
As such whilst this is a capable piece of writing it didn't really stand out for me and rates being good enough rather than above average.
Probably more suited to ladies who enjoy this kind of thing rather than me. If you do like it, then the trilogy continues with Downside Ghosts (2) - Unholy Magic which is out soon.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thought this book was one of the best urban fantasy books i have had the pleasure of in a while. Chess putnum is a class A heroin (LOL)She is kick ass but is not super together. The book has an aura of social commentary but not in a bad way. Chess is vulnerable, she doesn't live 'on campus' with the other churchwitches, she has had a hard life and lives in an area of town policed by two warring druglords. Chess gets involved with both but she has loyalties. The world building is beleivable, the side charachters are so intersting. Chess had dealings with both enforcers, Terrible who is Bump's underling, and Lee who is Slobag's. Be prepared to stay up with this one its fantastic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Drove me nuts
Firstly I've got to say sorry to all those obviously avid fans of this series, Why? because I disagree with a lot of the reviews!! Read more
Published 2 months ago by oscarthegrouch
BelleBooks
Unholy Ghosts was a book I saw everyone had read or had on their to be read lists, so I picked it up and decided to give it a go. Read more
Published 4 months ago by littlepinkstars44
Unholy Entertainment - Paranormal Dystopia at its Best!
Stacia Kane's Unholy Ghosts was truly a step in a different direction from other adult urban fantasy books, and that's something that's very hard to do in that genre - or at least... Read more
Published 6 months ago by S. Young
Dark and gritty
Chess Putnam is a Church witch who investigates claims of hauntings, debunking most and exorcising the few real ghosts she finds. Read more
Published 7 months ago by C. Manning
Briliantly orginal, dark urban fantasy
This is a great start to a series. Fascinating characters, great world-building. I like this for all the reasons I usually don't like others. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Geekius
Brilliantly dark!
I've wanted to try a novel by Stacia Kane ever since I followed the Fangs, Fur and Fey group over on Livejournal years back. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jo
Dark and Fantastic!
I really enjoyed this book, it was very different and the premise was fantastic! The ghosts rose in 1997 and killed a third of the population, religions collapsed and magic became... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ms C. McKechnie
Hated the main character
I've had to give up on this book because I just don't like any of the characters. Chess is a self obsessed drug addict that spends most of her time off her face on drugs and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dagobahbabe
Towering Imagination
I read a lot of fantasy, not much of it urban. This is the first of Stacia Kane's books I've read and, although not particularly a fan of the urban fantasy sub-genre, I am now... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Dr. H. Kara
Couldn't quite get into this one unfortunately
Given that I do occasionally like this kind of book, I was hoping that this would be a good read but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it, much to my disappointment. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mara Greenwood
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