RogerBW's Blog

Dead Heat, Annabel Chase 04 February 2026

2024 paranormal fantasy, seventh of a nine-book series. Things are getting worse, but there's still time for one last selfless quest.

OK, so the basic theme of the last third of this nine-book series would appear to be that all the death-gods are being got out of the way by Nefarious Forces, though while it's clear roughly who must be doing it the why remains a mystery.

(And as with most urban fantasy that plays at this level, Chase is quite happy to talk about Hades or Hel and the rest of their pantheons, but casually ignores the implications of having exiled Dukes of Hell on stage and the actual Lucifer somewhere in the background.)

We also have the problem that when the Nefarious Forces' agents start threatening innocents, Lorelei really ought by now (with Awesome Deity Powers) to be able to do more than just try to talk them out of it. But she doesn't, and it feels increasingly that that's because the Big Confrontation has to be saved for the end of the story.

And then she casually volunteers for another possibly hopeless quest to save someone she's barely met, and maybe back in book 3 that was a reasonable thing to do, but you have got responsibilities now.

I didn't love it. I think the plot may be being stretched too thin. Two more books to go.

[Buy this at Amazon] and help support the blog. ["As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases."]

Previous in series: Play Dead | Series: Crossroads Queen

Add A Comment

Your Name
Your Email
Your Comment

Note that I will only approve comments that relate to the blog post itself, not ones that relate only to previous comments. This is to ensure that the blog remains outside the scope of the UK's Online Safety Act (2023).

Your submission will be ignored if any field is left blank, but your email address will not be displayed. Comments will be processed through markdown.

Search
Archive
Tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2300ad 3d printing action advent of code aeronautics aikakirja anecdote animation anime army astronomy audio audio tech aviation base commerce battletech bayern beer boardgaming book of the week bookmonth chain of command children chris chronicle church of no redeeming virtues cold war comedy computing contemporary cornish smuggler cosmic encounter coup covid-19 crime crystal cthulhu eternal cycling dead of winter disaster doctor who documentary drama driving drone ecchi economics en garde espionage essen 2015 essen 2016 essen 2017 essen 2018 essen 2019 essen 2022 essen 2023 essen 2024 essen 2025 existential risk falklands war fandom fanfic fantasy feminism film firefly first world war flash point flight simulation food garmin drive gazebo genesys geocaching geodata gin gkp gurps gurps 101 gus harpoon historical history horror horrorm science fiction hugo 2014 hugo 2015 hugo 2016 hugo 2017 hugo 2018 hugo 2019 hugo 2020 hugo 2021 hugo 2022 hugo 2023 hugo 2024 hugo 2025 hugo-nebula reread in brief avoid instrumented life javascript julian simpson julie enfield kickstarter kotlin learn to play leaving earth linux liquor lovecraftiana lua mecha men with beards mpd museum music mystery naval noir non-fiction one for the brow openscad opera parody paul temple perl perl weekly challenge photography podcast poetry politics postscript powers prediction privacy project woolsack pyracantha python quantum rail raku ranting raspberry pi reading reading boardgames social real life restaurant review reviews romance rpg a day rpgs ruby rust scala science fiction scythe second world war security shipwreck simutrans smartphone south atlantic war squaddies stationery steampunk stuarts suburbia superheroes suspense talon television the resistance the weekly challenge thirsty meeples thriller tin soldier torg toys trailers travel type 26 type 31 type 45 typst vietnam war war wargaming weather wives and sweethearts writing about writing x-wing young adult
Special All book reviews, All film reviews
Produced by aikakirja v0.1