Hungry Ghosts

In the third book of the Eric Carter series, Hungry Ghosts by Stephen Blackmoore, we go back into the world of Eric Carter, necromancer extraordinaire, and his daily battle with not dying. Seriously. This guy must walk around with a proverbial target on his head for bad guys. Or on his arm. On his midsection. Or, really, any part of him. Basically his whole body is a walking target for bad guys. It’s a good thing he’s got all those charmed tattoos to absorb or deflect most of the assaults. This would have been the shortest series ever without them.

Oh, yeah. He also attracts Santa Muerte. Because that’s the way his cookie crumbles.

If you have not read the first two books, Dead Things and Broken Souls, do so. This is not the best series for those who just want to jump into the middle of a series and play catch-up. I mean, don’t let me stop you. If you’re cool with jumping into the deep end without any swimming lessons, go ahead. There are characters and story lines that appear across all books and I think the background is helpful in Hungry Ghosts. Now that I think about it, there are no new characters in this. That’s all I’m saying. That, and go read the first two so the third makes more sense.

Fair warning: if you are anti-necromancer, anti-killing, anti-death, or anti-bad-language, this isn’t for you. Sorry. And if you’re looking for flowery prose, smooth narrative, or characters whose names you can pronounce with ease (who really speaks Nahuatl these days?), then, again, this book is not for you. Apologies.

Still with me? Let’s get into it.

Hungry Ghosts (Eric Carter) by [Blackmoore, Stephen]

Hungry Ghosts picks up shortly after the conclusion of Broken Souls. Eric Carter is busy chasing down leads, trying to find a way to get into Mictlan, the Aztec land of the dead. He is still the super-reluctant husband of Mictecacihuatl, aka Santa Muerte for those of us who are not fluent in the old Aztec language of Nahuatl. As such, Eric is slowly turning into the old Aztec king of the dead, Mictlantecuhtli. Unfortunately, the old king has spent centuries as a not-quite-dead jade statue. In becoming the Aztec king, Eric is turning to jade – the more of the king’s magic and power he uses, the faster he turns green.

And, no, I have no idea how to pronounce either of those names. None. So don’t ask. When reading, I referred to them in my head as Mick (him) and Miki (her) because that was easier than pretending I knew how to say their real names. I hope that doesn’t offend them or any of their followers.

As it happens, the two death gods seem to hate each other. Mictecacihuatl wants Eric to kill the old king so he can fully become king and work with her. If Eric turns to jade before killing him, Eric will be trapped in a statue and her ex-husband will be free, which can’t possibly be a good thing. Mictlantecuhtli wants Eric to kill his ex-wife because he might want his old job back in a solo role, and his ex-wife is conniving and mean and can’t possibly want anything good for Eric.

Eric wants two things: NOT to be married to Santa Muerte, and NOT to turn to jade. I, personally, think both of these are completely reasonable things. His brilliant idea is to just kill both of them. He can eliminate the source of the problem and eliminate the problem at the same time. Simple, right? And thus the book begins: he’s got to find a way into Mictlan so he can kill both of the Aztec death gods, and, ideally, not die in the process. And he manages to convince Tabitha (if “convince” is the same thing as “binding her with a bracelet that compels her to stay close to him”) to go with him on his little journey.

Let’s just say, the journey does not exactly go smoothly. Literally blasting your way through Mexico to get information from cartel employees is maybe not the safest idea. Eric’s still got that deal with the wind, which means he has not only kill two death gods but he also has to burn their world. Not surprisingly, getting to Mictlan is not like the Dumbo ride at Disney, where you control your flight and wear a seat belt and are never really in any danger.

There is, as expected if you’ve read the first books, plenty of magic and blood and bullets. And a “do-first, ask-later” type of attitude. It’s probably good Eric is turning to jade because jade is a lot more durable than human flesh. I like these stories because they take place completely from Eric’s point of view. There are no other POVs, so you don’t have any background or interpretation other than what Eric perceives. It’s fun to try to figure out what’s going on at the same time Eric does – it makes all the twists and turns more exciting, because you (just like him) don’t see them coming.

Do yourself a favor: google the Aztec gods. There are many mentioned, and I am not well-versed in that culture. There is incredible artwork and statues that have been found and all sorts of visual goodies. I just have no idea which is more accurate or correct, and would hate to steer anyone in the wrong direction. There are even websites that audibly pronounce the names of the gods, which might be helpful. I must be audible-challenged; those “how-to-pronounce” websites helped me a big fat not-at-all.

If you’ve read Stephen Blackmoore before, you know what kind of writing style to expect. It’s not Jane Austen, and it’s not Tolkien. There are no long-winded paragraphs devoted to how a character’s hair looks in sunlight, and there are no chapters dedicated to the history of a culture. It is abrasive, abrupt, and full noir. I thought Hungry Ghosts felt a little more fluid – a little less abrasive – than the other books, but only slightly. Where the other books were 85% abrasive, this book is maybe 70% abrasive.

Also, I read an e-book format and found there were a handful of grammar errors. Whether that’s because of the format or the editor, I have no idea. And, really, if I was having to edit a book full of Nahuatl words, there would be a million mistakes, so no judging from me. Glass houses and stones and all that. (I’m reading another book right now, also e-book format, and it’s got a handful of issues, too, so I’m leaning towards this being a formatting error.)

All in all, if you like the first two books, you’ll like this one. While it mostly wraps up the story lines that have continued throughout – sister’s death, married to Santa Muerte, turning to jade – there are a few smaller threads that don’t get neatly sewn up. Hopefully those small threads turn into big rips; I’d love to see another Eric Carter story coming soon.

Overall: 7/10

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