Friday 21 January 2011

URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: Steven De Selby 2: Managing Death - Trent Jamieson

Release Date: 20/01/11

BOOK BLURB:

Steven has a new job, with an important-sounding job title: Australia's Regional Death. On a good day he thinks it has quite a ring to it, but on a bad day (that's most of them) it's more of a toll. He's recently averted a Regional Apocalypse, but a huge national death count - instead of a normal, manageable death count - is still a big risk. And with barely a month to go until his first Death Moot, where the world's thirteen Deaths get together to talk, er, death, Steven feels a crisis is imminent. People are dying in the unusually brutal summer heat. Monstrous Stirrers are on the rise as their dark god draws near. Someone is trying to kill him. And he has a conference to organise. Steven must start managing Death, before it starts managing him, or this time the Apocalypse will be more than Regional.


REVIEW:

Having loved Trent’s original tale of the business of death I really looked forward to this one to see what other new challenges would present themselves for Steve De Selby and whilst he survived the previous title by the skin of his teeth, our hero is to learn that its not easy at the top and that everyone’s out to get you. Its wickedly good fun, it has great characters and above all else it’s a plotline that you really can’t put down.

Add to this a deliciously dark sense of humour that pokes fun at death as well as giving the reader some great prose and you really can’t afford to miss this title. Finally add a magical sense of timing, some great prose alongside great pace and you know that it’s a title that will keep you glued to the last page. It will be interesting to see what Steve’s next book will do as after all, any author who has no qualms about grabbing the reaper and playing his ribs like a xylophone, pretty much has no limits. Great stuff.

No comments: