Wednesday 3 May 2017

URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: Burned Man 3: Damnation - Peter McLean

Release Date: 02/05/17
Publisher: Angry Robot

SYNOPSIS:

Don Drake is living rough in a sink estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh, doing cheap spells for even cheaper customers while fending off the local lowlifes. Six months ago, Don fled from London to Glasgow to track down his old girlfriend Debbie the alchemist. With the Burned Man gradually driving him mad, Don meets with an ancient and mysterious tramp-slash-magician, with disastrous consequences. Now his old accomplices must step in to save Don from himself, before he damns himself for good this time.


REVIEW:

The third tale in the Burned Man series and one that take the reader from the lows of previous events and the principle players descent into drugs as he struggles to come to terms with what has gone before.

Its well written, the lead character believable and you can understand how he has been shaped by previous titles. The writing is addictive, the prose apt and when you throw into the mix a kick ass plot that has our hero alongside his friends forced into a situation that no one likes, we get to see just how dark his world has become with his only light against it being used as a pawn. Future outings are going to see one hell of a reckoning (literally) and I for one can't wait to see how events will play out. Definitely a series to read with similar echoes to the Mike Carey Felix Castor series.

Finally whilst you can pick this up without having read previous outings, you really ought to as this title has a lesson in how to help your reader not only associate but root for the lead hero no matter how bleak things seem.

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