The Hellsblood Bride

Mookie Pearl #2

by Chuck Wendig

Yes, we're going back deep underground for another twelve rounds with Mookie Pearl. Father, barkeep, former Mafioso, ruler of his subterranean crime-kingdom. The Organization is back, and they'll do anything to get Mookie on board, but Mookie has gone legit, and it's taking every ounce of effort for him to keep his new bar from crashing and burning. To top it all, his daughter is missing, and when Nora's not in plain sight, that's usually a sign of bad things to come! On one hand, the Organization. On the other, Nora. Why can't Family ever be easy - ?

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Adult, Paranormal, Crime

Paperback

First published December 30, 2014

About the author

Chuck Wendig is a novelist, a screenwriter, and a freelance penmonkey.
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).

He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at the Sundance Film Festival 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producer Ted Hope.

Chuck's novel Double Dead will be out in November, 2011.

He's written too much. He should probably stop. Give him a wide berth, as he might be drunk and untrustworthy. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs. He is represented by Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

You can find him at his website, terribleminds.com.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nora Pearl is stuck in Hell and the only way out is to marry a demon. Her father, Mookie, has other ideas...

The second Mookie Pearl book is just as bad ass as the first. When the book starts, Mookie has one foot in the grave and a daughter that's all the way there. From there, things just get worse.

The book shifts viewpoints between Mookie and Nora and both threads are full of awesomeness. Mookie is like a human battering ram and Nora is much more subtle, making their viewpoints very distinct. The powers tugging the strings behind the scenes give the book a touch more conflict and unpredictability.

Chuck Wendig's writing is even crisper than ever, full of unique similes perfect for the novel's noir flavor. Just as in The Blue Blazes, I really enjoyed the inventiveness of the setting and creatures Wendig has crafted, largely free of the usual urban fantasy staples.

The Hellsblood Bride has more twists than one of the god-worms of the Deep Downstairs. I lost count of the number of times I found myself grinning in amazement. The ending was the biggest surprise of them all. I'm definitely on board for the third book in the series, whenever that drops.

If you want urban fantasy that doesn't feature the tired tropes, the Mookie Pearl series might be up your alley.

[Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I enjoyed "The Blue Blazes", the first book in the Mookie Pearl series, I have to admit that it was still one of my least favorite books by Chuck Wendig because the main character didn't really grow on me and urban fantasy just isn't one of my favorite genres.

So I went into "The Hellsblood Bride" without any high expectations and have to admit that I had a surprisingly great time reading this sequel. I barely remembered anything that had happened in the first book when I started reading book 2 but that didn't turn out to be a big problem since Wendig recapped the most important things and let's be honest: "The Blue Blazes" didn't have a very sophisticated story anyway.

Neither does the sequel, but Wendig once again jumped right into the action which in this case means hell itself since Mookie Pearl is trying to save his daughter Nora from purgatory, meaning the darkest underworld beneath New York City that hosts the most evil and disgusting creatures you can think of.

What I liked about "The Hellsblood Bride" was this very sinister setting which felt like a permanent nightmare and came with an intense atmosphere. Compared to the first book the second one pays way less attention to the different drugs and substances that were so important in "The Blue Blazes" and that made the story way more appealing to me since I don't really like reading about drug lords and drug cartels etc.

Another thing I liked was that the story not only featured Mookie's point of view but also switched to his daughter Nora from time to time which was a nice variation to the nonstop bulldozer action that is characteristic for Mookie's POV. This made the story work out much better for me than the first book and the plot even had some nice surprises that I hadn't seen coming.

The future of this series seems a bit uncertain now (especially after the ending of this book) but I kinda hope that Chuck Wendig will publish another novel some time because I'm actually quite curious about what happens next – and this I definitely hadn't expected when I had picked up the book after having neglected it for ages.

[Kdawg91 · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like urban fantasy, you can not do better than Mookie Pearl, period.

(thats pretty much all I got to say about that)

[The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a lot longer to finish this than it should have.

When we last saw Mookie Pearl in Blue Blazes, he and his 20yo daughter Nora were embroiled in a universe-upending scheme that would have released the worm-gods of Hell (and everything else in the Great Below) into the Infinite Above. He was working for the Mafia when it happened - unknowingly, the head of his own Organization had been possessed by one of the afore-mentioned worm-gods so really, Mookie shouldn't be held responsible for any work done to bring about the apocalypse. Anyway, the events in the finale led to Nora's death, which forced Mookie to feed her Caput Mortuum mushrooms, which only grows in the deepest Expanse of the Great Below. The Violet Void allowed her to cling to life, but only as long as she dwells in Hell. The closer she gets to the surface world, the more unbearable pain she experiences.

So, what's a gigantic slab of beef with a soft spot for his little girl supposed to do? Save her, of course.

In The Hellsblood Bride, we follow back-and-forth POVs of Mookie and Nora as they hunt for a vendor in the Yonder Market who sells tickets to the 13 Train; we see Blue Blazes favorite Burnsy, "a little burned hot dog in a daredevil's jumpsuit;" we meet enormous golems, the oldest and rarest living beings, and also Snakeheads and Gobbos; and a quest to find intrepid human explorer of the Great Below, John Atticus Oakes... and all that's just in the first half of the book.

Whew! There's a lot going on in this one, and it was as fun as I expected it would be. But that ending, though... it was so terribly unsatisfying that I'm surprised it wasn't edited or revised. It's probably why Chuck Wendig hasn't written the third novel yet. Such a shame, because the imagination and worldbuilding in this series is pretty phenomenal. :-/

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world Chuck Wendig created in The Blue Blazes (Mookie Pearl Book 1) was violent and fascinating, a version of Hell right under the streets of New York that festered with nightmarish creatures and was mined by a criminal group called the Organization for its mystical drug Blue, derived from the mineral Cerulean. Mookie Pearl, a wrecking ball of a man, ran that operation for them until his daughter Nora decided to turn the whole thing on its ear.

The Hellsblood Bride expands the mythology of Blazes, answering questions leftover from our fleeting peek into the Great Below, and turbo-charges it with skinless cultists, apocalyptic prophecies, and one hell of a wedding. The story starts with the same break-neck speed of the first and doesn't let up.

I was incredibly happy to have this book come back to life after my pre-order had been cancelled. It was a world too rich for just one novel to tell and after reading the sequel you'll be clamoring for a third.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got into it right away even though I couldn't remember anything about the first book except that I really liked it, and that I really wanted this one and that I was super frustrated that my library never got it. The important things came back as the story went along. I liked that the author didn't do any infodumps at all, the history was just worked into the story. As it should..

Don't read this if you're sensitive to violence (knives, some guns, lots of fighting, gangs, supernatural assassins, and assorted insanity). None of these people are nice people, or gentle people. Some of theme have good sides, but they aren't heroes.

A small detail: I really liked when Mookie asked Skelly if she needed him and she said she didn't need anyone but herself, but she wanted him. It's like what Whoopie has been saying on The View and in her newest book (so I hear, I haven't read it), you can't expect someone else to complete you, you have to be complete yourself or it's never going to work between you. You can be better together, bring out the best in each other, but you can't look for someone to fix your life.

It was interesting that Mookie was in his fifties, I don't see a lot of books about people older than prime dating ages. And he showed his age to some degree, he wasn't just a perfect, chiseled-chin hero, only in his fifties so he could be old enough to have a daughter in the book, but otherwise the perfect hero in every way. He has a rough job and it's taken a toll on his body over the years. And the father-daughter dynamic was interesting too.

So that's just a few comments. It's a fun book and fun series, I recommend to urban fantasy fans.

[Nick Nafpliotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an unexpected surprise to get this book a year earlier than anticipated. As expected, it was fantastic. Not quite as great as Blue Blazes, but darn close. Wendig also promised a definite ending...and we get one...but I really hope he continues with the series. The potential third chapter he set up would be awesome.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another brain-bruising romp from Chuck Wendig! 4.5 stars.

[Curtis Edmonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

You could make the argument that THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE is an exercise in deconstructionism. It would be a remarkably stupid argument, but you could make it. Applying deconstructionism to genre fiction is a little bit like applying plastic explosives to the LEGO model of the Star Wars "Death Star" that the nerdy kid next door spent three months slaving over--essentially pointless, but good fun that could never hurt anyone unless you actually stepped on a LEGO brick.

When you blow a genre of fiction into smithereens, what you get are "tropes," useful modular little pieces of fiction, like LEGO bricks, that you can cast and recast into any form you want. There is even a website, TV Tropes. that takes your favorite TV show or movie or comic and breaks it down into its component tropes. (WARNING WARNING WARNING: TV Tropes is a massive time-suck that can draw you into spending all day on it JUST LIKE THAT if you're not careful.)

Show you how this works: One of the main characters, a professional "Living Dead Girl," ends up, through a ridiculous and contrived set of circumstances, traveling in a portion of the Underworld that is under the Midwest, and is thrown together with a ragged zombie, a mechanical golem, and a fearful half-human creature. And, yes, they are all seeking a mysterious and half-legendary character that supposedly has the ability to send the female protagonist back home. Any of this starting to sound familiar?

Well, yes, of course it does. I get it, you get it, and (to the author's credit) the characters actually get it, and one of them points out that they're in Hell, not Oz. (This is a trope in and of itself, called "lampshading," where the characters are at least a little bit in on the joke.)

The central premise that drives THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE and its predecessor, THE BLUE BLAZES, is original enough. The Underworld, we learn, is a real thing, and hellish, and there is more crossover than you'd think between our world and the world below. Chuck Wendig is our unseen guide through the Underworld, and it's a place that's unerringly crazypants, populated by ravening goblins and troglodytes and half-humans and every Grand Guignol thing Wendig can think up, which is rather a lot.

Wendig's Underworld is a big and varied place, and can accommodate pretty much any eldritch character you want. Giant satanic god-worms? Check. Hidden daemon torture-prisons? Check. Ghostly subway trains that don't obey the laws of physics? Check. Anyone or anything can jump out at you at any time, from Snakeface assassins to the Skinless King himself.

THE BLUE BLAZES is set in a New York that never quite recovered from the 70's, and has a healthy dollop of references from The Godfather and The Warriors. THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE retains some of these elements (especially a run-in with the Russian mafia to avenge the deaths of members of a roller-derby gang) but it takes the action cross-country, to Los Angeles, where Nora Pearl has to enter into a demonic marriage to escape hell. And because there's the off-chance that this marriage might disrupt the delicate balance between hell and our world, her father, Mookie Pearl, has to try to stop it.

The relationship (or lack thereof) between the Pearls is the fulcrum of both novels, and it's more strained here than in THE BLUE BLAZES. If you are planning on reading THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE, it is probably because you read THE BLUE BLAZES and empathize with Mookie Pearl, and if you do that, you might have a little bit of disdain for Nora Pearl, because she's kind of a brat. Well, she's still a brat, and she spends a good deal of time sitting in a cave on Catalina Island, wishing someone would bring her an In-N-Out burger. (Note: I have had one In-N-Out burger in my life, in a run-down part of San Diego, and it was dreadful--nowhere close to the Whataburger experience. Your mileage may vary.)

So THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE basically has two problems. One is that it had too much Nora Pearl and not enough Mookie Pearl, although there's just enough Mookie Pearl to get you through the book. The second is that the story takes a number of very odd detours that don't seem to go anywhere in particular--especially concerning the fate of a McGuffin that is incredibly important up until the point that it isn't.

The third is the ending, and while I won't give away the ending, it seems likely that it was generated mostly to both end the series and to set up a sequel. This is a very loopy thing to say, and I'm sorry, but it's true and you'll see why when you read it. (I suspect, but don't know, that the book's odd and rather unfortunate publication history has something to do with this.)

I have a hard time recommending THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE to anyone who hasn't read THE BLUE BLAZES, especially when THE BLUE BLAZES is a notch or three better. But you really can't go wrong reading THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE if you liked THE BLUE BLAZES. What THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE has going for it in spades is Wendig's eye; how he describes really gross, disgusting, underground things with care and precision. It is that eye, coupled with Wendig's distinctive cuckoopants energy, that makes THE HELLSBLOOD BRIDE entertaining enough to work through its various kinks and crotchets. It's certainly worth picking up for any fan of urban fantasy or manic storytelling.

[Sunil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the hell out of The Blue Blazes , so I eagerly anticipated the follow-up, and despite some publisher hiccups, it finally came out! And it was worth the wait. The Hellsblood Bride is a hell(sblood) of a (b)ride. I read it all in one day.

Whereas The Blue Blazes was supernatural crime noir, The Hellsblood Bride is more urban fantasy, but Wendig-y. Given that the previous book focused on, well, wiping out most of the crime noir element, I understand why this would be a very different book. It tells a very different kind of story, and while it follows from the previous one, it's not truly necessary to have read it to understand this one thanks to helpful recaps and reminders.

So here's the deal: Mookie Pearl's daughter, Nora, is trapped in Hell. Mookie wants to get her out. Nora wants to get herself out. Mookie's plan involves some book. Nora's plan involves, well...look at the title. There's a catch, however: let's just say Chuck Wendig really raises the stakes from the last book.

Wendig alternates between Mookie and Nora, but he cleverly includes excerpts from Nora's diary in order to move her plot along during Mookie's sections. As in the last book, he does some great things with POV, often showing us scenes from unexpected perspectives. Various parties want to stop Mookie and/or Nora, and allies may become villains, and villains may become allies, and although it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of everyone's motivations, this book is full of surprises.

One of the things I loved about The Blue Blazes was the world, and there, the world was the backdrop for the story, but in this book, the world becomes the story in so many ways, as Wendig digs into the various creatures and their alliances. Snake monsters, golems, FUCKING SKINLESS PEOPLE, roller derby girls, it's a big party.

But the heart of the book is Mookie and Nora, this big lug of a father and this rebellious daughter. No amount of grisly, brutal violence or shocking betrayals can overshadow this father-daughter relationship. Wendig keeps the two of them front and center and takes the story to its inevitable conclusion, which could serve as a hell of a cap for the series or lead to another book full of kinetically cool prose.

The Hellsblood Bride takes you from coast to coast, from Above to Below and back again. It's fun, fast, and furious, and I literally clapped out loud at the book at one point, okay.

[Reader-ramble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably closer to a 3.75.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Hellsblood Bride" is the sequel to Wendig's book "Blue Blazes" and like the first of the series, this particular book is written very well.

Our protagonist, Mookie, is one-man wrecking machine with a will of iron. When his daughter Nora, is trapped in a literal Underworld, it is up to him to find a way to bring her home.

Many of the excellent characters introduced in the first book make appearances once again - even if they were killed off in the prior work.

The writing is tight and filled with tension. Wendig nails the staccato beat of fight scenes with bursts of prose that hit repeatedly to the head and gut. I really enjoyed the grim setting he creates and drags the reader, kicking and screaming along for the ride.

Its no secret that I'm a HUGE fan of his work and this book is no exception. I would advise reading the prior book in the series to get a complete appreciation for the magnificent scale of world-building which is done.

[James Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really entertaining with great characters!

[Nicholas Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to author Chuck Wendig, this second book is considered a “raw ending.” Was it? Let’s find out.

The story picks up some months after the events of the first book, The Blue Blazes. Mookie wants a book that is rumored to have a solution to getting Nora, his daughter, out of hell. Unfortunately, when it’s within his reach he starts having a heart attack that prevents him from obtaining it.

After Skelly decides to break off their relationship, Mook finally goes and visits his Nora down in the underworld. However, we learn from Burnsy that she took things into her own hands and headed to a market where she could buy a ticket onto a train that will take her to meet someone that will possibly be able to help her.

This is a fully packed sequel that moves the story along at a great pace. If you loved the first one then you’ll love this one. Also, Wendig makes sure to have every character be their own person; the small and the big. We get to meet familiar faces, plus a few new ones that only adds to the universe.

In a lot of ways this story is darker (if that’s even possible) than the first. There’s a lot of killing, slicing and dicing going on here (what one would expect and more). A part that really heightens everything is the Skinless that we get to meet within the first few pages and when Wendig describes them one might get a little of the heebie-jeebies.

Speaking of description, what really elevates a story like this is the writing. Under the capable hands and mind of Wendig would be the only way for the book to be read. He guides us through the world of hell with the skill of someone that knows what they want to tell us.

So, as I mentioned earlier about the raw ending, the story was meant to have a third book published, but sadly due to contract disputes with the original publisher, Wendig self published Hellsblood and here we are. After reading the book I found myself wanting more; I wanted to follow what happens after this book. However, the ending does a satisfying job of giving some sense of things coming to a finish. While I still want that third book, I’ll be content with this.

[Doc Ezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s been quite a while since I read Wendig’s first Mookie Pearl novel, so it took me a little bit into the book before I’d settled back into the grim, hard-boiled demon noir vibe and remembered who the major players all were. Mookie remains a blunt instrument, all animal cunning and flashing cleaver and haymaker punches smashing monsters apart. It’s unusual to have a book built of elaborate wheels-within-wheels kinds of plotting, when the protagonist is pretty much always the last to grasp what’s really going on, but it works (most of the time).

Wendig’s prose is staccato, vivid depiction of a hidden Hell beneath our feet, full of a baffling array of nightmare creatures, aristocratic demon families at war with each other, and cults of slithering god-worms. The story here revolves around Mookie trying to rescue his daughter out of this Hell before she marries a demon and cracks the barrier between our world and theirs. Their allies are a truly outlandish menagerie of creatures, undead, and demons, so warring motivations and loyalties and messy relationships abound.

The end caught me by surprise, and while I won’t say anything about it here, it does sort of explain why the third volume may or may not ever appear. I don’t really know where Wendig can go from here, but if he ever makes the attempt, I’ll certainly be picking it up.

[Karen Eisenbrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like your urban fantasy violent, profane, and darkly funny, you’ve come to the right place.

Mookie Pearl is a human thug that monsters fear. He’s smarter than he looks and has a good heart … but a bum ticker. He’s trying to get his hands on an ancient tome that might tell him how to get his daughter Nora out of Hell. It keeps slipping from his grasp and he keeps trying in spite of danger to his own life, adding pieces to the puzzle in a situation that only grows more urgent. Meanwhile, Nora is on her own quest to find the Skinless King, a legend who has been trapped Below even longer than she has. This all builds to the wedding to end all weddings, and maybe the world. Will Mookie get there in time to stop it?

There are no nice people in this book, but there are some good ones. I love how such a bloody, action-packed story is all about a father’s love for his child. It’s also a meditation on mortality, as the seemingly unkillable Mookie is betrayed by his own aging body. The shocking, terrifying, yet heartwarming ending leaves things open for further episodes.

[Boneist · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure what it was I didn’t like about this series, because it’s not like the writing is terrible or anything like that. The fact it’s very political? The style of writing (3rd person present tense)? The story itself? Some combination of all those, and/or something else?

Dunno.

I must have got both books on offer or something, because I wouldn’t have bought the second book after reading the first.

[Macha]

3 and a half stars. not as good as Mooky Pearl Book 1, which had more world-building, and did more with its minor characters. still pretty fun to read, though, as a dime-store horror novel with a wild twist of the Plucky Heroine in Hell theme. so if the writer wants to write more books into this pulpy series, i'll still happily read them.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent sequel to the excellent Blue Blazes. Just re-read this after reading it a few years ago. Really enjoyable; hopefully not going to have too long for #3 - there are three more colours to get through after all...

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Organization's gone," Werth suddenly says.
"Hn? Yeah."
"That's fucked, right? It's like finding out the US government's collapsed and now the White House has been taken over by a bunch of fuckin' crackheads."

[Troy Lefman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book by Wendig. Rich story, deep prose. The third book better be coming....

[Wombat · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ONLY reason this isn't a 5 star is : not enough Mookie. Well, that and Nora is an annoying brat for too much of the book.

Actually, screw it - 5 stars...

OK. This book is like watching a Guy Ritchie or Tarantino film, and I mean that as high praise! It is visceral - you can hear, smell, even taste what is happening. The tension is pretty much ratcheting up non-stop. In the few times that we get to take a breather, you can almost feel something moving around in the darkness, just setting up to jump out.

This is a continuation of The Blue Blazes, and I think you really need to read that first. In that, we ended with Mookie "saving" his daughter, but damning her to live in the underworld forever. Here they are both looking for a way to get her back.

Yes, its full of action, and horror, and great language, but what REALLY kicks this into top shelf material are the characters - especially the motivations. I love Mookie Pearl as a character, and especially that he is full of regrets. He doesn't like who he is - an ultra-violent thug. He knows that he made bad decisions, and that if he'd made better ones he could have actually been happy. He knows that there is no good ending for him, so he's trying to at least fix things for some of the people around him.

And often he cant even get that right. Have I mentioned that he is perhaps not the brightest bulb? His default response is to beat things up - that's what life has taught him. It makes the immediate problem go away, but even he knows it doesn't fix things.

That is pretty common - good characterisation, poor impulse control - for many of the characters. Nora is especially good (even though she is annoying for a lot of the time). Many of them have regrets, have made mistakes, and are trying to fix things (for varying meanings of the word "fix")

I would happily sit down and re-read both this and the prequel just for the experience of being in this crazy-psycho world made by Mr Wendig. And by everything holy let there be another book in this series soon!

[Alexa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know if it was because I read The Blue Blazes too long ago. Or maybe it was just because I wasn't in the right head space for this book. But I decided to read The Hellsblood Bride because I remembered how much gory, angry fun the first book was, and I like gory, angry fun, especially when I'm feeling cynical and mad at the world. Maybe I was wrong though, because something about this book fell really flat for me.

Mookie and Nora Pearl are slow moving boulders when it comes to character development. They are stubborn as all hell. They insist on being terrible, on making the worst, most selfish choices. It was more exhausting than I anticipated. Trapped in hell after Mookie uses the mysterious Ochre pigment to bring her back to life, Nora will do anything to walk on the surface again. She discovers an easy fix - marry a daemon, and they'll trade abilities to walk Above and Below. Naturally, there's a downside, and it happens to be the apocalyptic kind. I had an idea pretty early on about how this book was going to end, and combined with knowing that there is no third installment and there may never will be, I didn't feel a dire need to finish this book. The vibe of this book overall was pretty dark and pretty heavy, and it wasn't really what I was looking for right now. That said, the finale was cool, and I liked where Nora and Mookie ended up.

This book very much feels like a middle installment - it's got action, but overall it's more stagnant. The interesting stuff was supposed to happen next. I would love to see more of Nora's story, especially if her evolution continues. Hopefully, that book will happen someday.

[Andy Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is intense,rocket fast paced,viceral,brutal and a total blast from start to finish.Just shy of 300 pages means there's not a bit of fat on it.I doesn't stop,and i really mean that.No stopping to take in the scenery,no pause for thought. Just full on Mookie destroying everything in his path. Amazing stuff,and one of the best endings ever.

[Eileen Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2 gives the reader much of that same ride and tone as book 1, although the focus is on Mookie’s daughter Nora and her desperate need to get out of hell. Action packed, lots of blood, gore and humor. Fast-paced and well written. I really enjoy the writing style of this author, and would definitely buy the sequel to this installment.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I hope this isn't the end of these books. Both of these books are just great. The ending to this one, in particular, is amazing. I really hope wendig gives us more in this series because the first two simply amazing.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In book one, the ending managed to make the potentially enormous world feel really quite small. That was fixed here. The world feels vast and full of interesting stuff.

Half way through I was losing interest, but it ended really well.

[amyextradot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent follow up to The Blue Blazes. Um, that's all I want to say so I don't ruin it. But, further character development, new beasties, new mythology.

[Jean Giardina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot damn I love me some Mookie Pearl. Hell has never been so interesting.