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Shadow Saga #6
The Graves of Saints
For centuries, Vatican sorcerers kept demons and monsters out of our world with the magic found in a grimoire called The Gospel of Shadows. Years ago, to save his people from madmen, Peter Octavian defeated those sorcerers and the Gospel of Shadows itself was banished from the Earth. Ever since, the evils and monstrosities lurking in parallel worlds have been waking to the realization that our magical defences are down - the barriers keeping them out of our world are crumbling.
With massive demonic incursions in locations around the world, Octavian should be focused on using his own sorcery to drive the evil out and rebuild our defences. But a renegade vampire named Cortez has murdered the person Octavian loves the most and, even with his friends and allies around him, he is so lost in grief that he can think of nothing but revenge. There are others who can fight the darkness - mages and Shadows, witches and Reapers and vampire samurai - but only the warrior-mage, Peter Octavian, can defeat it. If he will answer the call.
With massive demonic incursions in locations around the world, Octavian should be focused on using his own sorcery to drive the evil out and rebuild our defences. But a renegade vampire named Cortez has murdered the person Octavian loves the most and, even with his friends and allies around him, he is so lost in grief that he can think of nothing but revenge. There are others who can fight the darkness - mages and Shadows, witches and Reapers and vampire samurai - but only the warrior-mage, Peter Octavian, can defeat it. If he will answer the call.
410 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2013
About the author
Christopher Golden
762 books3,061 followersCHRISTOPHER GOLDEN has been called “the king of the horror-thriller.” The New York Times bestselling, multi-award-winning storyteller has made his mark in many mediums, as a writer of novels, screenplays, animation, audio dramas, and comics, and as an editor of landmark horror anthologies. His work has been published in dozens of languages around the world. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Audie Award, he has been nominated for others, including the British Fantasy Award. His best-known novels include Road of Bones, The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, and his latest, Carry Me to My Grave. He lives in Massachusetts, where he watches too many movies and eats too much chocolate.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 24, 2018
Caveat: I'm rating this on pure, bloody-minded awe at the epic action. Golden writes great comics, too, and one especially grand Hellboy, not to mention X-men, but long before I read him in those, this series was synonymous with OMG THIS IS AMAZING, with unlimited special effects included.
Does it match the original Final Battle between the forces of the Mages in the Vatican VS the unbound Vampires who were enslaved by the Catholic Church in the distant past? Uh, maybe? I mean, we're opening up the sites of saints in the catacombs of the most famous churches to gateways to hell and hoards pouring out of them. Peter, a vampire turned human and becoming an OVERPOWERED mage thanks to his 1000 years trapped and tortured in hell, stands between massive multiple incursions into our world. Not just hell, but all kinds of nasty pantheons and multiple dimensional nasties who now see the Earth as fresh meat. :) The corrupt and evil Vatican powers HAD been the last bulwark against that, but after they brought demons to rampage across the Earth to fight the vampires, their cred was blown. :)
And now? This is a ramped-up mop-up action with coalitions and mages of both infernal land Gaia magic doing all they can to stem the tide of hungry monsters.
This is NOT your average UF. This is a UF on speed and PCP and cocaine with a budget of a billion and a half dollars, adding truly horrific and nasty elements in upon the ultimate heroism and tragedies playing out all over the place.
Can I say wow?
Now the bad bits. The good bits WAY OUTWEIGH the bad. But the bad is the neverending dead girls, the slightly one-dimensional portrayals lost in the huge and delightful action, and the use of the dead girls to pull off more Refrigerator scenes. They work, and I was affected by this one, but damn... in that respect, it's just like a comic, too. And in a bad way.
That being said, I'm still IN LOVE with this series. :)
Does it match the original Final Battle between the forces of the Mages in the Vatican VS the unbound Vampires who were enslaved by the Catholic Church in the distant past? Uh, maybe? I mean, we're opening up the sites of saints in the catacombs of the most famous churches to gateways to hell and hoards pouring out of them. Peter, a vampire turned human and becoming an OVERPOWERED mage thanks to his 1000 years trapped and tortured in hell, stands between massive multiple incursions into our world. Not just hell, but all kinds of nasty pantheons and multiple dimensional nasties who now see the Earth as fresh meat. :) The corrupt and evil Vatican powers HAD been the last bulwark against that, but after they brought demons to rampage across the Earth to fight the vampires, their cred was blown. :)
And now? This is a ramped-up mop-up action with coalitions and mages of both infernal land Gaia magic doing all they can to stem the tide of hungry monsters.
This is NOT your average UF. This is a UF on speed and PCP and cocaine with a budget of a billion and a half dollars, adding truly horrific and nasty elements in upon the ultimate heroism and tragedies playing out all over the place.
Can I say wow?
Now the bad bits. The good bits WAY OUTWEIGH the bad. But the bad is the neverending dead girls, the slightly one-dimensional portrayals lost in the huge and delightful action, and the use of the dead girls to pull off more Refrigerator scenes. They work, and I was affected by this one, but damn... in that respect, it's just like a comic, too. And in a bad way.
That being said, I'm still IN LOVE with this series. :)
May 22, 2013
Rating books 2-6 of the Peter Octavian series. Sort of like watching the television series "24." Action never stops and there is always another cataclysmic event on the horizon that can only be conquered by Octavian's unique set of skills. Exhausting!
April 16, 2013
Now that's how it's done! Mr. Golden is back in the saddle and riding tall! I wasn't overly enthused about the last Octavian book, but this is the real stuff. It's time once again for Octavian to rise up and save the world and Mr. Golden does a very good job of selling it to the reader. This one had all the excitement of an epic comic, say Crisis on Infinite Earths, although no weeping Superman. I can't wait for the next installment.
May 15, 2017
One of the great vamp series ever written. Super creative
August 11, 2021
Love what is happening with Keomany. Each book has such a good cliffhanger that I immediately read the next one. This cliffhanger was even better!
July 28, 2025
3.75/5
A solidly entertaining buildup to the series' final novel.
A solidly entertaining buildup to the series' final novel.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews