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The Thunder & Shield Travelling Carnival #2
All Souls: A Supernatural Horror Novel
The Thunder & Shield Travelling Carnival is set up in New Orleans, Louisiana in October of 1956, with the hopes of bringing a little merriment to the storied city. Soon, the three men who make up the carnival's "charity division" are approached by a group of young folk who say their friend has been murdered and the police are ignoring the crime. The charity division; a fire-slinging magician, a gun-wielding strongman, and a mysterious, tattooed gypsy, along with their new ward, a young blind girl with burgeoning powers all her own, agree to investigate. They quickly find that there is more to the case than they could ever have imagined. A local voodoo queen offers her assistance and with this new and strange ally they are thrown into battle against two formidable enemies. It becomes apparent that if the charity division fails to stop the evil that is taking place in New Orleans, the young men who came to them for help will surely perish, and possibly many, many more.
403 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 14, 2015
About the author
Samuel Brower
47 books70 followersBestselling author Samuel Brower crafts haunting, immersive tales that blur the line between horror, dark fantasy, and the supernatural. His breakout novel, Haint, became an Amazon bestseller in 2024, cementing his reputation as a must-read voice in modern horror fiction. To date, Brower has published ten gripping novels and dozens of chilling short stories, with his work featured in renowned magazines like Voices, Nine Tales, and Zero Flash. A professional member of both the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, Brower brings a seasoned, masterful touch to every eerie world he creates.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 15, 2015
Im ready for the next adventure!
April 17, 2023
Flawed tale of magic and voodoo
This, the second Thunder & Shield novel, is beset with problems. Set in New Orleans in 1950, the carnival’s “charity” is sought by three Black teens, who believe that their friend was murdered by something inhuman.
This leads to the three main characters— the carnival strong man, the magician, and the young Romani man who’d been adopted as an infant by Atlas, the strong man— confronting both a voodoo Loa and the Ku Klux Klan.
While the Klan is self-explanatory, the voodoo aspects require more definition, which unfortunately they don’t get. In fact, pretty much the best explanation of voodoo and Loa comes on page 152, as follows:
“Heloise went on, explaining what the Loa were, how they interacted with people, and how they could be dangerous. She talked at length about Samedi in particular, telling stories about run-ins she—and those who’d taught her the craft—had had with the Loa.”
Unfortunately, we as readers aren’t given any explanation of what Loa are, how they interact with people, or how they could be dangerous. We don’t learn what she said at length about Baron Samedi, or what run-ins Heloise and her mentors may have had with the Loa.
Given that understanding Loa is essential to the story, the is a major plot hole.
There are other problems as well. The introduction of a Japanese character is interesting, but any issues related to his having joined the carnival just five years after WWII never come up. Toshi is also an expert in a Japanese marti
This, the second Thunder & Shield novel, is beset with problems. Set in New Orleans in 1950, the carnival’s “charity” is sought by three Black teens, who believe that their friend was murdered by something inhuman.
This leads to the three main characters— the carnival strong man, the magician, and the young Romani man who’d been adopted as an infant by Atlas, the strong man— confronting both a voodoo Loa and the Ku Klux Klan.
While the Klan is self-explanatory, the voodoo aspects require more definition, which unfortunately they don’t get. In fact, pretty much the best explanation of voodoo and Loa comes on page 152, as follows:
“Heloise went on, explaining what the Loa were, how they interacted with people, and how they could be dangerous. She talked at length about Samedi in particular, telling stories about run-ins she—and those who’d taught her the craft—had had with the Loa.”
Unfortunately, we as readers aren’t given any explanation of what Loa are, how they interact with people, or how they could be dangerous. We don’t learn what she said at length about Baron Samedi, or what run-ins Heloise and her mentors may have had with the Loa.
Given that understanding Loa is essential to the story, the is a major plot hole.
There are other problems as well. The introduction of a Japanese character is interesting, but any issues related to his having joined the carnival just five years after WWII never come up. Toshi is also an expert in a Japanese marti
February 22, 2026
Excellent Sequel, Worth The Read
After the first thunder and shield I was delighted to get into this book. The characters have continued to be interesting and fun to spend time with. The new characters were introduced well, the plot developed nicely and the action kept me turning pages when I should have been sleeping. I appreciated that the stakes were raised in some ways but the consequences for not defeating the villain weren’t the end of the world, that gets old fast. I think Brower has more plans for these characters which gave them some plot armor that required some suspension of disbelief but were ultimately easy to forgive. There were more grammar and spelling mistakes in this book that an editor should have caught; not the end of the world but I did find them. If there’s ever a beta reader group for his books I’m interested and want to help!
This was a fun read and I’m looking forward to book three.
After the first thunder and shield I was delighted to get into this book. The characters have continued to be interesting and fun to spend time with. The new characters were introduced well, the plot developed nicely and the action kept me turning pages when I should have been sleeping. I appreciated that the stakes were raised in some ways but the consequences for not defeating the villain weren’t the end of the world, that gets old fast. I think Brower has more plans for these characters which gave them some plot armor that required some suspension of disbelief but were ultimately easy to forgive. There were more grammar and spelling mistakes in this book that an editor should have caught; not the end of the world but I did find them. If there’s ever a beta reader group for his books I’m interested and want to help!
This was a fun read and I’m looking forward to book three.
October 5, 2025
(4.0 Stars)
This was my favorite Brower book so far, and I really liked it a lot.
The characters were all very well done, the story was well paced, interesting, and vivid.
I did read the audible audiobook narrated by Virtual Voice. I am not a fan, but this was one of the better ones.
This book would be good for Young Adult and up. Anyone who liked paranormal stories should enjoy this.
This was my favorite Brower book so far, and I really liked it a lot.
The characters were all very well done, the story was well paced, interesting, and vivid.
I did read the audible audiobook narrated by Virtual Voice. I am not a fan, but this was one of the better ones.
This book would be good for Young Adult and up. Anyone who liked paranormal stories should enjoy this.
September 5, 2025
much better than I expected from the description
I like this author, but when I read the description of this series I wanted to skip it. Sounded too silly. Now I hope there are a lot more in this series. Just try it. If you like good writing, characters, really interesting plots and a good mix of action with some well handled supernatural elements, I recommend these.
I like this author, but when I read the description of this series I wanted to skip it. Sounded too silly. Now I hope there are a lot more in this series. Just try it. If you like good writing, characters, really interesting plots and a good mix of action with some well handled supernatural elements, I recommend these.
March 11, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. I liked catching up with our rag-tag group of carnival works, this time with some new characters. In this book our protagonists face off against the KKK and Baron Samedi makes an appearance. This was a quick and fun read just like the rest of Browers’ books.
August 13, 2025
This is the best book I've read this year! I fell in love with the characters in the first novel but this book took it to a whole new level. I also love the setting as I am from New Orleans and it was just fast paced and so fun.
October 14, 2016
AMAZING!
Please please please let there be another book.
This series is brilliant
Please please please let there be another book.
This series is brilliant
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews