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Lark Case Files #3
Ghost City
Lark messed with the Devil and paid the price.
Exiled from The City, he’s wandering the land looking for safe haven. Without allies, friends, his old places of power, that seems real unlikely.
So when he notices someone using his own personal sorcerous symbols, he can’t leave it be.
Is someone looking for him? Or luring him into a trap? Or just stealing his best moves? Any which way, it’s nothing he can leave be.
Now he’s in a small town, somewhere he’s never been before. But Crosscut is dying. Everyone is sick, nothing is well. Even the ghosts are feverish.
And Lark is right where someone wants him. He’s made enemies his entire life, but the one who hates him most of all, he never even met.
Lonely, desperate, Lark will have to face off with a magician who knows him well.
A magician who hates him like poison.
And something else, hidden down in the black earth, waiting.
Lark’s never been this vulnerable. Which means he’s never been this desperate.
Alone in a Ghost City.
Exiled from The City, he’s wandering the land looking for safe haven. Without allies, friends, his old places of power, that seems real unlikely.
So when he notices someone using his own personal sorcerous symbols, he can’t leave it be.
Is someone looking for him? Or luring him into a trap? Or just stealing his best moves? Any which way, it’s nothing he can leave be.
Now he’s in a small town, somewhere he’s never been before. But Crosscut is dying. Everyone is sick, nothing is well. Even the ghosts are feverish.
And Lark is right where someone wants him. He’s made enemies his entire life, but the one who hates him most of all, he never even met.
Lonely, desperate, Lark will have to face off with a magician who knows him well.
A magician who hates him like poison.
And something else, hidden down in the black earth, waiting.
Lark’s never been this vulnerable. Which means he’s never been this desperate.
Alone in a Ghost City.
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2016
4 people want to read
About the author
Christian Read
37 books14 followersI'm Christian Read.
I've written a few novels, a few comics and a few video games.
I enjoy whisky.
I've written a few novels, a few comics and a few video games.
I enjoy whisky.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 22, 2019
"All of this rural shit is getting to me... Thinking like a crazy wizard on the edge of town and that ain't me."
Magic demands sacrifice. The chain-smoking, Tradition-hacking protagonist of the Lark Case Files (of which this is Book Three) has sacrificed a lot already. From being a prisoner in his home city, he has become an exile, roaming the world in search of a sign. Ghost City begins when he finds it. The narrative concerns what he has left to give and why he'd even consider doing so.
Haunted country town? Check. Something ghastly lurking in the woods? Oh yes. Layer upon layer of traps and misdirection? Read's signature blend of occult ingenuity and extreme violence? In spades, and all in Lark's delightfully caustic voice. Having said which, this is not the tightest of the series. Lark is alone for a good part of the proceedings and even once Bettina, his undead bodyguard (and one of the best continuing characters), turns up, guilt keeps him going round in circles.
Nonetheless, the story unfolds in a pleasingly inexorable way. Secrets are exposed. Things get nasty. It's not giving anything away, especially to readers of the first two books, to say that this damaged man will never be the magus this "city" wants. Which is exactly what a book like this needs. A (paradoxically) lively read with twists I did not see coming.
Magic demands sacrifice. The chain-smoking, Tradition-hacking protagonist of the Lark Case Files (of which this is Book Three) has sacrificed a lot already. From being a prisoner in his home city, he has become an exile, roaming the world in search of a sign. Ghost City begins when he finds it. The narrative concerns what he has left to give and why he'd even consider doing so.
Haunted country town? Check. Something ghastly lurking in the woods? Oh yes. Layer upon layer of traps and misdirection? Read's signature blend of occult ingenuity and extreme violence? In spades, and all in Lark's delightfully caustic voice. Having said which, this is not the tightest of the series. Lark is alone for a good part of the proceedings and even once Bettina, his undead bodyguard (and one of the best continuing characters), turns up, guilt keeps him going round in circles.
Nonetheless, the story unfolds in a pleasingly inexorable way. Secrets are exposed. Things get nasty. It's not giving anything away, especially to readers of the first two books, to say that this damaged man will never be the magus this "city" wants. Which is exactly what a book like this needs. A (paradoxically) lively read with twists I did not see coming.
August 28, 2016
Probably my least favourite of the Lark novels to date but still a great read. Great broken protagonist and always a strong sense of the looming darkness. Never predictable, always interesting.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews