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Vigor Mortis #2
Vigor Mortis: Volume 2
As Vita's humanity slowly drips away, monsters fallen from an island above spread throughout her home. While she fights fellow horrors outside the city's walls, her family suffers threats from within them. Yet surely, there's no problem enough power can't solve... and if there's one thing eating souls is good for, it's power.
Experience the adventure of this fantasy novel by Natalie "Thundamoo" Maher, uncovering the secrets of a massive world of floating islands and the dangerous entity known as the Mistwatcher that rests beneath them. Vigor Mortis pairs adorable charm with deadly seriousness, an incongruous mix that pushes triumphantly forward despite the horror bearing down on all sides.
Experience the adventure of this fantasy novel by Natalie "Thundamoo" Maher, uncovering the secrets of a massive world of floating islands and the dangerous entity known as the Mistwatcher that rests beneath them. Vigor Mortis pairs adorable charm with deadly seriousness, an incongruous mix that pushes triumphantly forward despite the horror bearing down on all sides.
707 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 2, 2021
52 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 2, 2021
Seriously messed up
From children getting killed, people beig eaten alive, healed and then eaten again and again, someone forced to watch his wife being eaten alive and then being eatten himself, to glee and enjoyment at seeing a magically created pestilence painfully and slowly killing people, this book is seriously depressing and messed up. Combined with a shitty ending it's everything the former book wasn't and definitely not worth it.
From children getting killed, people beig eaten alive, healed and then eaten again and again, someone forced to watch his wife being eaten alive and then being eatten himself, to glee and enjoyment at seeing a magically created pestilence painfully and slowly killing people, this book is seriously depressing and messed up. Combined with a shitty ending it's everything the former book wasn't and definitely not worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 25, 2022
I think I need some "feels" to reset my enjoyment meter.
This is even more depressing than book one.
Ugh. The one thing I disliked about this series is the POV split between the new sentient monsters that wants to live (by eating / controlling humans), and the protagonist that fights it's urges to live (by eating / controlling humans).
The monster POVS are getting longer and a slog to read. I'm not interested it in the slightest.
This whole series is messed up, and I'll pick up the sequel in the future.
3/5 Stars
This is even more depressing than book one.
Ugh. The one thing I disliked about this series is the POV split between the new sentient monsters that wants to live (by eating / controlling humans), and the protagonist that fights it's urges to live (by eating / controlling humans).
The monster POVS are getting longer and a slog to read. I'm not interested it in the slightest.
This whole series is messed up, and I'll pick up the sequel in the future.
3/5 Stars
January 15, 2022
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but couldn't get through the first two chapters of this one. While the first book had dark moments, the two first chapters of this book went into full depressing gruesome horror mode. If you can stomach people getting slowly eaten alive and going insane then you might find the book entertaining. If not, this book might not be for you.
December 8, 2021
I love these little monsters.
First off: I can't really recommend this to anyone in particular. If you're on the fence, download the sample of the first book(or just buy it, costs less than a Big Mac) and see if it strikes your fancy.
Now, personally, I quite love stories where the main character can use Necromancy, which is what drew me into the series. It is relatively light on it so far, no Sun Jin-Woo here, but the overall application of "animancy" has been rather entertaining.
The characters we get a first person perspective from are all, with like one exception, morally twisted in one way or another. And all of them want and strive to be better than their urges: A soul devouring monster who fights for people she cares about, a sadistic mad scientist who wants to help starving orphans, a literal flesh eating demon looking for forgiveness, etc. It's an interesting cast.
Really the only thing that stops this from getting a full 5 stars from me is that I found Lark's story the least interesting of the three mains. Which isn't saying much, because it was still very good and had serious emotional impact. I just wanted more Vita development faster.
Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next book.
First off: I can't really recommend this to anyone in particular. If you're on the fence, download the sample of the first book(or just buy it, costs less than a Big Mac) and see if it strikes your fancy.
Now, personally, I quite love stories where the main character can use Necromancy, which is what drew me into the series. It is relatively light on it so far, no Sun Jin-Woo here, but the overall application of "animancy" has been rather entertaining.
The characters we get a first person perspective from are all, with like one exception, morally twisted in one way or another. And all of them want and strive to be better than their urges: A soul devouring monster who fights for people she cares about, a sadistic mad scientist who wants to help starving orphans, a literal flesh eating demon looking for forgiveness, etc. It's an interesting cast.
Really the only thing that stops this from getting a full 5 stars from me is that I found Lark's story the least interesting of the three mains. Which isn't saying much, because it was still very good and had serious emotional impact. I just wanted more Vita development faster.
Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next book.
June 23, 2023
Well, that was a disappointment.
So we continue from the next book, with Vita developing into a new monstrosity that wants to keep being human and getting shit on by the universe for it. We have a new character, Lark, who starts as this horrifying monster and we see, little by little, how she gains humanity and how much this makes her suffer.
There is also the rest of the cast, who honestly don't matter. And that's the book. 90% don't matter, not because they are not important to the plot, but because they have the charisma and emotional weight of a name in a spreadsheet.
So, the main problem: the book doesn't know how to develop its plot. And what I mean is that it continuously jumps from scene to scene with the manic speed of a man on fire jumping to a lake and even if it's 700 pages long, nothing its indeed done as an emotional climax. Yes, you could say that it's because they are sociopathic or that they are restraining their grief, but after losing so much that the next chapter is snark to a mob boss, and then the musings of a girl crushing and all other bullshit. One of the most important characters in the last book dies in a terrible, heartbreaking situation and I couldn't give any less of a fuck, and by Vita's justification and subsequent reaction, neither did she.
The cast have the same value as a love interest or enemy in a mediocre Xian xia novel
They don't connect. It reads like several books or vignettes compiled together and jumping and jumping to get no resolution beyond some "I feel bad" monologue or "I'm going to change" its not worth the read.
It's a frustrating book. It tries the tragedy, the desolation and the evolution of monstrosity and morality, and maybe, MAYBE if I hadn't read the Locked Tomb series, I could have enjoyed it more. But I kind of doubt it. But all I feel about these characters and their arcs and their deaths is a sense of "eh".
Man, this is Centaurworld season 2 all over again.
So we continue from the next book, with Vita developing into a new monstrosity that wants to keep being human and getting shit on by the universe for it. We have a new character, Lark, who starts as this horrifying monster and we see, little by little, how she gains humanity and how much this makes her suffer.
There is also the rest of the cast, who honestly don't matter. And that's the book. 90% don't matter, not because they are not important to the plot, but because they have the charisma and emotional weight of a name in a spreadsheet.
So, the main problem: the book doesn't know how to develop its plot. And what I mean is that it continuously jumps from scene to scene with the manic speed of a man on fire jumping to a lake and even if it's 700 pages long, nothing its indeed done as an emotional climax. Yes, you could say that it's because they are sociopathic or that they are restraining their grief, but after losing so much that the next chapter is snark to a mob boss, and then the musings of a girl crushing and all other bullshit. One of the most important characters in the last book dies in a terrible, heartbreaking situation and I couldn't give any less of a fuck, and by Vita's justification and subsequent reaction, neither did she.
The cast have the same value as a love interest or enemy in a mediocre Xian xia novel
They don't connect. It reads like several books or vignettes compiled together and jumping and jumping to get no resolution beyond some "I feel bad" monologue or "I'm going to change" its not worth the read.
It's a frustrating book. It tries the tragedy, the desolation and the evolution of monstrosity and morality, and maybe, MAYBE if I hadn't read the Locked Tomb series, I could have enjoyed it more. But I kind of doubt it. But all I feel about these characters and their arcs and their deaths is a sense of "eh".
Man, this is Centaurworld season 2 all over again.
June 10, 2024
I really want to give this 1 star but I can't. There's just enough good stuff to warrant 2. In the nature of fairness, here's what I liked:
- Multiple 1st-person POV characters who all have very distinct narrative voices
- A deep, flexible magic system that I want to learn more about
- A unique world unlike anything I've seen in other fantasy
- Well-written and intense action scenes
But the real reason this book sucks can be summed up in a single sentence: Protagonist-centered morality.
It's unfortunate that I already committed to finishing this series. Fuck.
- Multiple 1st-person POV characters who all have very distinct narrative voices
- A deep, flexible magic system that I want to learn more about
- A unique world unlike anything I've seen in other fantasy
- Well-written and intense action scenes
But the real reason this book sucks can be summed up in a single sentence: Protagonist-centered morality.
It's unfortunate that I already committed to finishing this series. Fuck.
January 16, 2023
The more I read from this author the more I like her. All of the characters, both major and minor, feel fully fleshed out and distinct from one another. She plays around with switching up the POV characters, introducing Lark whose character arc is just an *amazing* counterpoint to the main character's arc. While Vita started off human and descends further and further into inhumanity, Lark literally starts out as a monster and, as the book goes on, learns how to be human.
Again the worldbuilding is top notch. The more we learn about the world and how it works, the more utterly bizarre it becomes. I love the fact that the world is comprised of these giant floating islands that slowly rotate above an eldritch god called the Mistwatcher, which is the center of the world's religion. I mean, it's hard to argue the existence of God when you can just peer off the edge of your island and look it in it's many, many eyes.
I also give the author the biggest kudos I can give for smartly handling a budding relationship where Vita is touch adverse and sex repulsed. They sit down and actually *talk* about it, and try to feel out what kind of boundaries Vita might have when it comes to physical intimacy. They start slow with her partner just sitting next to her and leaning against her, touching shoulders. Then holding hands. Arm around the shoulders. You get the idea. They find out where the line is and then her partner respects that from thereon.
All in all, I'm really enjoying these books, and will read the third as soon as I'm done with this one. The eating fetish is still there, though. Which is.... fine? Like... it's not my thing but it's clearly the author's and she doesn't go over the top with it. I should give some CW here for body horror, gore, the aforementioned eating thing, and mild mind control. Five stars.
Again the worldbuilding is top notch. The more we learn about the world and how it works, the more utterly bizarre it becomes. I love the fact that the world is comprised of these giant floating islands that slowly rotate above an eldritch god called the Mistwatcher, which is the center of the world's religion. I mean, it's hard to argue the existence of God when you can just peer off the edge of your island and look it in it's many, many eyes.
I also give the author the biggest kudos I can give for smartly handling a budding relationship where Vita is touch adverse and sex repulsed. They sit down and actually *talk* about it, and try to feel out what kind of boundaries Vita might have when it comes to physical intimacy. They start slow with her partner just sitting next to her and leaning against her, touching shoulders. Then holding hands. Arm around the shoulders. You get the idea. They find out where the line is and then her partner respects that from thereon.
All in all, I'm really enjoying these books, and will read the third as soon as I'm done with this one. The eating fetish is still there, though. Which is.... fine? Like... it's not my thing but it's clearly the author's and she doesn't go over the top with it. I should give some CW here for body horror, gore, the aforementioned eating thing, and mild mind control. Five stars.
December 30, 2023
The opening scene had me wondering if I'd started the wrong book accidentally. I wasn't prepared for a new first-person POV and enough was similar to Vita to make me wonder if I'd missed something serious. When we do get Vita back, and start a regular trade-off between Vita and the new POV, it became a lot easier to follow. Still tough sometimes on audio, kept me on my toes, but I didn't feel like I was going crazy anymore.
Wow, there's a lot of character development in this book, and a lot is very queasy, as befits the genre. A lot of deep thinking on identity, and on what makes a monster. The story went places I wasn't expecting (and was rather hoping wouldn't) and while at times the emotional impact wasn't quite deep enough--that was also part of the conversation. Very curious to see where things go from here.
Wow, there's a lot of character development in this book, and a lot is very queasy, as befits the genre. A lot of deep thinking on identity, and on what makes a monster. The story went places I wasn't expecting (and was rather hoping wouldn't) and while at times the emotional impact wasn't quite deep enough--that was also part of the conversation. Very curious to see where things go from here.
October 24, 2024
After book 1 had a huge arc about humanising a monster I don't really see why we had to have the same again. Vita descends further from humanity and becomes so anti-social that it is nearly impossible to empathise with her. It also felt like there was one anti-climactic ending followed by nothing much for ages.
The plot moves quite slowly too and there are PoV chapters that I think we could have easily done without. The world-building improves on the previous novel at least. Vita's plot armour becomes bulletproof though.
The narration was fine but there were some voice changes since book 1. Galdra goes from sounding ancient to sounding 20.
If you liked book 1, this is probably worth reading. I skimmed through 3&4 on Royal Road and wouldn't say they're anything special.
The plot moves quite slowly too and there are PoV chapters that I think we could have easily done without. The world-building improves on the previous novel at least. Vita's plot armour becomes bulletproof though.
The narration was fine but there were some voice changes since book 1. Galdra goes from sounding ancient to sounding 20.
If you liked book 1, this is probably worth reading. I skimmed through 3&4 on Royal Road and wouldn't say they're anything special.
December 7, 2021
There's a bit more of body horror in this one. On the one hand I appreciate some of the explorations of what it means to be human or souls matching outward appearances. On the other hand, I struggled with the Lark chapters. Not that they were bad - they were as well-written as anything else, but some of them were rough.
And the end, with back-to-back non-Vita chapters, is a bit of a cliff hanger. Book 3 is still just started on Royal Road, so I'm going to pause with this here, and come back to the story later. There are enough parts that I do like and find interesting that I think it's worthwhile to keep reading more of the story.
And the end, with back-to-back non-Vita chapters, is a bit of a cliff hanger. Book 3 is still just started on Royal Road, so I'm going to pause with this here, and come back to the story later. There are enough parts that I do like and find interesting that I think it's worthwhile to keep reading more of the story.
August 1, 2022
Strange book, it mostly more lighthearted existential dread. But the theme of this book appears to by psychopathy, with one psychopathic monster learning empathy and two others learning to fake it, and discussing how to be good people anyway.
It is much harder to get through than the first book, I like many other reviewers, didn't especially like or empathize with the sentient monster that learns empathy, though I guess that is the point, since it ended up a better person than the main protagonists. Who gets increasingly fucked up.
It is much harder to get through than the first book, I like many other reviewers, didn't especially like or empathize with the sentient monster that learns empathy, though I guess that is the point, since it ended up a better person than the main protagonists. Who gets increasingly fucked up.
September 19, 2024
Pay attention to the content warnings on this. They're serious, and if you're upset after continuing past them, that's not the author's fault.
Self-publishing giveth and it taketh away. The author has SO MANY ideas and the world building is fun, but also it becomes a slog to read due to the MANY ideas. A good editor could have been a profound help.
I can see the further arc of the story, I think, so stopping here. Not because I'm uninterested in the story, but it reminds of Robert Jordan in the way that I just don't have that level of patience, sorry.
Self-publishing giveth and it taketh away. The author has SO MANY ideas and the world building is fun, but also it becomes a slog to read due to the MANY ideas. A good editor could have been a profound help.
I can see the further arc of the story, I think, so stopping here. Not because I'm uninterested in the story, but it reminds of Robert Jordan in the way that I just don't have that level of patience, sorry.
April 10, 2023
Vita slowly discovers who and what she is, struggling to carve a place for herself and do what she thinks is right while struggling to understand others and even how she relates to her own body. She meets monsters in the guise of people and people in the guise of monsters, all deeply intertwined in the great lies of the world.
December 27, 2023
Jumped right into this, after finishing the first one... picked up on a different sale...
I struggled with the first chunk of the book, and the new characters, but the story grew on me over time, and was really good by the end...
Only reason I paused on this series, was in hopes of an announcement of the final volume in the series coming to audio...
I struggled with the first chunk of the book, and the new characters, but the story grew on me over time, and was really good by the end...
Only reason I paused on this series, was in hopes of an announcement of the final volume in the series coming to audio...
April 7, 2024
starts out as a simple magic fantasy world but quickly becomes much more - the 4 book series can be the biography of the birth of a god
December 19, 2025
The book felt like two different books in one. The first explores what it means to be a “monster.” Absolutely brutal first half at times. Major torture and trauma warning.
Second half was almost jarring switch. Exploring relationships, building plans for the future, etc. Big twists though.
Loved the epilogue that looked back in on the antagonist from the first half though.
Second half was almost jarring switch. Exploring relationships, building plans for the future, etc. Big twists though.
Loved the epilogue that looked back in on the antagonist from the first half though.
July 16, 2022
Still lots of fun, though I worry about the psychology of the main character....and some of the other characters. Like....whoa, this is going way too far!
Still, a pretty good read that I've enjoyed quite a bit :)
Still, a pretty good read that I've enjoyed quite a bit :)
January 10, 2022
I truly love these books and I want ten more.
January 13, 2022
Hope there will be a 3rd book. I need to know more.
April 15, 2022
A lot heavier and darker at times than the first book, but they ramp up the transness, so it balances out.
September 15, 2022
What the fuck
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2023
The second book I liked even more than the first which rarely happens. This book keep me interested and enthralled the entire time.
November 19, 2024
Continuing to recommend, but there are some themes developing that are unhealthy.
December 9, 2024
this author thinks shock therapy makes for a good book
August 24, 2024
Update: I read it a second time and still loved it
Soooo much happened in this book! I enjoyed this even more than book 1. Yes there was WAY more gore/horror but dang it was written so well! Every character is a psychopath and I love them all. The first half has the same humor as book 1, but the second half does get more serious/scary.
Soooo much happened in this book! I enjoyed this even more than book 1. Yes there was WAY more gore/horror but dang it was written so well! Every character is a psychopath and I love them all. The first half has the same humor as book 1, but the second half does get more serious/scary.
September 13, 2025
Better and worse than book 1
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews