Vigor Mortis: Volume 3

Vigor Mortis #3

by Natalie Maher, Thundamoo

Two years have passed since Vita was arrested by the Inquisition, and her time in prison has not been kind to her. As Penelope Vesuvius plots a grand breakout while currying favor with the government, the monstrous Lark joins the Church in search of redemption. A conflict between the most powerful forces in Valka is set to simmer, and it's only a matter of time before it boils over...

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Lesbian, Fiction, Magic, Science Fiction, Dark

817 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 8, 2022

Reviews

[James Tullos · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know what I love? When the protagonist of a story is blatantly hypocritical, murders literally countless people, and is only ever rewarded for being an awful person. It's even better when she's able to convince people to give up on all their beliefs just by asking them to.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oof. This was a tough one to get through, not in the least of which is the book is over 800 fucking pages long. That's, like, three decent sized novels in and of themselves. The other is that as Vita progresses to her monsterhood, she becomes less likable as a character. Fortunately, she isn't the only PoV character in the book. Lark, the monster who's turned into a person, and an *excellent* counterpoint to Vita's journey is *very* likeable and a joy to read about. We also get PoV chapters about Vita's girlfriend, Penelopy, who is a fascinating character, and a new character who adds an extra dose of humanity and sympathy to help balance out the characters.

I would probably be more upset about Vita's descent into evilness, if it wasn't for the fact that the book is *very* aware of what's going on, and doesn't shy away from pointing out that, yeah, that ain't normal. The book knows what it's doing every step of the way, and there's a lot of smart writing here. Which is good, because if there wasn't I don't think I would have been able to make it through all 800 fucking pages, which makes it a little frustrating when, at the end, Vita ends up mostly in the exact same spot as she started in the book.

There *are* a couple of issues I have with the book, though. First and foremost is the mind rape. Some characters have the ability to edit people's souls, which is able to change their personalities, and some of our PoV characters go through this editing process and you get to see firsthand how sinister this is. It's kind of rough to read, and could easily be triggering for people because this is the ultimate gaslighting. One of the PoV characters go through this process so violently, that her soul is left literally a shell of itself. So CW of this kind of thing is a trigger for you.

Secondly there is the issue of slavery. We know there are slaves from the first two books, but as they were presented, it was more indentured servitude where the poors sell themselves to nobles to become house servants and stuff like that. Not egregious levels of slavery and not something entirely unheard of in midieval and earlier times. I'm not saying this is good. Just that there are levels of bad. But in *this* book you learn that slaves are used as agricultural labor and.... this is all presented in kind of a dismissive offhanded way, which I have a problem with. If you're going to have slavery in your books, you should at least make an attempt to address how it's a bad thing, even if in the setting everybody accepts it as the status quo. Failure to do so is a tacit implication that the author isn't *too* bothered by it.

That being said, I still highly recommend this book. I'm really enjoying the series and can't wait to see where things go from here. Four stars.

[Nirkatze · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this entry is where the story really gains momentum and cohesion in one. It starts with an introduction to a brand-new POV and it took me to get my bearings on where everything fit together, especially with the two-year time jump. But once we'd cycled through each of the POVs, the bigger picture of the story started to come together... and then took a lot of twists and turns I could never have imagined.

It's so interesting how each of the main characters and POVs, especially Vita, Lark, and Jelisaveta, have such similar powers but that they each manifest in different ways, and with different areas of body-horror. I never thought of the potential horror in excessive sensitivity before reading Jelisaveta's POV. I'm also starting to recognize the subtle psychological exploration in having multiple POVs that are all first-person. Each time we change POVs it takes focus and clue-hunting to figure out who each narrator is... which mirrors the identity crises that several of the characters go through as they metamorphize. Really looking forward to seeing how this story wraps up.

[Timelord Iain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was so great to get back to this series after a break (waiting for an official release date of audiobook #4)... Thundamoo is such a unique author, and I love everything they're doing... every story seems to involve characters physically transforming and evolving in some way, and coming to terms with that...

Recently started Bioshifter: Volume 1, which has 4D Hyperspiders :D

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is really messed up. People turning into monsters, then those monsters turning people into more monsters who like it. All while monsters try to turn into people. This is a philosopher's / psychologist's wet dream fantasy.

I didn't enjoy this much, as I'm not a philosophical implications kind of fellow. About halfway through I was thinking about my next book I would read. I think the author made this too long.

3/5 Stars

[Maou Kurosai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vita continually has reinforced the same regretful lesson: no good deed goes unpunished. Despite her flaws, she genuinely wants to help others and be left alone in turn, but the workings of the world ceaselessly pit her against foes she doesn't even want to fight anymore. She tires of it all, but to not fight would mean the assured death of her and her family. The hypocrisy is on full display as even other monsters are recruited for the sole purpose of her death.

[James Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is startlingly okay with very few limits in the pursuit of the “what is a monster” question. Torture, mind control, slavery, gender swap, Stockholm syndrome, eating people, etc. Dark, but weirdly loveable at times too? Such an odd series.

We start out in prison, release an existential threat, and then proceed to forget about that threat as people wanna kill our MC instead of the big bad. It makes for a bit of a filler book, but not the worst.

[Nicholas Carnevalino · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 the first 2 books deal with veta's powers and learning how powerful she is without hurting the ones she loves , third book is all about her coming to terms with who and what she is and the 4th book is all about her becoming a god.

[John Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the new character the new character that was added. Book 2 very much had a bummer ending. But it certainly set up a good follow-up. This book also ended a bit uncertainly, but in a different way. Overall, I'm continuing to really enjoy the series, largely due to how much I enjoy the main characters, and all of their perspectives.

[Edward Swalwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Come for the fantastic world budling and interesting character studies.

Stay for the moral philosophy and metaphysical discussion!

[Kinsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked book 2 a little bit more. There isn’t as much humor in this one and there’s a lot of character’s pov to keep track of. But I definitely will continue the series

[Topher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing story of vita - starting off with her in prison

[Andrew Wentzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am concerned about Natalie Maher's mental health.

[Zebulon Griggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Action and story development are still very good. The characters are not. I'm finding it difficult to relate to or understand the logic of the universal misandry amongst the named characters.

[Pallavi · Rating 1 out of 5]

this author takes the present continuous 'ing' in worldbuilding too seriously - when will this end?

[Kingsley Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story 5 stars

Pacing.... 1 star

Damn this was a drag to get through

[ironat]

What is the relationship between a person’s soul, memories, body, and mind? How fucked is it to alter any of the 4? Willing and unwillingly, by others and by self?

“Principle is a superior master to man”

“We do not get the option of remaining the same person our entire life”

Vita and Penelope together is incredibly enjoyable. Dialogues keep making me smile.

All in all, hidden masterpiece.

Ok this series quite fucked, but it’s fucking great.







(Lark arc got boring by comparison. It’s also a little disappointing Vita isn’t OP or slaughters everyone. Religion is rather accurately portrayed (as frustrating as irl), so is “mind” control aspects)

[Joseph Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that's certainly a story

This is the third book in the series. You should know if you want to read it or not. I'll just say if you liked the previous books you'll want to read this one

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think ur god has autism