Sean Stone’s Cursed: A Cedarstone Novel is set in the quiet British town of Cedarstone. As far as the rest of the country, and most of its inhabitants, are concerned, Cedarstone is an utterly normal town. However, within Cedarstone’s boundaries, ancient groups of sorcerers, vampires, werewolves, and humans covertly vie for place, and a thirty-year curse set on Cedarstone’s once-thriving coven is about to precipitate the return of an immortal. The question of whether the cure is worse than the disease may well be about to be answered.
Cursed is told primarily from the point of view of the leader of Cedarstone’s failing coven. Arthur is riddled with self-doubt, and his desperation to save his coven is portrayed as the root of many of his decisions, most especially the decision to bring back the legendary Nickolas Blackstone. While the book has a sound plot, I did find that between grammar, spelling and sentence structure, the writing got in the way of the story at intervals. In addition, the characters, especially Arthur, felt a little two-dimensional, with predictable reactions. However, there is a satisfying level of complexity to the inter-racial relations and the background of the plot that goes a long way towards making this book a worthwhile read.