Customer Reviews

Deadtown (A Deadtown Novel)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First the pros:
- I really enjoyed our heroine, Vicky. She was powerful, funny, smart and kicked all kinds of tail. Not quite as awesome as my current favorite, Kate Daniels, but I would say that she's not too far off.
- The plot was interesting, moved quickly and concluded well. The menace was believable, the dramatic elements were clever and I just liked it. I thought the premise was an interesting twist on the old favorite. And that is getting much harder to do lately.
- World-building. We didn't get to see as much of the world as I would have liked, since the focus was mainly on the action, but what we saw was interesting and original.

All this counts for a lot, but with the urban fantasy market as crowded as it is, it takes that extra something for a book to go from good to great in my view. And the one, massive con was something I couldn't move past: the cast.

I did not like any of the supporting cast. They were, almost without exception, untrustworthy, evil or plain old jerks and they made the book a lot less believable. The one I took the most exception to, and will use as the example to illustrate my point, is Tina.

Tina the zombie sidekick is actually a potentially interesting and original new character. Unfortunately Tina completely lacked charm. Every time she appeared on the page I wanted someone, anyone, to slap the heck out of her. Not for being a smartass, but for consistently pulling crap that could get our heroine killed. She's a danger to pretty much everyone around her, literally from the first chapter. The heroine can probably empathize, since she was something like that as a teenager, but Vicky's actions as a teenager actually DID cause a tragedy. Every time Tina appeared and did something stupid that could get the heroine killed I wondered why the heroine would ever agree to train her, knowing that the attitude could get someone killed. It didn't make any sense. I cant imagine her associating with, much less training, someone who doesn't listen, will STEAL from her, and is a danger to her AND her clients. She has experienced the consequences of such a lack of control and unwillingness to listen in her past and out to know better. It ripped me right out of the story, as I spent the time thinking WTF!

Tina was the character that aggravated me the most, but far from the only one. The client and politicians were a cliche, the lawyer boyfriend plain unlikable, and the human love interest was boring. If we must have a romance (and I know it's pretty much a given in this genre- I don't mind it when it's done well), I hope the author will introduce a viable third candidate in the next book. The closest I came to really liking any character other than the lead was in flashbacks to Vicky's dead relatives.

I will certainly check out the reviews of the second book in this series when it is published. I hope that further development will make the cast a bit more interesting and fun to read about. There are just too many good urban fantasy books out there right now to buy one that doesn't get me interested from the beginning. If the cast issues are addressed, I will absolutely buy the next book.

Shapeshifter Vicky Vaughn works killing clients' personal demons and lives in Deadtown, a section of Boston reserved for paranormal creatures like vampires, werewolves, and zombies. The zombies were created by a plague that swept through the city a few years before. Vicky has an teenage zombie as a demon-slaying apprentice, a sister who chose a human lifestyle and now lives in the suburbs, a vampire roommate, and a relationship with a werewolf lawyer who's fighting for civil rights for paranormals. When one of her clients gets killed by a Hellion, Vicky has to figure out who summoned the demon to Boston and how she can stop it before it kills again.

Deadtown was great fun. It's fast-paced with plenty of action, and the characters feel like real people (even the monsters). The zombies are different than what I expected. Instead of staggering around looking for "braaaains" they're more like people. Nice touch. Tina the teenage zombie is a riot. Deadtown made me laugh out. This is a great book and I'll definitely read the sequel.

Victory Vaughn is a demi-human, active. This bureaucratese translates to a shapeshifter, who also fights demons, or a Ceriddorian, who is literally a Welsh descendent of Ceridwen. All this classification became necessary after the Plague hit Boston three years ago and turned many of the residents into zombies who now inhabit a space called "Deadtown." Of course, the demi-humans: vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters like Vicky are also now under regulation and struggling for rights.

Vicky's just doing her job exorcising a drude (dream demon) from a client when she feels some serious evil. The next day she learns after she left the client was murdered, boiled from the inside out. It's her worst fear, someone's let loose a Hellion on Boston---in particular, a Hellion, the type of demon who started the zombie plague in the first place--and this particular Hellion and she have a score to settle since Difethwer the Destroyer killed her father and left a demon mark on Victory that she's fought a lifetime to keep in control.

This demon infestation could not come at a worse time. One of the primary issues in the upcoming election for Massachusetts's governor is demi-human rights and the human candidate, Seth Baldwin, is going to be all over the hellion's appearance--if the demon doesn't destroy the city.

And, that's not all Victory's got to deal with. Tina, a young zombie, has appointed herself Victory's apprentice and is causing her more grief than good. The case has brought Costello, a handsome human detective, into her life who is in competition with her current lover, werewolf lawyer and activist, Kane. Add to all of that, Gwen, her demi-human inactive sister is ashamed of her heritage which causes family issues.

"Deadtown" is the sophomore novel created by English PhD, Nancy Holzner. All those years of voracious reading definitely paid off for this author. She's created an engaging character and a fantasy world which blends many common urban fantasy elements in a different manner.
For the most part, the novel is a an interesting and diverting read. Holzner puts a lot of balls into the air, but manages to keep the threads running clearly enough that an attentive reader can pick them up easily enough. I noticed a couple of slips, including describing Victory by having her see herself in a mirror. This is not a major no-no, but one most novelists do try to avoid.

Rebecca Kyle, December 2009

The premise of the book is really very good. The world building in particular I think is great. Unique, and I really enjoyed the details she put into the various demons/paranormals. And I was pretty desperate to find out what happened.

However, most of the characters left me with either no impression, or a semi-negative one.
The leading male characters are simply just not that interesting. More interested in the news than the girl he hasn't seen in 2 weeks?

Vicky's powers are interesting, I love the restrictions on it, the detail that is involved in writing about the changes, and how she experiences them. But most of her interactions seemed to be arguments which made all parties look bad.

Her werewolf lawyer protests against protecting a rival from being burned alive. Bad.
But then she goes about riding in his limo when he is in no danger (demons are only active at night), and giving all sorts of information to his boss who wants to toss all paranormals out of the state, or kill them, or something. Just as bad.

And at the end of the day, this is a girl who thinks her lawyer semi-boy hired thugs to kidnap her? And this is *only* possibility she can think of, not the scientists who have 60,000+ to spend on studying her, or the sorcerer who wants to kill her, or even the squad who tried to drag her off in handcuffs in the beginning.

Victory Vaughn is the only professional demon exterminator in Boston. When people have demon issues, she is the one they call. Vicky herself is Cerridorion, someone who is able to shift into any animal three times a month - with a catch - if she bears children, she will no longer carry the ability to shift. Her sister, Gwen, gave up her abilities and the two come to blows during the book deciding what is the better route to take.

Vicky is not alone in her supernatural abilities though. She is kept in company by werewolves and vampires, just to name a few. The supernaturals started coming out of the closet after a mutated virus hit Boston out of nowhere. Every human in the entire city died in a matter of seconds. The only ones not affected - vamps, wolves and Vicky. Suddenly, the humans needed the supernaturals to help the devastated city, and the nickname "Deadtown" was created. As if that wasn't enough to deal with, three days later, zombies began to rise.

Even though the supernaturals become known to the public, they still don't have equal rights. The movement is led by the good looking werewolf, Alexander Kane, who, as Vicky says is her "companion." They are not super serious but they hang out on occasion, and by hanging out I mean they do dinner and the fun stuff afterwards.

Vicky has a personal demon of her own, one that killed her father and one that she carries part of around with her. The demon, called The Destroyer, is not satisfied and after killing one of Vicky's clients shortly after leaving his house, she knows he is back. With the help of Daniel Costello, a Boston police officer, she is determined to keep the city safe while battling her own demon - and feelings for a very cute blue-eyed police officer.

Deadtown sets up the kind of urban fantasy world I like - the supernaturals are out to the public, and now we get to see how they are accepted. I love to read about the political struggles and the behind the scenes fights that ensue. The supernaturals are by no means close to getting equal rights much to the dismay of Kane who is very invested in their cause. He has his agenda and for most of the book he uses Vicky to further that agenda. The reader never gets to see his romantic side or why Vicky would be attracted to him, except for his good looks - he is 31 with silver hair, quite a fox! I don't think she wants anything necessarily serious or more than what she has, but I can't even see why she wants that.

Besides the political upheaval, Vicky is battling an extremely dangerous Hellion, one that cooked her father from the inside out when she was younger. The Hellion is being controlled by a sorcerer, and Vicky must figure out who is in charge before the Hellion can assemble an army to invade Boston. Daniel is investigating the murder of her client, who Vicky is sure The Destroyer killed. Daniel has that smile and good nature that gives Vicky the butterflies in her stomach. The book stands great as it is, but I think it could have been even better with more romantic tension between these two.

My favorite aspect of the book is Vicky. There are many instances of men trying to bully her around, even Kane, and she does not give in. She stands up for what she believes in and never falls under peer pressure, and I find that quite admirable in this heroine. Losing her father to The Destroyer, has greatly affected her life, and she lives everyday trying to honor her father in some way. As she says:

Nothing would make me give him up. Nothing. Not even Kane, so devoted to his cause that he'd sacrifice anything for it. I wondered if that included me.

She is smart, she has patience (which is a must since she has a zomibe intern) and she is determined to live her life her way.

This is Nancy Holzner's debut in urban fantasy and it is a strong, welcome addition to the genre. Deadtown is a very solid start to what I hope are many adventures to come with Vicky.

A good cover is important because it creates a first impression. This cover says: action, adventure and bad ass heroine, all the ingredients I like in my Urban Fantasy adventures. This one caught my eye the moment I saw it and I knew this was must read.

Nancy Holzner's Deadtown is based in Boston, in a section specifically designated for the area's paranormal population. Holzner's world is interesting, with a few unique twists to the usual zombie, demon, shifter sorts.

Vicky comes from a family of shape shifting demon slayers and was trained by her Aunt from an early age in the art of demon hunting. As a teen, Vicky accidentally conjured a demon from hell and inadvertently caused her father's death. When the demon reappears years later, Vicky has a score to settle with the Hellion.

Although Vicky's love interest, Alexander Kane is deeply involved in politics and working for basic rights for paranormals, Holzner's urban fantasy world is not overly saturated in intricate paranormal politics that sometimes happens in the first book in a series. She gives us just enough to set a good base for her world development without feeding the reader so much information to bog down the story.

I liked Vicky but I never really felt the romantic connection between her and Kane and I half expected some sort of betrayal or underhandedness from the werewolf. The secondary romantic connection between Vicky and Daniel had potential and I suspect that we may see some sort of love triangle in the next book, or at least I hope so. Sometimes a sexy `blood bag' is just the thing to stir things up and make a werewolf sit up and pay attention in the romance department.

Vicky's teenage-zombie-demon slayer-apprentice was cute and comical and managed to create some real problems for Vicky with her mischievous teenage ways. I would have liked to have heard more from her and I hope her character is more fully developed in future novels.

The story flowed well but the real action gets going in the last few chapters. I was a little surprised in the final showdown in how it all played out. I can't say why since I don't want to spoil the ending for you, but I can say that it wasn't what I expected at all. The fiery sword talked about in the book and featured on the cover didn't come into play in the final showdown with the hellion and for some reason I expected it would. I was a little let down in the lack of actual hand to hand combat but enjoyed the unexpected twist.

Deadtown is a good Urban Fantasy debut full of mystery, fantasy, and magic. I look forward to the future adventures of Vicky Vaughn and the residents of Deadtown.

"Deadtown", by Nancy Holzner, is a delightful, fresh, and funny, urban legend story. Vicky Vaughn is Boston's only professional demon killer, and she's also a shape shifter. Boston was the home of a plaque killed thousands of humans and turned them into zombies, about the same time that vampires, and werewolves were starting to come out of the closet. So Boston set up a paranormal zone, Deadtown, so all those not fully human to live openly.

Holzner's universe has Welch shape shifters that only females are and can shift three times a month. Vampires are allowed 1 pint of blood from willing humans. Seems there bites are can be a psycho-narcotic and is addicting. Werewolves, who are required to be locked in their hunting preserves every full moon. And zombies. These zombies are pretty normal, except for their immense hunger, their strength, and their spongy grey-green skin, and extremely sunlight sensitive. They are nervous eaters. Witches are human, but really have magical powers that sometimes can interface with modern technology.

Vicky, born Victory, is a late 20ish workaholic, hiring out to kill assorted demons for individuals. With her workaholic werewolf boyfriend lawyer, she battles a demon from hell and politicians to save Boston. It is a very cute and enjoyable read, although for older teenagers and adults. Holzner's world is very believable, and Deadtown residents have problems are similar to others. She is writing a sequel, but read this first because of the great background info woven in.

Victory Vaughn, Vicky, is a shapeshifter and professional demon slayer. She lives in an area known as Deadtown, a place designated for paranormals such as zombies and vampires to live away from the human populace. It reminded me of the movie with Kurt Russell, Escape to New York, where all the criminals were sequestered in one place. The book begins with Vicky invading a clients dream and fighting off the demons that have been sent to them. While she is working, a demon that was responsible for her father's death makes an appearance and now she must defeat him.

I won't go into any more detail about the plot as so many already have. I did notice a lot of the reviews have I liked it, BUT, or it was good but, it had ISSUES. Well, frankly, I have issues with all books I read. Not everything in every book is perfect. With that said, I thought this book had enough that made it a good read. It was very entertaining and had a unique twist in that Vicky could shift into any shape she wanted provided she shifted no more than three times a month. I did find the relationship with Kane, the boyfriend and lawyer werewolf a bit predictable. Then the new detective appeared and I knew the boyfriend would definitely go by the wayside. But all in all, I enjoyed it very much. It had a unique story, good female lead, two romantic interests but no sloppy sex scenes. The secondary characters could use some work, her vampire roommate was one dimensional and there wasn't really enough of the zombie protégée. I thought she was cute. All in all, I would recommend this book and I will be reading the next book, Hellforged.

Reviewed for [...]

Unlike a lot of urban fantasy Deadtown goes balls out when it comes to racial relations, depicting a world where parahumans have no civil rights and are forced to live in one area of town, to the point where they have to have permits to leave that area of town. The lead character is Victory Vaughn, the latest in a recent line of Welsh true shape shifters, and a demon hunter. When one of her clients is found dead Vicky realizes that the Hellion that killed her father is now hunting her. She has to balance her personal life, the scientist that wants to make her a lab rat and protect a client who by all right she should want dead and somehow also find it in herself to stop the demon she fears.
Deadtown has all the makings of a good urban fantasy, but it falls flat in the execution. Most of the characters are either blah, or completely annoying. The world setting is very oppressive, but the plot doesn't revolve around making things better, the characters consistently make choices that are stupid, dangerous and even violent. It's hard to connect with the people in this tale, making it a lackluster example of urban fantasy. Deadtown is not without its charms, so collections that service voracious paranormal readers--or those with no taste for the full-on erotic scenes in other books--will still have a place for Deadtown in their collections.
Contains: Violence, language

Plot Summary: After a mutant virus turns a couple thousand Bostonians into zombies, the skittish humans rounded up all the supernaturals forced them to live in Deadtown. Vicky Vaughn is a special kind of shapeshifter who can turn into any creature, and her job is hunting demons for pay. The little guys aren't much trouble for her, but when Vicky encounters a Hellion on a routine harpy extermination, she knows she must banish it or kill it before it destroys the entire city. Meanwhile she's got a workaholic werewolf boyfriend, a teenage zombie apprentice, a ruthless scientist, and a cute homicide detective dogging her heels.

I don't know why, but this book got me thinking about booze. You know how hard spirits like whiskey and bourbon taste better the longer they age? Deadtown reminds me of a young spirit, because it's good and it shows promise, but it doesn't go down smooth yet. Author Nancy Holzner is not a newbie author per se, but she is new to urban fantasy so I'm going to treat this as a debut novel. There was a lot that I liked about this story, along with a few nags, but overall it was an entertaining read that did not bore me once.

Let's talk about the positives first. The biggest reason I have hope for this series is because of the heroine, Vicky. Thank goodness we aren't dealing with a wishy-washy mamby-pamby girl. Vicky is definitely a mature woman, and I really admired how she stood up to her boyfriend Kane in one scene. She doesn't roll over for anyone, and that kind of hutzpah will carry a character far in my esteem.

Ms. Holzner has also done a great job building up her supernatural world. If the `monsters' are going to be outed and living amongst humans, then I don't want to see them holding hands and singing Kumbaya. I find it more believable that we'd round up all the supes and severely restrict their rights (I'm such a pessimist). This series already has instant drama because of this inherent discrimination, and any additional conflict Ms. Holzner can throw at Vicky will be icing on the cake.

Okay, so onto my few nags. First, I think Vicky will need to grow smarter, or fans will lose patience with her. She jumped to some wrong conclusions that seemed too obvious to me. Also, the romantic subplots need some serious revamping. I didn't feel squat for either Kane the werewolf or Daniel the detective, and at this point I should either be salivating over them, or objecting vehemently. My point is, I want to have a vested interest in Vicky's love life, but these guys aren't going to do it for me. All the great UF series have a romantic subplot that gives me tingles of anticipation, so this really needs to be fixed.

I'm sure a sequel is forthcoming, but it's too soon to have any details. I've got my fingers crossed that this is just the start of a stellar series.