Customer Reviews

Unholy Magic (Downside Ghosts, Book 2)

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To say that I love the Downside Ghosts series is a ridiculous understatement. Two books in and I think it's safe to say I am fully addicted, complete with the sweats, itching and panic after having read the last page in Unholy Magic. I tried to read slowly, I did, but it was so-damn-good! 368 pages was not enough, I needed more. Now.

In Unholy Magic Chess is still very much addicted to drugs and still associating with both her regular drug dealer's main muscle Terrible, as well a rival drug lord Lex. She lives a dangerous, chaotic life with no clear indication that things will settle down anytime soon. A good deal of her chaos is self imposed but such is the nature of the life of a drug addict. However in Unholy Magic, things get a bit more personal. We get a glimpse into Chess's tragic background and a better understanding of they reasons she abuses drugs. Chess uses the drugs and both creates and allows chaos in her life as a way of coping--or perhaps not--with things that are just too big to handle. Chess has really grown on me as a heroine which is actually quite surprising to me since there were several times in this book where I literally wanted to wring her neck. She is a mess and makes bad decisions left and right. But on the other hand her basic moral core is solid and underneath it all she is quite vulnerable.

Chess is not the only character that has grown on me. I liked Terrible in Unholy Ghosts but I'm going to put myself out there and say I've moved on to loving him after reading Unholy Magic. We get to know a lot more about Terrible and although his reality is danger and violence, somehow after pealing back his layers and getting to look a little deeper it's easier to sympathize and understand who he is. He still had a moment or two that made me say, "Oh no he didn't!" but Terrible wouldn't be Terrible unless he actually did. (I'm still firmly supporting team Terrible)

When it comes to mystery and suspense, Stacia Kane writes with gusto. She is a master of surprises and she simply does not hold back, pushing the boundaries with every turn of the page. This book will make you shiver, shudder, cringe and wince but at the same time, you'll find yourself caring deeply for characters that are far from perfect and who's redemption seems questionable at times.

Stacia Kane has written an amazing, spine tingling novel in Unholy Magic, taking me by surprise by surpassing even the brilliance of it's predecessor Unholy Ghosts.

Review courtesy of [...]

Like any drug, the first taste gets your attention but its the second taste that gets you hooked. I though the first Downside Ghosts book, Unholy Ghosts, was an impressive debut, but UNHOLY MAGIC is even better. I am well and truly addicted to this dark, seductive urban fantasy series.

Ghosts were stronger underground; no witch willingly went below the surface of the earth, not without a Church edict or a death wish. Chess had both to varying degrees... -First line from UNHOLY MAGIC

Chess Putnam is a total train wreck of a human being. Her childhood was spent bouncing from one abusive foster home to the next. In her adult life she is a junkie, becoming more and more dependent on her pills and Speed just to make it through the day. Yet she is a fighter. Battling her own demons one day at a time, or ghosts as the case may be. Sometimes she gives in, but she never gives up. I find that I'm constantly rooting for her, even when she falls--which she does a lot--to pick herself up and keep going, and I kind of love her for that.

But it is hard when you see those bad decisions lining up to tackle her all at once, which they do in UNHOLY MAGIC. Romantically there was a very unorthodox love interest introduced in the last book, Terrible, who basically lives up to his name, but who like Chess, you root for (even more so in this book). There are some profoundly powerful scenes when we find out more about both Chess and Terrible's histories, and when they both have to finally own up to their feelings for each other. I'm still recovering.

Bottom line, Chess Putnam is quickly becoming one of my favorite urban fantasy heroines. Yes, she's an addict, who gets twitchy, itchy and even physically ill if she goes too long without a fix. But I'm starting to relate when it comes to the Downside Ghosts series. Sure, Stacia was all nice and generous at first, releasing the first three books a month apart (the third Downside Ghosts book, City of Ghosts, will be released on July 27, 2010). But what happens in August when I'm jonesing for book four? If what happened to Chess in UNHOLY MAGIC is any indication, it's not going to be pretty, but right now I'm too high off this book to care.

Sexual Content: References to sex. Several scenes of sensuality. Several sex scenes. An orgy is briefly described. References to child molestation. References to rape.

UNHOLY MAGIC settled it. Downside Ghosts is officially my new favourite urban fantasy.

Prostitutes are being killed on Downside streets, and Bump, drug dealer/pimp, decides that this is Chess's responsibility as a church witch and addict. After following Terrible to the crime scenes, Chess comes to believe ghosts and sex magic are involved. Slobag, a rival drug dealer, is having similar problems, and Chess finds herself caught between two drug dealers and their top flunkies who just happen to be her love interests. Though "love" might not be the right word.

Lex and Terrible are still in the picture. Still attractive, unpleasant, and a very bad idea. They also happen to be two of my favourite leading men. Chess starts thinking about the ethics of sleeping with a man who also happens to be giving her free drugs and things with Terrible become more intense. The slightly dank romance is there, but it never crosses into the gooey land of paranormal romance.

The writing is good, the characters sympathetic without being nice, and the dialogue believable. I'd like to have seen the world more fleshed out, and more church politics in the book. I still can't decipher the drug slang (cepts, nips, oozers?) and I can't work out if I'm suppose to. But Chess, who is pretty much a walking, talking, disaster zone, makes up for any literary slips. She's a competent witch, trying really hard to be tough. But she makes one brilliant mistake after another--rattling on the bathroom floor of her church appointed subject, falling into bed with people she probably shouldn't, just so she doesn't have to spend a night home alone. Every mistake is made with the perfect levels of oblivion and self-reflection; it hits angsty notes, but never crosses into melodramatic territory.

MAJOR PRO: Totally in agreement with a previous reviewer. This series is 100% addictive and I'm currently thanking a nonfactual and untrue God for the awesome publishing deal that means I don't have to wait too long for CITY OF GHOSTS.

MAJOR CON: At the moment, the ebook is unavailable in certain areas. Like mine. Boo.

I stayed up until 4 AM finishing this book last night. I absolutely could NOT put it down, and now I'm dying to read the third book, "City of Ghosts." In "Unholy Magic," Chess faces more evil in the world and in herself, the relationships between the characters become more complex, and secrets are revealed. I am somewhat hard to please when it comes to starting a new series, but I am officially addicted to these books. Stacia Kane's writing style is genius.

Three months after the banishing of the Dreamthief in Unholy Ghosts Chess is helping the Black Squad to build a case. She's starting to be viewed differently by her peers at work, considered that she just might be good at her job. Chess decides to stop out for a drink and see a band at the local bar with her one friend, Terrible. Chess ends up going with Terrible to look into a murder of a hooker. Terrible wants Chess to verify the killer is not a ghost. But knowing Bump, if it is a ghost, he would have her take care of it instead of the Church directly. The murder was close to the edge of Bump's and Lex's territories. Chess finds herself in the grasps of Bumps manipulation with drugs and his knowledge of her, again. So of course, Chess agrees to help both Bump, and Lex without the other knowing, but at what cost to her...

This book is a wonderful number two to the series. Stacia Kane, once again does not disappoint here. I got drawn into Chess's cases and life. This book was just as intense or more so than Unholy Ghosts. The cases, both of them, hit close to home once again to Chess - actually closer than she would like. Chess is stuck between the feud of her close friends boss and her local drug dealer, and the man who has been giving her free drugs and who she shares a night with once in a while. I watched as Chess's life which seems to work so well for her, comes apart at the seams. Then Chess realizes what she wants and tries to fix everything to get it.

The characters are a great love in this book. The way we get to see more dynamics from them - history, reactions, and intimacy with each other. We got more insight on our lovable bouncer, Terrible. We get to see a softer side and the more dangerous side (that many others in the book see) of Terrible.

The story line... just keeps going. The pacing is quick and keeps you turning the pages. The different cases Chess works on kept me going to see what would happen and where the cases would lead. And the trauma in Chess's life just adds the flare to the story. All full of action, suspense, and even a caring between the characters.

Unholy Magic is the 2nd book in the Downside Ghosts series by Stacia Kane. I absolutely loved this installment in this series and can't wait for City of Ghosts to come out in a few weeks!
In Unholy Magic we find Chess Putnam trying to recover from the incident at the Chester Airport. Unfortunately for Chess work doesn't stop nor do the demands from Bump (her drug dealer). Chess is assigned a case for a high-profile client and at the same time Terrible is asking for her help with an issue that Bump is having.
I think Unholy Magic is even more fast paced than Unholy Ghosts (I didn't think that was going to be possible)! As with the first book I loved the characters and how they interact with each other. I enjoyed learning more about Terrible and Chess as well as getting to briefly meet one of Bump's rivals. This is fast becoming one of my new favorite series!

Hussies from the street corner are being knocked off and it's up to Chess to find out who is behind this. Word on the street is that a ghost is behind these murders. Chess doesn't put much stock into this rumor and she's betting that the killer is human.

I'm addicted. I am so ready for City of Ghosts! Stacia is one of the best Urban Fantasy writers that I have ever read.

UNHOLY MAGIC begins a few months after UNHOLY GHOSTS, book one of the Downside Ghosts Series, ends. The author gives hints of what happened in the previous book to tickle our memory, but not enough to weigh the story down. Readers new to this series will need to read book one first before tackling the next installment.

Both books one and two are similar in plot. Chess, a debunker/witch/ghost hunter for the Church of Truth, gets a case from the Church about the same time ghostly activities are happening in Downside. As she works to solve both cases, her personal demons interfere.

In book one, I was taken aback by how much I liked Chess. She has an aloof view of sexual relationships, not surprising given her background. She's a drug addict. To say she has issues is a major understatement.

All this comes to a head in book two, when she discovers feelings for Trouble, another character I shouldn't have fallen in love with, but did. He's a thug for a major drug dealer in Downside. He finds out she's been sleeping with a rival drug dealer's son. Talk about drama--the book is full of it. I found my hands over my face wishing he hadn't found out and pissed that Chess would do something like that to him.

The drugs, her relationships, her dishonestly almost cost her everything. It still might. Although the cases were closed, the ending wasn't final. There's still hope that Chess will get her act together and that Trouble will forgive her.

Here's the series in order so far:

1. Unholy Ghosts (2010)
2. Unholy Magic (2010)
3. City of Ghosts (2010)

I began this series with the audio format and will continue. In book two, Bahni Turpin's voice increased the story's intensity. She's a perfect match as she brings the unique dialogue alive in this series.

Synopsis: Cesaria "Chess" Putnam works for The Real Church of Truth and Facts - the organization that has overtaken the government and religions of old. Chess works for the Church as a Debunker, someone who disproves the claims of hauntings by Triumph City residents. The Real Church fought an epic battle against the dead and being able to hold off the ghostly hoards is how they remain in power. Thus, Chess' job was born. Chess is also a witch, using magic sanctioned by the Church to combat restless spirits.

In Unholy Magic, Chess has double trouble on her hands. First, there's her new assignment from the church. A movie start, Roger Pyle, has moved to Triumph City with his wife and daughter. The house he had built for his family is built on the site of a gruesome murder scene. Pyle contacts the Church and Chess is assigned to determine if Pyle's haunting is legit or just Hollywood trickery.

Then, there's evil afoot in Downside, the neighborhood where Chess lives. Someone is murdering prostitutes. Even worse than simple murder is the fact that the killer is branding his victims while they are still alive, and then cutting out their eyes once they are dead. Bump, Chess' drug dealer, calls in Chess to investigate when Downside residents begin to believe the murders are being carried out by "the Cryin Man" - a ghost.

Adding further complications to Chess' life is her relationship with Terrible, Bump's right-hand man. There's definite attraction between the two, but Chess is skittish about relationships. Also, Chess is sleeping with Lex, the son of Bump's main drug dealing competitor.

Chess must solve the cases and play her relationship cards correctly before the present and the hereafter come back to bite her.

Review: I had mixed emotions about reading this novel. I read the first book in this series, Unholy Ghosts, and was really on the fence with the book. I hate to give up on a series, especially a series I had been hearing such good things about, after reading just the first book. While I am not ready to gush over this series yet, I will say that I liked Unholy Magic much better than Unholy Ghosts.

One of my biggest dislikes with Unholy Ghosts was the emphasis on Chess' drug use. While that was still a pretty large part of the novel, the drug use was more like background noise than an in-your-face annoyance. This was a definite improvement and I hope that the drug use continues to diminish in the next installments.

I liked that we got to know Chess more as a character and see her relationship with Terrible take on new dimensions. I don't really enjoy Lex as a character, so less of him and more of Terrible was a good thing. I equally enjoyed the character development of Terrible that took place aside from his relationship with Chess.

I am glad that I read this novel and didn't give up on the series. I will be checking out the third book in the series, City of Ghosts, sometime soon. I would recommend this series, albeit with a healthy dose of patience for the first novel, to lovers of Urban Fantasy.

I'm an avid reader, so I deal with the good and the bad (and the somewhere in-between). Too often the books I'm reading have a romance of some sort and it's pretty frustrating when I know exactly how it'll turn out because I've read it a thousand times - good looking guy, good looking girl - fall in love after so much difficulty and denial.
I don't read for the romance.
So, that being said - we have a junky and a thug who, against all odds, come together in a knock down drag out relationship.
I actually found myself rooting for them to be together (which generally I just skip over the romantic parts wishing they hadn't been thrown just because it's so irritating to have to deal with a gratuitous love affair )!
This whole series has been a serious page turner and something I find myself completely involved with - I absolutely cannot wait for book 4 for fear that I will 'anxiety attack' myself to death wondering what happens next!!
Fabulous books - read them - you will not be sorry!!