Lightbreaker (Codex of Souls) (Paperback)

~ Mark Teppo (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Teppo's urban fantasy debut explores a dramatic premise bogged down by pretentious passages of overblown monologue. Landis Markham, magick user and manipulator of the world's energies, spots a human soul possessing a deer. He follows it, intrigued, and soon lands in the midst of a power struggle that could destroy the world. Using a chain of captured souls to enhance his abilities, Markham chases an evil magus around Seattle and its suburbs as he pieces together a complex plot and continues his relentless fight to save innocents and heal the darkness in his soul. Tighter writing could have made this a page-turner and created more desire for the inevitable sequels, but Teppo beats metaphors into the ground and segments of purple prose mire the plot and distract from the strong characters. (Sept.)
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Product Description

Markham has returned to Seattle, searching for Katarina, the girl who, a decade ago, touched his soul, literally tearing it from his body. But what he discovers upon arriving is dark magick - of a most ancient and destructive kind! An encounter with a desperate spirit, leaping destructively from host to host, sets Markham on the trail of secretive cabal of magicians seeking to punch a hole through heaven, extinguishing forever the divine spark. Armed with the Chorus, a phantasmal chain of human souls he wields as a weapon of will, Markham must engage in a magickal battle with earth-shattering stakes! Markum must delve deep into his past, calling on every aspect of his occult training for there to be any hope of a future. But delve he must, for Markham is a veneficus, a spirit thief, the Lightbreaker...

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Night Shade Books (September 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597801380
• ISBN-13: 978-1597801386
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #784,620 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Main Character and Good Start to a Series, August 28, 2009

By	The Mad Hatter "booktionary.blogspot.com" (NY State, United States) - See all my reviews

Lightbreaker is Mark Teppo's first entry in the Codex of Souls series and his debut Urban Fantasy effort, which sets a dark tone for the series well. From page 1 you join an exciting chase with the main character Markham as he follows a body jumping soul and Teppo more than keeps up the pace. Things are a bit cloudy with Markham's past, but Teppo quickly covers the highlights yet still leaves you wanting more. I had an immediate liking to Markham even when he sometimes goes about things not in the nicest manner. He is painted as a grey man and an outsider, which has allowed him to learn all types of magical techniques. The story is set in and around Seattle, which was a nice change up from most UF.

Lightbreaker effortlessly melds many styles of magic such as Hermeticism, Shamanism, and Western magick with a healthy dose of Aleister Crowley and tarot symbolism. The story gets bigger and bigger quite unexpectedly, especially towards the end. What starts as a unusual chase develops into a soul stealing cataclysm. The first section mostly has to do with Markham wanting to get revenge for a great wrong done him, which is quickly turned around on him a bit too easily. However, Teppo quickly made up for this flaw with a broader story and the introduction of great characters and some cool magic. One of the things I've loved about the past few Dresden Files is the magical politics, which Lightbreaker has in spades with more to come.

Lightbreak is a fine entry into Urban Fantasy that is sure to standout from the pack. I give Lightbreaker 8 out of 10 Hats. Fans of strong male protagonist Urban Fantasy are sure to have an immediate connection to Markham and the world Teppo has concocted. There are many plot holes left open, which I hope are address in future volumes. Regardless, the book does standalone on it own fairly well with a quite unexpected ending. Heartland, the second Codex of Souls book, is due out early in 2010 along with a third sometime in the future. I also enjoyed Teppo's short story in Paper Cities (reviewed here), which I recommend picking up. Teppo is an author with a bright future ahead of him and is sure to only get better.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader, June 30, 2009

By	Blue Tyson "- http://freesf.blogspot.com" - See all my reviews

An urban fantasy novel that is a lot more Hellblazer, Mage and Highlander than it is high heels, hot pants and horizontal vampire mambo. There's even a Watcher society and sword fighting.

A predilection for Heremetic magic, souls and Tarot (and a bit of Crowley) is on display among the superpowered types doing battle beyond the ken of mortals.

Fortunately the extended flights of magical fantasy a la Moore and Promethea are left till towards the end, with a rather more grounded epilogue.

With an atmosphere like this you tend to get a taste for the nasty. There are certainly some parts of this novel that some would call horror.

The author gives a book writing soundtrack at the end, and Fields Of the Nephilim feature prominently, which will give you further idea of the sort of supernatural content you will encounter in Lightbreaker.

There's also gratuitous prophetic abuse of bookshop staff.


3.5 out of 5

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Groovy!, August 12, 2009

By	Brandon T Gray - See all my reviews

Aloha! I blazed through this one, and I'm happy to see the next one in the series is coming out in a few days! I really liked the philosophical framework the author set up for magick and can't wait to see more about the secret society of the Watchers in book II. Great stuff!