Monday, March 5, 2012

URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Unholy Ghosts
by Stacia Kane 
Narrated by Bahni Turpin
(Downside Ghosts #1)



I started Unholy Ghost in October on my Nook. I could not get past chapter five. Either I wasn’t in the mood for it or it was the slang that got me.
"You won't talk to me, you don't talk to anyone else, you just hang around here in your precious ghetto with all these fucking crazy people who talk like they've never heard a proper word spoken in their lives...."
But some blogger friends keep raving about the series. So I decided to give it another try but this time around I did it in audio book format, thinking it would help me get into the slang that is used by so many of the characters. BINGO.

I’ve read other reviews where people had a hard time liking or connecting with Chess because she is an addict. But I love the fact that Chess is not your typical heroine. Her world is dark and gritty and she’s had a crappy life growing up. She talks about bouncing around from foster homes. How the dads or even the moms would sexually abuse her. And since she has no support group to help her out; it kind of makes sense that she would turn to prescription meds to numb the things done to her.

Even though I personally can’t related to someone with an addiction, I believe reading it through Chess’s eyes gives me a little bit of understanding why someone in her position would live the way she does. But with as much as she takes I don’t see how she has not overdose by now.

Her addiction is what brings Terrible into her life. He is the muscle for Chess’s drug dealer, Bump. (I just love the names that Kane has come up with her for characters.) Bump informs Chess that her debt to him has doubled because of interest which is BS and she calls him on it. Bump tells her if she helps him with his problem with ghosts at an airport that he plans to use to bring in drugs that he will clear her debt with him.
After Chess reluctantly agrees to the deal she is teamed up with Terrible to complete the job. We first see Terrible the way Chess does, big guy with little thoughts. But has the two work together Chess’s view (and mine) of Terrible changes when see she how he truly is. He is self taught, the helps out weaker people in the city like kids. And he becomes someone that she can trust, which is a first for her. You can see a romance building between the two which is something that Chess doesn’t do. She is more into one night stands so that she doesn’t get hurt.

Over all Unholy Ghosts is a great start to a very dark Urban Fantasy series. But it’s not all dark there is some humor mixed in with Chess’s sassy attitude.

“If Mrs. Morton would stop verbally jacking off her husband and son, this would all be done so much more quickly, but then Chess figured it was just about the only sex the woman got.”

Unholy Ghosts is a MUST READ for Urban Fantasy fans! After hearing that each book is better than the last, I can’t wait to jump into Unholy Magic.






9 comments:

  1. Omg...how funny is that. I started reading this book last year, too...and wait for it....couldn't get past the first couple of chapters for some reason. It's on my shelf waiting for me to pick it up again. :-)
    I love UF and really need to finish this book. I, too, heard lots of great thing about the series as a whole.
    _yay_ @
    BookthatThing!

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    1. You MUST give it another try. I've read books 1-3 and the series only gets better with each book!

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  2. you're right it's interesting to have a heroine like that, she is finally so unique and it's therefore very interesting to follow her. I'm glad you enjoyed it, I need to read the second that is in my TBR pile. Great review!

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    1. Thanks. Reviews for book 1 & 2 are coming later in the month. GREAT series!

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  3. Great timing for me, I just started the audiobook this morning, I'm even more excited after your review.

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  4. I love a flawed heroine, it makes the story interesting! I'll be adding this one to my list. I have a lot of UF favorites but if I were to go with a series it would probably be The Hollows by Kim Harrison. Rachel Morgan is another flawed heroine who's always getting into some trouble but she has a good heart, you can't help but liking her.

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    1. I books 1-5 of the Hollows series on my shelf. I plan to get to them by the end of the year.

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  5. (I've been remiss in my blog hopping --so I am late to comment.)

    Great review, J. I am so glad you gave the series another try!!

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