This is the third book in a series and while there will be no spoilers for this book, there may be some for the first two. Proceed at your own risk. If you want to read my reviews for the first two books, click on the titles below.
White Trash Warlock Trailer Park Trickster
Deadbeat Druid by David R. Slayton
Publication Date: October 18, 2022
Summary from NetGalley:
The living cannot be allowed to infect the dead.
Adam Binder has lost what matters most to him. Having finally learned the true identity of the warlock preying on his family, what was supposed to be a final confrontation with the fiend instead became a trap that sent Adam’s beloved Vicente into the realm of the dead, where none living are meant to be.
Bound by debt, oath, and love, Adam blazes his own trail into the underworld to get Vicente back, and to end the threat of the warlock once and for all. But the road to hell is paved with far more than good intentions. Demons are hungry, and ghosts are relentless, and what awaits Adam in the underworld is nothing he is prepared to face.
If that weren’t enough, Adam has one more thing he must do if he and Vicente are to return to the world of the living: find the lost heart of Death herself.
ARC provided by Blackstone Publishing via NetGalley for an honest review.
Confession:
I really enjoyed this final installment to Adam’s story. I had a really hard time putting this one down due to its fast pace and everything that was happening that rarely left the characters time to breath or myself for that matter. I really wished that I had spent some time rereading the first two books though. I really think reading these books right after each other would have a huge impact on seeing the character growth and the expansive world building better.
All of the characters, even some of the minor ones, show tremendous growth throughout the series, but I think Adam and Vic are the two that show the most changes. In this book Adam demonstrates strengths that I never thought he would achieve and his ability to believe in himself and in his family have surpassed all of my expectations. Vic also shows such a change in his abilities and in his understanding of both Adam and the world he lives in. It is so well written and so believable that these two characters could go through what they do and still come out the other side stronger and better.
That said, the world building also continues to get better and stronger. I loved the version of the underworld we get in this book. It is quite different than what we usually get in fantasies, but it is in total keeping with the world that the author has already developed. It was scary at times, and the demons were not what you would expect either, and their role in the underworld was also quite different. An amazingly well done job.
The plot is also well done and quite riveting. There are a lot of themes, but probably the most prominent one is generational trauma. The Binders have had a lot of tragedy and untold horrors in their family that have affected every generation. Adam works really hard in this story to change that narrative and even though the scars are still there by the end you can tell that the family is on the road of healing and changing for the better.
A well done urban fantasy with very relatable characters and some awesome world building. A series that I hope to reread in its entirety sometime in the near future. I look forward to spending time with these characters again and seeing their journey come to a close once again. This is a series that I highly recommend.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 