Hellforged (A Deadtown Novel #2) by Nancy Holzner
Urban Fantasy
December 28, 2010
Paperback, 340 Pages
Ace
Reviewed by Tori
Favorite Quote: “Tina! No waterboarding the client!”
Victory (Vicky) Vaughn is a demon slayer and a shapeshifter. In Deadtown she banished a nasty demon back to hell for good (she assumed) and gained herself a demon mark. But Vicky’s nasty demon is back-only this time in her dreams. When zombies turn up viciously torn apart and really dead, Vicky realizes that the demon is using her dreams as a doorway to her world. With her vampire roommate acting strange, her zombie apprentice seeking fame & fortune on stage, and her werewolf lover away on business, Vicky realizes that hell on earth is not merely a saying and the only person bringing it… is her.
Hellforged picks up not long after Deadtown. In here we divulge deeper into Vicky’s Welsh heritage and the mythology surrounding it. As Vicky ‘s dreams are getting more violent and she is finding herself trapped longer and longer in the dreamscape, her Aunt Mab demands she return to Wales to complete her final training. While in Wales we learn more about Vicky’s family and their connection to the Cerddorian race. Vicky trains and learns what she needs to stop the opening between our world and Hell.
The world building is further built upon in Hellforged. Ms. Holzner has a unique story telling ability that absorbs you and makes you a central participant. Smooth flowing and fast paced, I was once again enchanted with Vicky’s world and her friends. The Welsh mythology is convoluted though and drags the story down in parts as you try to make sense of the past and how Vicky fits into it. Yet, we need this explanation in order for the arc to progress. So it’s a give and take.
While I enjoyed this installment, I missed seeing the humor and spontaneity that was apparent in Deadtown. This one is more serious. The zombie/human commentary was hilarious in Deadtown.; especially from Tina, who is Vicky’s sidekick. You don’t see/hear much of either and it shows.
I enjoyed the deeper development of Vicky and Kane’s relationship though I really don’t understand her attraction to Danial. I feel it’s more of “wanting what is visible” since Kane is gone a lot on business. Even though the we do see some revelations, it still remains a small part of the series as a whole.
The secondary characters are further expanded upon and snarky as ever. Juliet is more visible and seems to be getting herself in a spot of trouble. Vicky interacts more with the Goon Squad with some interesting results. Tina is a treat (when we see her) as always though she seemed more self involved and whiny here. But, that’s a teenager for you.
Our villian(s) are quite fearsome and enhance the suspense and action perfectly as the full gist of the plot is revealed to us. One thing that surprised me was that Vicky didn’t pick up on clues as quickly as before and it took others to show her quite a few times where she went wrong.
Our ending is explosive and we are left with some unanswered questions that lead us well into the next installment.
All in all, a nice journey back into the wonderful world of zombies, demons, and demon fighter extraordinaire Vicky Vaughn. I do hope in the next installment we go back to Deadtown and spend a little more time in my favorite city.
Rating: C+
Recent Reviews
Parajunkee’s View – 3.5/5
Wicked Little Pixie – 3.5/5
Preternatural Reviews – 3/4
Goodreads
Deadtown Series
Deadtown
Hellforged
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Great review! This is another author and series that I have been meaning to pick up.
So the previous one was better..interesting, I could always read that one and then stop if I feel like it ;)
Fabulous review Tori, I like the sound of this series! It's too bad some of the humor is lost in this second book, but hopefully it will come back in book 3.
I have been hearing the first one id better, but I am still getting this. I love Holzner's style and her take on UF. I like that we get to know more of the secondary characters as well especially Tina, she cracked me up in Deadtown. Fantastic review hon :)
Pam-Thank you. It's a good series.
Blodeuedd-It's different. lol But definitely worth reading.
Jenny-Thank you. Yes, I missed the humor in here.
Offbeat Vagabond-Thank you. It may be missing some humor but the backgrd we get really advances the arc.
I giggled about that favorite quote. I hope it was meant to be funny in the book. :)
Janna-LOL Yes. The quote is part of a funny scene in book.
Like the first one, I thought the beginning half a bit slow. I thought it really picked up when she travled to her Aunts place and all hell breaks loose.
(coughsi'mgladwegotaromance)
Smokinhotbooks-I likes some smoochy in my books too.
I enjoyed the first book in this series but it seems like this one is middle of the road.