American Craftsmen, Book 2
Synopsis: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy meets ancient magic, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance
Poe’s Red Death returns, more powerful than ever. Can anyone stop him before he summons an apocalyptic nightmare even worse than himself?
In this second book of Tom Doyle’s contemporary fantasy series, the American craftsmen are scattered like bait overseas. What starts as an ordinary liaison mission to London for Major Michael Endicott becomes a desperate chase across Europe, where Endicott is both hunted and hunter. Reluctantly joining him is his minder from MI13, Commander Grace Marlowe, one of Her Majesty’s most lethal magician soldiers, whose family has centuries of justified hostility to the Endicotts.
Meanwhile, in Istanbul and Tokyo, Endicott’s comrades, Scherie Rezvani and Dale Morton, are caught in their own battles for survival against hired assassins and a ghost-powered doomsday machine. And in Kiev, Roderick Morton, the spider at the center of a global web, plots their destruction and his ultimate apotheosis. After centuries of imprisonment, nothing less than godlike power will satisfy Roderick, whatever the dreadful cost.
Review: I did read the first volume and had a lot of fun with the story. I confess that I did not remember all the details of the book but that’s why I loved the introduction that the author has added before the first chapter! Oh yes, because it allows us remember what has happened before and the details of the world created. This is not something that we often see in novels, but I found it fantastic to let the reader the opportunity to recall the events.
Let’s go back a little more precisely to the story … We find the characters that we have discovered previously with great pleasure. Yes, we follow alternately Scherie, Endicott and Dale throughout their adventures. We also have some parts from the evil Roderick who reveals his plans over the chapters. It must be said that he is determined to remove and destroy all our protagonists. While the three are trying to uncover him to do the same, they will face many trials. Each in a part of the world, Dale will have to try to manage some ghosts, Scherie faces the spirits that haunt her and so understand a little more about her powers, and finally we also have Endicott. It was a pleasure to discover a bit more about him in this volume. Thus, he meets with a young woman there and we see their relationship evolve at the same time over the chapters.
It was very interesting to discover the actions of each, to see how they would all act in front of the demons that pursue them. The world that Tom Doyle has created is really fascinating to discover and I loved the fact that we found so many places throughout the story. Oh yes, from Istanbul to Tokyo, via Greece, France or Ukraine and the United States, we have a lot of places and events to discover. As I said, we learn a little more about Endicott here, and it was interesting as we had a more chance to see Dale and Scherie before. It was also fascinating to understand Roderick and the plans he was trying to stage.
I will not say much more for fear of revealing too much, but I would recommend this series that we can read with pleasure.
Kirsty-Marie Jones
I love recaps/intro’s in the beginning, it’s a good reminder if you haven’t read the first book/ in a while, so glad you enjoyed it.
Melliane
yes me too, it was perfect there!
Joy // Joyousreads
Oh that’s really cool. Not too many authors afford their readers the advantage of having a little run down of what’s happened in the previous books, so well done. I applaud this. That cover is kick ass! I’m glad you’re enjoying this series!
Melliane
yes I was surprised, it was perfect for me.
Molly Mortensen
I love it when the second book is as good as the first. Sounds like it has some cool magic and an interesting world. Somehow I’ve never heard of this before.
Melliane
yes it was nice!
Sarah @ One Curvy Blogger
I love that they give you a into to remember book 1. I wish more books did that for us 🙂
Melliane
me too
Carole Rae
Interesting.
I may have to consider this. Thanks for sharing. 😀
Melliane
I think you could like it!
Ramona
Oh, crisscrossing the world with demons on their tail – sounds quite exciting! And that cover says “I mean business!’ lol 🙂 Great review!
Melliane
lol true
kimbacaffeinate
I appreciate those recaps. I am so happy you are back!
Melliane
thanks!
kindlemom1
Glad you were able to jump right into this and that you liked it.
blodeuedd
From the cover I would say no 😉 But then it’s not about the cover
ShootingStarsMag
Never heard of this – thanks for sharing though. I like that there is a look back at the first book in the beginning of this. How handy!
Melliane
me too!
Braine
That dude looks like Vin Diesl and I can tell this book is packed with action and not as emotional as its counterparts. I actually love non-emotional stories, sometimes the drama and angst can get in the way of my love of gore! hahaha!
Hey, I hope your vacation was awesome!
Melliane
yes they were great, thank you!
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
I’d like to check out this series. I have the first book on my tbr and I know it got some mixed reviews, but I’m glad you had a good time with the second one. It sounds like a lot of fun!
Melliane
I hope you’ll enjoy it yourself
Melissa (Books and Things)
Oh this looks like a series I would enjoy. I also think I like intros like that rather than it being repeated a lot throughout the book for a reminder. Will have to check this series out.
Melissa (My World...in words and pages)
So glad to see you enjoyed it. I would have thought it might have been to military or scifi, but sounds like a great series. 🙂 Thank you!