Scorched Earth

Dark Matter #2

by Clayton Smith

The battle for Templar has only just begun. The city is under attack by a mysterious woman in a purple cloak who wields an extraordinary elemental every few hours, a sustained lighting column strikes the city, slowly draining the lives of everyone it touches with its deadly, crackling energy bolts. It leaves behind nothing but mummified victims and scorched earth. When Simon and Virgil witness the ruthless destruction, they have no choice but to stop the woman before she drains the life from the entire city. But her wizardry turns out to be far more dangerous than anything they’ve ever seen—even the sorcerer Llewyn, a centuries-old kinesthetic mage of the Seventh Order, has never seen a power like hers. There’s more at work than just life-draining lightning storms, however...the woman in the cloak holds the secret to the dark magic that will bring Templar to its knees and reduce it to a city of ashes. And when things take a disastrous turn that leaves Simon and Virgil without the help of their closest allies, they’ll have to work to find their own way to end the reign of terror.

Genres: Magic

203 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2021

About the author

Librarian note: there are multiple authors with this name on Goodreads.

Reviews

[Steve Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Demon Zero (Book 1), I was hopeful that the author would follow-up this first volume with a likewise entertaining story of the two intrepid magical force investigators with a great second volume. Unfortunately, this book was...

I read an ARC of the book 7 months ago. It was great entertainment until...

Why did this author think he had to introduce something in the last few chapters, then stop mid-...

The thing that is most irritating about a series is an insecure author feeling he has to drop you off a cliff in the last pages to make you buy the next book. I will happily read a whole series as it runs from incident to incident. I can think of no bigger writing crime that ending a book with something like: "Then suddenly a purple light flashed out of the drawer."

The story was great until that point. It took me this long to settle down and write a review that didn't scream out in rage. Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about reading anymore Dark Matter books, since that cheap trick only works once with me.

[PJ Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more you read...

....the more you learn.
I really like the two guys, they're triers that's for sure. The story is imaginative, I have never come across some of the magic that is described here.
Highly entertaining, funny, with intense danger.

[Brett Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the first book, this one gets to the action right away. It has the same humor and the same likable characters. It was a fun read and stretched the world of Templar a little further for us. My only complaint would be that it felt like the story wasn't finished. I am sure there will be a follow-up book, the storyline did not close before the last page. It is still too open.