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Midnight Agency, Season Two: The Soul-Stealers
To fight monsters, you need a few devils.
The town of Noisy River has a witch problem. A dozen people have been kidnapped by a brujo and taken to a remote hideout in the malpaís, an expanse of badlands crawling with hordes of monsters and worse.
When Captain Driskill and his team take the job, they haven't recovered from their epic battle with an Aztecan god, who is now trapped within a magical blade. But keeping Tez imprisoned has already taken its toll on Driskill, mentally and physically. The rest of the team is in terrible shape, too. Their gunslinger has a broken hand. Their tracker is hobbled. And their most powerful weapon, Kory Shaw-a young woman with a cursed flintlock pistol-is being hunted by a creature that leaves death in its wake. The last thing they need is to journey across the treacherous malpaís to hunt down a witch.
But when they discover the brujo's sinister purpose, they must put aside their grievances and fight for their very souls if they hope to rescue a dozen captives from the witch's hideout and make it out alive.
In episodic form, Midnight Agency takes you on a sweeping adventure that is one shot of post-apocalyptic horror, one shot of dark fantasy, and all weird western. Welcome to the badlands. There's not a good soul in sight.
The town of Noisy River has a witch problem. A dozen people have been kidnapped by a brujo and taken to a remote hideout in the malpaís, an expanse of badlands crawling with hordes of monsters and worse.
When Captain Driskill and his team take the job, they haven't recovered from their epic battle with an Aztecan god, who is now trapped within a magical blade. But keeping Tez imprisoned has already taken its toll on Driskill, mentally and physically. The rest of the team is in terrible shape, too. Their gunslinger has a broken hand. Their tracker is hobbled. And their most powerful weapon, Kory Shaw-a young woman with a cursed flintlock pistol-is being hunted by a creature that leaves death in its wake. The last thing they need is to journey across the treacherous malpaís to hunt down a witch.
But when they discover the brujo's sinister purpose, they must put aside their grievances and fight for their very souls if they hope to rescue a dozen captives from the witch's hideout and make it out alive.
In episodic form, Midnight Agency takes you on a sweeping adventure that is one shot of post-apocalyptic horror, one shot of dark fantasy, and all weird western. Welcome to the badlands. There's not a good soul in sight.
320 pages, Paperback
Published November 2, 2021
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Ken Hoover
10 books9 followersNearly every morning, Ken Hoover wakes up at an ungodly hour to gulp down several cups of coffee and write before he goes to work. He's never been more disciplined and productive...and tired. He lives in New Mexico with his awesome family.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 22, 2022
A fun continuation of the Midnight Agency’s adventures, with a journey through vivid volcanic badlands infested with all manner of fascinating opponents, from a soul-stealing witch to beasts as hard as rock to a giant spider weaving webs of lava. A fearsome creature who leaves death in his wake follows, with knowledge of Kory’s curse and a hellbent determination to catch her. I love the post-apocalyptic wild west setting in this series, and am excited to read more of the agency’s adventures in the future.
February 19, 2022
Season Two proves to be a worthy sequel to Midnight Agency Season One. The focus on Kory Shaw gives us a complex character dealing with a curse that turns out to be even greater than she expected, while the team also wrestles with some truly nasty opponents. The pacing remains taut and some of the twists truly caught me by surprise, even though I should've seen them coming. Recommended.
May 10, 2022
In the fall of 2019, I found an absolute gem of a book called "Midnight Agency" at Barnes and Noble. Signed by the author, no less!
The Soul Stealers is an exemplary sequel. It expands on the universe in new and interesting ways, introduces new elements of the world, and is every bit as gripping as the first installment of this series. Driskill and the agency set out to defeat a witch who is stealing the souls of innocents on the edge of the badlands, and encounter no shortage of dangers along the way.
As a fellow New Mexican, perhaps I'm biased, but Ken Hoover *gets it*. In the acknowledgements, he mentions that the natural beauty of our state inspired the setting of the Midnight Agency series, and it's the perfect backdrop for a gritty adventure story. It can be bleak, it can be brutal and unforgiving, but at the same time, it's almost unspeakably beautiful. Hoover uses the setting to thicken the adventure, and the characters interact with it in incredibly interesting ways. The world of Midnight Agency is one of the richest worlds I've had the pleasure of stumbling across in the fantasy I've read in the past several years.
Hoover's characters have a vibrancy that I don't find often enough in speculative fiction. They feel real enough to jump off the page, and their bonds are so visceral, you find yourself wishing you could befriend them. Driskill gets most of the spotlight in this installment. He's a wonderfully fascinating character, but Kory and Carlos remain my favorites. I can't wait for the continuation of Kory's arc. She's a hotheaded spitfire and I love her for it, and her dynamic with Carlos (who is sweet and funny and absolutely wonderful; I love him for all the reasons I love Hoban Washburne) is just... *chef's kiss*. Fingers-crossed for more of the Kory/Carlos romance in the next book.
That being said, I missed Clara, Etta, and Silas. I enjoyed the new cast members, Goyan in particular, but I'm hopeful that the others will have a weightier presence in book 3.
Can't wait to see what's in store for the third adventure!
The Soul Stealers is an exemplary sequel. It expands on the universe in new and interesting ways, introduces new elements of the world, and is every bit as gripping as the first installment of this series. Driskill and the agency set out to defeat a witch who is stealing the souls of innocents on the edge of the badlands, and encounter no shortage of dangers along the way.
As a fellow New Mexican, perhaps I'm biased, but Ken Hoover *gets it*. In the acknowledgements, he mentions that the natural beauty of our state inspired the setting of the Midnight Agency series, and it's the perfect backdrop for a gritty adventure story. It can be bleak, it can be brutal and unforgiving, but at the same time, it's almost unspeakably beautiful. Hoover uses the setting to thicken the adventure, and the characters interact with it in incredibly interesting ways. The world of Midnight Agency is one of the richest worlds I've had the pleasure of stumbling across in the fantasy I've read in the past several years.
Hoover's characters have a vibrancy that I don't find often enough in speculative fiction. They feel real enough to jump off the page, and their bonds are so visceral, you find yourself wishing you could befriend them. Driskill gets most of the spotlight in this installment. He's a wonderfully fascinating character, but Kory and Carlos remain my favorites. I can't wait for the continuation of Kory's arc. She's a hotheaded spitfire and I love her for it, and her dynamic with Carlos (who is sweet and funny and absolutely wonderful; I love him for all the reasons I love Hoban Washburne) is just... *chef's kiss*. Fingers-crossed for more of the Kory/Carlos romance in the next book.
That being said, I missed Clara, Etta, and Silas. I enjoyed the new cast members, Goyan in particular, but I'm hopeful that the others will have a weightier presence in book 3.
Can't wait to see what's in store for the third adventure!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews