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Unholy Magic (Downside Ghosts, #2)

Stacia Kane

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What Members Thought

Dec 04, 2011 Mandapanda rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal-romance

Amazing that I can like a book so much and yet dislike the heroine.

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Mar 01, 2012 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook

Maybe it wasn't a happy ending. But it was a hell of a lot better than she'd expected. You and me both, Chess. I can honestly say I thought she was going to overdose, commit suicide or something...I didn't see how it was going to work out. I like stories that I can't figure out until the end. This book improved on the first and definitely gave us something to look forward to. I was so scared around chapter 18...I certainly saw that coming from the very first chapter - but still totally shocked m ...more

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Jul 12, 2010 Kindlelicious rated it it was amazing

From Kindleliciousreads.com:

Okay. *Deep Breaths* I will not gush. I will write a decent review of this book. *Deep Breaths*

Unholy Magic picks up a few months after its predecessor. We find that Chess is still pretty much just existing in a pill-induced haze, while still sleeping with Lex and being “friends” with Terrible. She gets roped into to working for two different cases, one for the Church and one for Bump, her drug dealer. The Church sends her to a TV celebrity’s house to invcestigate a h From Kindleliciousreads.com:

Okay. *Deep Breaths* I will not gush. I will write a decent review of this book. *Deep Breaths*

Unholy Magic picks up a few months after its predecessor. We find that Chess is still pretty much just existing in a pill-induced haze, while still sleeping with Lex and being “friends” with Terrible. She gets roped into to working for two different cases, one for the Church and one for Bump, her drug dealer. The Church sends her to a TV celebrity’s house to invcestigate a haunting, while Bump wants her to investigate a string to dead hookers. In typical Chess fashion, both cases get her in serious trouble. Her lifestyle habits become a serious issue, she is caught in a very dangerous love triangle, and she continues to make bad choices. I don’t really want to say more about the plot because there are lots of twists and turns and I am trying to avoid spoilers.

What I can say, is this is hands down the best book I have read so far this year. Sometimes, overly dark and gritty books bother me, but these characters are just so fascinating, I cannot wait to learn more about them. Honestly, if I met Chess, Terrible or Lex in real life I would walk the other way. All 3 of them are essentially criminals, living in the bowels of society and yet, you just want something good to happen to them so badly it hurts. I found myself cheering on Terrible as he beat some money-owing druggie senseless: “Go Terrible, you break his leg! …did I just think that??” At one point, Chess is without her pills and I was all “Oh God! Someone get Chess her pills!! …wait what?” There were times I wanted to strangle Chess, but then I wanted to give her a big hug and tell her it would be okay. And Terrible! Oh, Terrible. We learn so much more about him in Unholy Magic, and if I didn’t think I would confuse the hell out of people, I would proudly sport a custom made “Team Terrible” shirt. I love him that much! But oh did he break my heart in this one. I want to quote him so badly but it would give it all away. He made me cry not once, but twice! Actually, the entire book was extremely emotional, I had a hard time sleeping when I finished. So…seriously…guys, girls, trannies, whatever, you NEED to read this series. It’s very dark (so much so that I don’t recommend eating while reading at some points), but so different, intriguing, gut-wrenching, thought-provking…okay I will stop. Just know that the 3rd book, City of Ghosts, comes out July 27th. Longest. Two Weeks. Ever.

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Jul 07, 2010 Chelsea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, uf-pnr

In Unholy Magic, we dive deeper into the two worlds Chess exists within: The Church of Truth and Downside.

Prostitutes in Downside are being murdered in heinous ways with the tinge of dark, sex-tinged magic hanging over their mutilated and branded corpses. The moment her official dealer Bump has the chance, he calls in ‘his’ churchwitch to figure out the cause. Chess has maintained her booty call/drug connection with Lex, so she ends up agreeing to work the same job from rival dealer Slobag’s sid In Unholy Magic, we dive deeper into the two worlds Chess exists within: The Church of Truth and Downside.

Prostitutes in Downside are being murdered in heinous ways with the tinge of dark, sex-tinged magic hanging over their mutilated and branded corpses. The moment her official dealer Bump has the chance, he calls in ‘his’ churchwitch to figure out the cause. Chess has maintained her booty call/drug connection with Lex, so she ends up agreeing to work the same job from rival dealer Slobag’s side, too. She’s wedged between warring drug lords, where one wrong step could lead to death, not just hers.

All the working girls are convinced it’s a specific serial killer’s ghost. The ghosts they’re focused on has been in Church prison for years. As such, we get to see more inside the Church of Truth headquarters. Stacia Kane paints the scenes vividly, particularly when Chess ventures into one of the deepest Church ghost prisons to confirm the serial killer is still caged. Her description of our heroine’s descent into this man-made hell for ghosts is startling, adding to the overall understanding of this alternate future Kane has created.

In Unholy Ghosts, Chess was without anyone in her life. No one relied on her or was invested in her welfare for altruistic purposes. In this series we see lots of people use Chess, but we start to see a real connection form between Chess and Terrible. She has trouble accepting the possibility of trust, but wants it. Her loose relationship with Lex begins to weigh on her. She crashes with him, lets him supply her drugs and keeps it all from Terrible. She finally has to begin looking at what damage she could be doing to these potential friendships, a first for her.

That worry though, can’t overcome her addiction. In Unholy Magic we see the depths of Chess’ addiction, the truth that functional addiction is an unrealistic hope. As a result, we also see more clearly how easily Chess can be manipulated. She’s lost control – not just to her addiction, but also to her freedom. She’s miserable and sees the steps to regaining her life as giving up. In Unholy Magic she has to face the truth of her situation and make the decision if her life with the Church, with friends, with lovers is worth a change.

With increased intensity, Kane delivers an action-packed, dark urban fantasy novel that will leave you reeling for days after finishing it. (We actually pre-ordered the third novel, City of Ghosts, the day after completion of Unholy Magic because we don’t want to waste even a day not knowing what will happen with Chess, her job, the love-triangle and the others within Downside.)
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Oct 23, 2012 Tammy rated it it was amazing

Wow! The problem with giving books a 5 star review is that when the next book tops the previous book you have no higher to go! This installment in the Downside Ghosts series was unbelievable! I couldn’t put it down. The was not one slow part in the entire book. The action starts from the first page and never stops. The emotional rollercoaster the author pulls you on is amazing. I laughed and I cried, BOY did I cry. This is becoming one of my all time favorite series. My “book friends” are all re ...more

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Apr 22, 2012 ★Meghan★ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: epubs-pdfs, paranormal, fiction, mystery, romance, series, fantasy, magic, paranormal-romance, urban-fantasy

This book was right smack in the middle for me as far as whether I liked it or not. I will admit at first I was ready to rate it a 1 or 2 star rating. However the ending of this book really redeemed it. Also Terrible after everything redeemed it as well. He was just the type of guy that you know is a bad guy, but has a soft teddy bear center. It makes you fall in love with them.

I was really hating this book in the first half due to Chess's addiction to the drugs. I don't mind reading about addi ...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Vivian rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2010

I want to give it more stars, I really really do, but throughout a lot of the book I had to tell myself not to quit so that's not exactly 4 star material.

I'm used to the way they speak, I've accepted the drug use, the way the storylines are all tied together is clever, the world is interesting. But I thought the book just dragged on and on and on...it was just so slow.

The best part of the book: Terrible :) If it wasn't for him, I think I may have stopped reading. I only want to read the next one ...more

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Aug 30, 2010 Daffodil rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Chess is juggling so many balls I'm kind of surprised she manages to keep them all in the air. She lies to pretty much everyone. Trying to keep her Church life separate from everything else. Hiding her relationship with Lex from Terrible and Bump. Chess's addictions and job make for gritty reading, edging this urban fantasy deeper into horror territory. At one point I was even reminded of Stephen King's writings, the descriptive imagery used by Kane causing me to shudder with delighted disgust. ...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Grace rated it really liked it

The relationship between Terrible and Chess is heartbreaking. I really want these two to get together but there always seems to an obstacle stopping them. I bought Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts right after I read the first book. I love this series and can't wait till the next addition. ...more

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