Review + Giveaway: Storms of Lazarus

Welcome to my tour stop for Storms of Lazarus by Karen Kincy. This is the second book in the Shadows of Asphodel series. This is a new adult dieselpunk romance and is now available!  The tour runs August 11-22 with reviews, interviews and a few guest posts. Check out the tour page for all of the schedule and more information.

Title: Storms of Lazarus
Author: Karen Kincy
Release Date: July 2014
Series?: Shadows of Asphodel #2
Genre: New Adult, Dieselpunk, Romance
Source: CBB Book Promotions

Find the book: Website | Goodreads | Amazon

*****Synopsis*****

Sometimes escape is impossible. Sometimes love isn’t enough.

1913. Christmas Eve. Ardis hardly expects a quiet holiday with Wendel, between fleeing Constantinople and hiding from an ancient society of assassins. And they owe a debt to a certain archmage.

In Königsberg, Prussia, they work with Konstantin on the next evolution of Project Lazarus. Wendel once called Königsberg home, the city now besieged by the Russians and their clockwork engines of war. This may be Wendel’s last chance to save his family and find redemption, but he’s tormented by nightmares and tempted by laudanum. Ardis fears her love isn’t enough to save Wendel. Her hands are full piloting the automatons, and she’s terrified to tell him a secret of her own. Will they—and their love—survive the storms of war?

*****Review*****

You can read my review of the first book in the Asphodel series, Shadows of Asphodel, here.

Vampires. Angry Hungarians. Zeppelins. Assassins. Clockwork. Strip poker. A raven. The automans. The castle. War.

“You have a lovely singing voice,” Ardis said, “but –“

“Why, thank you.”

“But be quiet. We’re escaping.”

“Escaping,” Wendel grinned like he couldn’t help himself. “Exactly.”

Karen Kincy did not disappoint in her followup to Shadows of Asphodel! Of course, it didn’t go anything how I planned it to, but Karen Kincy is a master of story weaving; it is much more than just storytelling. One difference between the first book and Storms of Lazarus is I noticed a distinctive difference in the pacing. Shadows of Asphodel was constant action and fast-paced. Storms of Lazarus allows readers to recognize the familiarity of the characters and their storyline continuation from the first book, unlike many books in series.

“Where are we going?”

“Not to our deaths, apparently,” Wendel said.

Konstantin shook his head. “Logic escapes you, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t trust you,” Wendel said, with more than a little insolence. “Do I need to explain the concept of revenge to you, archmage?”

Due to this magical trick of writing, Kincy built in moments of pause for readers. As I read I could clearly find the rises and the dips in the action of the plot, and the brief lulls in between gave insightful moments into the main characters’ interactions and character growth.

Ardis and Wendel are at it again, only this time the archmage who put his neck on the line comes calling after a very questionable run-in with some angry Hungarians. Wendel finds himself the center of attention from a raven, who Wendel takes as a pet. Konstantin played a smaller role in this book than in the first, but he brought the famous Nikola Tesla into the mix of his work, who helped the Vienna archmages in their work. A certain Captain Himmel is also among the ranks of Wendel and Ardis, captaining the zeppelin to take the two back to the very place they’re running from. And Ardis discovers something she is afraid to share with Wendel, a secret that she is keeping.

Himmel shook his head. His eyes looked hollow. “I’m not a captain,” he said. “Not without my ship. Not without my crew.”

That blonde bitch from the first book who screwed Ardis over also reappears. Natalya leads the command of the automan pilots.

“Why are all the pilots women, anyway?” Ardis said. 

Natalya grinned. “We’re some of the toughest bitches around.” 

Wendel, Ardis and the gang are also invited to Wendel’s castle. Ardis meets his entire family, and there are WORDS. It’s not too pretty. These scenes are tense and sarcastic, but hurtful all the same. I also found this is where Natalya experiences character growth, or perhaps my view of her was biased since it was told through Ardis. Natalya turned out to be an OK lady.

“I want asylum,” Wendel said. 

“Asylum?”

“I’m tired of everyone trying to kill me.”

“You belong in an asylum,” Konstantin muttered. 

Wendel laughed, then frowned as if he hadn’t meant to humor the archmage.

But war doesn’t care about family reunions, new relationships and friendships, reconciliation, destruction, death. At this point in the book, I was going a little crazy. Women, you know what I mean: imagining all manner of scenarios – the most horrible.

“Gentlemen!” the archmage said. “This is a hospital.” 

“He’s no gentleman,” Himmel said.

“True,” Wendel said. “Technically, I’m royalty.” 

“You won’t be anything when I’m done with you.”

Wendel laughed,and Himmel glared ferociously at him. The necromancer seemed glad that the captain was no longer melancholy. 

“My God,” Ardis said. “Everybody calm the hell down.” 

That’s it. That’s all I can tell you. You’ll just have to read the book. 😀

Well…I will tell you this: the third book will be an entirely new adventure. That’s all.

“I don’t want my only solution to be death.”

*****About the Author*****

Karen Kincy (Redmond, Washington) can be found lurking in her writing cave, though sunshine will lure her outside. When not writing, she stays busy gardening, tinkering with aquariums, or running just one more mile. Karen has a BA in Linguistics and Literature from The Evergreen State College.

Find the author: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

*****Giveaway*****

There is a $25 Amazon giftcard up for grabs in the giveaway!

Click here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway!