This whole series would make for some awesome Halloween listening...

The Rising - Morgan Brice

‘The Rising’ is the second full length novel in Morgan Brice’s ‘Badlands’ series and I can honestly say without reservation I should not like this series…I mean seriously it’s paranormal, there are ghost and demons and all kinds of things that go bump in the night and yet here I am firmly entrenched in it.

 

If you’re someone who likes all of that stuff with a solid dose of romance added as well than I definitely encourage you to check out this series and honestly you could probably pick up this book and not be lost but my suggestion is to start at the beginning so that you can get all of the background for Simon and Vic and their relationship as well as having a chance to meet the secondary characters who appear throughout ‘The Badlands’ stories, before diving into this latest book but then I’d also say if you like audio books this series is absolutely delightful to listen to on audio with Kale Williams doing an absolutely fan-freakin-tastic job as the narrator for this series, I think for me this is a very solid part of the reason that I’ve been enjoying the series so much.…so I just used the word ‘delightful’ when talking about stories with ghost and demons and who knows what else in them…yeah, my world just tilted on it’s axis a little.

 

Every bit as unusual as the genre for me is the setting. I have to admit when I think of settings for ghost stories…Myrtle Beach is not at the top of my list but that’s where these stories takes place and as unusual as that might seem to some…like me, the author’s made it work…I guess when you think about it you can probably find ghost anywhere if you know how and where to look, but I have to admit when I think of ghost I think of places that resound with age and history…places like New Orleans, Savannah or even older places that you’d find an ocean away in Europe. So even though it’s a little thing taking a location that’s normally associated with sun and fun and using it as the setting for stories about ‘things that go bump in the night’ adds that touch of different that can sometimes make a story stand out a little bit more than it otherwise might have.

 

‘The Rising’ takes place as Myrtle Beach is preparing to face one of the worst storms it’s seen in years...it’s a storm that’s not just promising to cause possible death and destruction in the present but it’s churning up things from the past…things that should have stayed buried in the depth of the oceans waters, things that could prove to be far more lethal to some than a mere tropical storm.

 

It’s going to take Simon, Vic and Simon’s network of friends as well as some help from beyond the grave to put the past to rest this time. I’m very much a fan of Vic and Simon and they’re fast becoming a favorite pairing of mine and while I love the parts of the story that deal with their growing relationship, I have to admit there was more than one occasion when we were getting some Simon and Vic time that this reader was all about getting back to the rest of the story. I was very solidly hooked into what was happening with the storm and all of the ghost…pirates, villains and others. I loved the rich and colorful history that the author created for this part of the story with it’s tale of pirates, intrigue and betrayal and if that’s not enough to make you curious there’s always the curse of the Gallow’s Nine and yes, you’ll need to read the book to find out what that’s all about.

 

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An audio book of ‘The Rising’ was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review