Resurrection Road
Resurrection Road by Hannah Marae Published by Somewhere Press on July 26, 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 318
Format: eARC
Goodreads
For as long as she can remember, Eden has been on the run. The open road is the only freedom she’s ever known, the only life she’s ever had. But when the road ends in a backwater town, a mysterious phone call sends her on a new journey.
Lazarus is no stranger to ghosts. Shades and spirits are his constant companions, it’s the living that set him on edge. The decision to help a troubled mage will find him taking on more than he bargained for.
Becoming a hunter was never part of Zeke’s plan.He finds himself stepping into all the dark places where horrors lurk and spirits roam free—until a job gone wrong shows him there’s more than one way to deal with a monster.
A missing friend.A chance to prove himself.A desire to keep the darkness inside at bay.Together, the three set out on the long road east, each pulled by a secret.But a powerful presence lurks in the shadows, eager to make a deal that will change their lives forever.
You know what’s amazing? That I know people who write books. I think all authors are amazing – writing a book (or fanfiction!) is a great accomplishment. And it blows my mind that I’ve been able to meet up and coming authors through the bookstagram community!! One of those is Hannah Marae, who you can find on Instagram @hannah.marae. When I heard about this book of hers, I was super excited. She offered me an advanced copy, and I’m so glad I took her up on the offer. I really enjoyed the book overall.
What I Liked
Listen, I just really love urban fantasy okay? Ghosts and vampires and shapeshifters and magic!! It’s all great. And I especially like how each author/book has their own take on these classic elements. I really enjoyed the focus on ghosts in this particular novel. Also, the sigil magic concept is really cool. I guess writing symbols for magic has been used before, but I really liked the concept of tattooing these sigils on a person’s body. Being able to activate a tattoo spell is something that my Dungeons and Dragons campaign has used recently haha, so I’m really into it.
Maybe it’s because I’m going on a road trip of my own soon, but I love that setting for novels. I haven’t read many, but I think it’s a great way to explore lots of cool locations, and a great setting for building relationships. Road-tripping along with this cast of characters, and the different “side quests” so to speak, was super fun to read about.
I know that the show Supernatural was a big influence on this novel, but to be honest I haven’t seen any of that show haha. From what I know of it though, one of the key relationships is between two brothers, and we have that in Resurrection Road. Lazarus and Zeke are technically cousins, but live and travel together and interact like many siblings do. They definitely love each other, but naturally there are things about the other that get on their nerves, and they have their fights. Like a real world relationship! Hahaah. I think it would be fun to read a collection of short stories about them and their adventures haha. The two of them are ghost hunters, and learning how ghosts interact with the world around them through the lense of ghost hunting was really cool.
What I Wanted More Of
Another family relationship was Mab and Eden – though it is found family rather than blood family. Which we love around here!!! It’s clear that the two of them have a deep bond, but I didn’t feel it quite like I wanted to. I felt that it was explained more than it was shown, so I didn’t feel quite as invested. I think this is meant to be the first book in a series, which is perhaps why the author didn’t include quite as much backstory as I would’ve liked. Hopefully the author explores relationship more in later books!
That kind of leads me to a general complaint of lack of character depth. Naturally we focused in on the two main characters, Eden and Laz. However, there are a good handful of secondary characters that I think needed more exploration and development. The novel could have been longer, to spend more time on this aspect.
I think also the general timeline felt a bit rushed – the characters started trusting each other too quickly to be believable. In general, I think the novel should have been maybe 50+ pages longer so that we could just get more depth in all aspects.
All in all, this was a really fun read! It could use a little more development, but I’m really happy I read it. And I will definitely be looking forward to the next book, and further books by Hannah! I hope you all check this one out – it releases today!! You can find it on Amazon, or get a signed copy from Hannah’s Etsy store.
OH!! And how could I forget my favorite character – a shapeshifting dog named Hades!! Precious boy!
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