Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts, #1) (Chess Putnam, #3)

by Stacia Kane

If you liked the compelling characters in 50 Shades of Grey, you’ll love the Downside Ghosts series.

Murderous spirits and ruthless drug dealers combine to create serious problems for fiercely independent heroine, Chess, in these fast-paced, sexy and addictive novels.

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen and constantly attack the living. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit.

Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and...

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Reviewed by celinenyx on

2 of 5 stars

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Chess makes an unlikely urban fantasy heroine: addicted to drugs, orphaned, and an exorcist of the totalitarian Church that has taken over the power after ghosts came back to kill the living. While Unholy Ghosts felt like an interesting departure from the stock and trade vampire/werewolf contemporary settings of other urban fantasy books, it didn't completely deliver either.

If I had to describe Unholy Ghosts in one word, it would be 'grim'. Everything from the setting, after an apocalyptic event that killed off half the world's population, to the main character's outlook is pretty damn grimy and bleak. It's a violent world, and it doesn't help that Chess routinely consorts with the underworld due to her drug addiction. For me, if a setting is dark like this, you need pinpoints of light and hope to hold on to, to keep reading. These were too far and few in between - the only minor relief if brought by a mild sexual tension with the drug dealer's enforcer, Terrible. Chess's characterisation was lacking - I am perfectly willing to read about a person's battle with their demons, but it seemed like Chess didn't actually have any. Apart from her orphanhood, there seems to be no deeper layer to her personality, no darkness that explains why she is so heavily reliant on the (largely fictional) pills she keeps popping throughout the book. Although I didn't necessarily need the story to have a redemption/recovery arc, there should be some digging into a certain trauma or foundational events. As it is, Chess is bland and uninteresting.

A lot is going on in this book: a family is being haunted, Chess becomes embroiled with a drug dealer who wants her to check out an airfield, and someone is out to kill her. Yet because Chess's drug-addled and emotionally bland state is our lens into the world, all events become rather bland themselves as well. Despite the plot chugging along, the book felt boring, and I kept putting it down to read other books instead. Witchcraft is usually my cup of tea, but not even some witchy rituals held my attention for long, because the magic system felt elusive and unsubstantiated.

Unholy Ghosts has an interesting premise and setting, but the story drags and falls into pointless bleakness.

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Trigger warnings: (show spoiler)

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 October, 2018: Finished reading
  • 7 October, 2018: Reviewed