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Die and Stay Dead (Nicholas Kaufmann)

Die and Stay Dead - Nicholas Kaufmann

My frustration with Trent aside and the fact that the plot in this book was quite repetitive, I still loved it. I would try to break down this review similar to what I did with book #1Dying Is My Business

** The Story **
Mr. Kaufmann jumped straight to business with Trent and the The Five-Pointed Star members trying to catch infected magician who had been kidnapping female joggers. They were able to rescue a female who was still alive, Calliope, from the magician. But then Trent found Calliope murdered and her murder was a start of a more serious threat to New York City: a royalty demon Nahash-Dred or the Destroyer of Worlds was going to be summoned by a member of a doomsday cult to finish what they started.

I admit that I didn't remember ANYTHING from book #1 but that was basically my fault for having such bad memory for details. Didn't matter though because I thought, for 400+ pages (based on Kindle anyway), the story was moving pretty fast. We suddenly had a murder, then a plot by a doomsday cult to bring demon (by using fragments of a Codex), and of course the part with Trent's memory -- and a woman who seemed to know about his past.

Now, I did say the plot felt repetitive because, well, it did. Trent and his friends were off to retrieve a fragment, they got attacked. Then they went to retrieve another fragment, then got attacked. I mean, didn't they learn anything from previous experience?!? Plus they were duped quite easily by the member of the cult (uhm, hello, the CLUES were there!).

Oh, and not to mention that Trent being SO GULLIBLE throughout the whole thing, which became my source of frustration. It was so obvious to me as a reader (or was it just me?!?) that the woman was up to no good. I could understand Trent's desperation to know about his past, but as a hero, he needed to step up his game and be more cautious at least.

Having said that, like I said, I did love it. The war in the end was pretty good, and well, Reve Azrael was definitely a worthy villain. PLUS we finally found out who Trent's really was!! The ending was definitely a set-up for book #3 (and what might be the FINAL book) and I didn't mind it at all. It wasn't a total cliff-hanger but it sure made me eager for book #3 publication.

** The World-Building **

No gargoyles this time. But LOTS of demons. Including a BIG one. And a kind of adorable one *lol*

** The Characters **

Trent did not impress me when he was being so gullible and naive but at least there was progress of her and Bethany. At first, I was slightly annoyed with Gabrielle, because she couldn't seem to let go from Thornton's demise but then she snapped out of it and went out for vengeance. That was awesome. I was intrigued with Phillip (his back story was appealing) and MOSTLY his relationship with Isaac. I hoped that one would be explored more thoroughly in the last book as well.

** Overall Thoughts **

Loved it.