Rogue Ethereal #1
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was burned at the stake when I was fourteen...
I was drowned in a lake when I was twenty-four...
At twenty-seven, I was stoned in a public square...
Maxima Alcado has died a hundred times in a hundred different ways, usually at the hands of the humans she tries to save. But when this centuries-old Witch helps the wrong person, things go horribly wrong.
Max might just die in a way that sticks.
I decided to give this one a try after reading good reviews for the series from Shirley Cuypers, and the premise sounded cool. A 400 year old witch who always comes back to life when she dies. I really enjoyed reading it, especially the main character. The world seems like a fairly standard urban fantasy with a bunch of different supernaturals, called Ethereals. The story is good, and works well as an introduction to Max and a couple of her friends, although there is obviously a lot of back story we don’t know. There is occasionally POVs other than Max’s, which is kinda cool and gives you a little more info about the side characters. The book did lack a proper final proof-read though, which bothered me, but I’m quite picky with that sort of thing.
"My mother thought I was cursed or a necromancer when I woke from being burned at the stake. She didn’t even ask me. She just cast me out without a second glance. As if I was dead to her—as if I meant nothing."
Max is a witch (probably) who owns a tattoo shop, which I thought was really cool, and also I love the tattoos in the cover art. I say probably a witch, because while she does have witch magic from her mother, she actually got kicked out of the coven and labelled a Rogue when she was 14, because it’s not normal for a witch to come back to life after being burned at the stake. Having been mostly alone for so long, she has taught herself magic, including things that witches can’t do like teleporting with the snap of her fingers. In general, Max does her own thing, doesn’t take crap from anyone, and is not afraid to hurt people, or get hurt, when necessary. She has some issues too, which is understandable given her history. I really liked her as a character.
"Assholes are everywhere, and I get my fair share of them by being a female tattoo artist with a D-cup and a penchant for low-cut tops and tight pants. I can’t kill all of them, right?"
The story is good too, albeit pretty bloody. Max tries to help out a young pregnant woman who is stuck in an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, the boyfriend turns out to be an evil demon. A very powerful incubus to be exact. It ends up getting very violent, with some brutal fight scenes, and it does not end well.
"Dying doesn’t scare me. Staying dead does."
I liked the world, as I said, a pretty standard urban fantasy, but with a few random types of supernatural along with the usual ones: witches, demons, angels, wraiths, and with mention of a phoenix. There also seems to be a few hybrids getting around, with three of the main characters uncertain of their actual heritage or powers including Max. I’m sure there is lots more to explore in future books.
"Plenty of demons have manners. Plenty of angels are outright scoundrels. What we are does not dictate what can be."
I enjoyed this book and I actually went and jumped straight into book two, Daughter of Souls and Silence, because I just had to know more, and I wanted more of Max.
Happy reading!
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