Hate Machine

By and large, I've been enjoying the Eric Carter books. Although this series isn't growing in scope quite as fast as other popular urban fantasy sequences and it's beginning to hurt it in myriad ways, the novels are entertaining reads. Still, eight volumes into this series, I feel that there should be more. A lot more.

The first few installments mostly read like Jim Butcher's early Dresden Files books. Short and episodic in format, they helped lay down the groundwork for what was coming. It looked as though we had reached the conclusion of the first story arc by the end of the third book, and there was true potential for bigger and better things to come. Then came Fire Season, which was a step in the right direction, followed by Ghost Money, Blackmoore's best effort yet. Unfortunately, the resolution of the Djinn's storyline in Bottle Demon was a bit of a letdown. And since Darius' threat seemed to be the underlying arc of the entire series, I was left wondering what the author had in store for us moving forward.

What truly hurt the seventh volume, Suicide Kings, is the fact that it was essentially the first half of what should have been a single novel. Weighing in at barely 200 pages, there is no reason why Suicide Kings and Hate Machine couldn't have been published as one work. There was no endgame and finale to speak of, as the book ended with another major cliffhanger. Even though it was another fun read, it's obvious that the author wasn't about to level up. If anything, Suicide Kings felt kind of like a step backward. At least this latest installment would hopefully provide the resolution that was lacking in its predecessor.

Here's the blurb:

The eighth book of this dark urban fantasy series follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts.

If there's one thing Eric Carter can count on, it's his past coming back to bite him in the ass.

Gabriela Cortez, La Bruja, has had her soul trapped... somewhere, and the only one who knows how to get it back is the Oracle of Las Vegas, a powerful artifact that Carter helped create almost thirty years before. It doesn't just predict the future--it makes things happen, influencing events to reach the goal it wants.

Only somebody's gone and stolen it, attempting to turn it into an artifact that doesn't just change the future, but also the past.

Eric needs to find it and steal it back before this comes to pass. If he doesn't, Gabriela's soul is lost. And quite possibly the future as well.

As mentioned in my review of Suicide Kings, with Darius gone, I was expecting Stephen Blackmoore to elevate his game and take the Eric Carter series to another level, with more ambitious story arcs that would add layers to the plot. I was expecting this series to really open up and build on everything that has transpired so far. It is no wonder that I was disappointed to see the author take the micro approach instead of a more macro perspective and have the main character become Amanda Werther's bodyguard during the family's conclave. While it made for another fun and action-packed novel, in my humble opinion it wasn't exactly what the series needed to finally take off. But a trip to Las Vegas in search of a way to free Gabriela's soul sounds like a nice way to kickstart everything. But first, Eric must find the Oracle, an artifact that he helped create years ago. Trouble is, not everyone is happy to see Eric back in Vegas. And out of necessity, he must reunite with the old gang he used to run with in order to survive long enough to hopefully get his hand on the Oracle and discover what the hell is actually going on.

Structurally, everything would have worked better if Suicide Kings and Hate Machine had been a single novel. The Werther family conclave would have been the first part, with the Vegas trip offering something different in the greater scheme of things. Both installments also offer new and interesting supporting casts, which would have made that book the best of the bunch with Ghost Money. Eight volumes in, Blackmoore has yet to level up compared to his contemporaries. As I said before, to keep the Eric Carter books so short and episodic at this juncture prevents them from really taking off.

Hate Machine features a thrilling endgame, but the finale itself doesnn't offer the sort of resolution I expected. It raises more questions than it provides answers. Which would be all well and good if we knew there were plenty of sequels on the way.

However, Daw Books will no longer publish new Eric Carter material and I'm not sure if Blackmoore is allowed to try to get future installments released elsewhere. Which means that, as things stand, the ninth volume is the last one in the series. It will be interesting to discover whether Cult Classic will offer some sort of closure. Indeed, it would be sad if this one ended the same way it did for Harry Connolly and his Twenty Palaces series.

The final verdict: 7.5/10

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