Book Review: Dead Indian Wars (Damnation Book 2) by Clark Casey

 
 
When a new man shows up in the Afterlife town of Damnation, gets himself elected mayor, and gains control over the town's two vampires, it only worsens the problems with the Native Americans, who easily outnumber the outlaws. Meanwhile, food and booze become scarce, the weather starts changing, and the outlaws start getting restless as tensions rise.

Book Review: Dead Indian Wars (Damnation Book 2) by Clark Casey | reading, books, book reviews, paranormal/urban fantasy, western
Title: Dead Indian Wars
Author:
Series:
Book Number: Book 2
Pages: 208
My Rating: 4 Stars
More Info: Goodreads, Amazon, Publisher
 

Review:

*I received an ecopy of this book via NetGalley. This has not influenced my review.*

Much like the first book in the series, this was an entertaining romp in the Old West, full of inappropriate fun!

As I mentioned last time, one strange thing about this series is that it doesn’t seem to have a protagonist. It has a narrator/POV character who’s a member of the town and who sometimes seems to have a touch of omniscience for the sake of the story, but the story is kind of about the whole group and the goings-on in their town of Damnation. It’s a format that works for this particular story though. I didn’t feel close to any one character, but I was amused and engaged while reading nonetheless.

But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great characters. In fact, I’ve become fond of them in general due to their ridiculous antics. It was the women who really stole the show this time though. Mabel didn’t let herself be pushed around; she made things happen, held her own in a town full of men who didn’t respect women in general, and even took one girl who showed up under her wing. Both Mollie and Annabelle turned out to be feisty when necessary, and I loved them for it. *SPOILER* One of them bashed a man over the head with a wine bottle then stabbed his neck with a shard when he grabbed her inappropriately. The other broke up a gunfight all by herself and turned out to be basically a sharpshooter. *END SPOILER* Even Gut-Shot Granny had her moments. The only one who wasn’t around much was Ms. Parker. But overall, the ladies brought their A game.

Oh, and of course I liked the setting since I do love books set in the Old West, and this Afterlife version of it adds a layer of strangeness to the whole thing.

Since this book was set in the Old West, I do want to give a warning that there were some instances of racism, ableism, sexism, toxic masculinity, etc. from some of the characters. But these were fitting in the context, and a lot of it was acknowledged or subverted by the story and individual characters. There was a lot of acknowledgement of the terrible treatment of Native Americans and the stealing of their lands. As I said above, the female characters were awesome. The disabled characters weren’t helpless or inferior. There was even mention of two guys holding hands, so there might have been LGBT+ characters. One male character openly wept at one point. So I do feel like it was just many of the characters that were realistically problematic, not the book. (But keep in mind I am not an expert on every marginalized group, and there’s always the possibility of problems in books that I don’t realize.)

I want to give one more warning, what with all the shootings happening in real life. There was lots of shooting in this book because of the Old West setting, but there was one scene in particular when someone basically just opened fire on everyone in the saloon that I imagine could potentially be triggering.

I had a couple small issues with suspension of disbelief. The plot was also a bit meandering again. Those were very minor things though and didn’t hurt my enjoyment.

Overall, this was another fun book in the series with ridiculous characters, inappropriate humor, and a strange, lawless Old West Afterlife. So pull up a stool, keep your head down, and don’t piss off any vampires, and you just might survive in Damnation long enough to make it to Heaven. 😉

 

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  1. Greg

    Love the title of this one. As you know I’m kinda in to this whole Weird West (or whatever) sub genre that’s going on, and this sounds awesome- almost like a slice of life of the town since there’s no central protagonist? And seriously- Gut Shot Granny????

    Also a vampire sheriff and a werewolf pack, undead Indians… oh my.

    Reminds me a little of Westworld only with fantasy/ UF elements instead of sci-fi. “A sudden scarcity of food and booze” cracks me up too. Priorities after all! 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Maybe not quite slice of life since the story seems to be leading to something, some overall plot, but something like that. Gut-Shot Granny, so named because she’s slow to draw her gun but shoots before her arm gets all the way up, so she mostly ends up shooting people in the gut lol.

      Food and booze is pretty much all they have in their tiny little afterlife town. Plus, imagine being hungry all the time! I’d prob have the same priorities 😉

  2. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    I’m glad you’re still enjoying this series. So many series I need to make time for. I love the cover of this one as well. I think the Afterlife in the Old West is such a unique concept and that it will make for a fun and enjoyable read. Great review!