L.X. Cain has created a richly crafted old-world backdrop for her story.
Bloodwalker is a puzzle involving two distinct story-lines blended into one delightfully horrible tale. On one hand, it's about a troubled circus, the murders that follow wherever it goes, and the severely scarred head of security, Rurik, who is obsessed with finding the party responsible.
The first thread ....
"Somewhere in the Zorka Cyrka—his home since childhood—among the circus tents, RVs, dressing rooms, and show trunks was a clown costume, missing a button. And he was going to find it. Find out who owned it.
And he was never going to hurt another child."
And then there was the story of the young bloodwalkers, three women, set to be married by Zora, the most powerful bloodwalker alive and the ceremony that goes dreadfully wrong for one of the brides to be.
"This disaster wasn't her mother's fault. She was a real bloodwalker—saw souls, heard the dead's voices, and gave messages to their families. Sylvie couldn't, no matter how hard she tried. Even when all she had to do was prepare a body...somehow things just went wrong."
It takes a while, but when the two stories merge into one and we discover the dark truth about surviving the bloodwalker's curse, the race is on to end the killing once and for all.
One thing I did enjoy immensely was the quotes from the Bloodwalker's Book at the beginning of each chapter. Bits of information that give insight into what it means to be a bloodwalker. For example, "All haste must be made to reach the corpse before it stiffens. If you arrive too late, be sure you order the relatives to leave before you begin breaking the joints and snapping the sinews."
I tend to be partial to stories with carnival and circus settings. And Rurik may be a monster on the outside, but in the end he realizes there are worse kinds of monsters in the world.
Not perfect, but certainly an enjoyable read. Recommended.
Bloodwalker is available in both e-book and paperback formats from Freedom Fox Press.
From the author's bio - L.X. Cain was born in the U.S. but now lives on the Red Sea and busily taps away at a laptop, coming up with stories to thrill and entertain readers.
Thank you for reading and for the detailed review!
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