Review: Book of Death by S. Evan Townsend

Title: Book of Death
Author: S. Evan Townsend
Published: Sep. 4, 2012
Pages: 226
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
Genre: Sci-fi/fantasy
Review: Paperback won in a giveaway

They live among us. We know they are there. No government can control them; no authority can stop them. Some are evil. Some are good. All are powerful. They inhabit our myths and fairy tales. But what if they were real, the witches, wizards, and fairy godmothers? What if they were called "adepts" and were organized into guilds for mutual protection and benefit? And what if some of them discovered a power that other adepts could not match.

During the turbulent 1960s, when American adept Peter Branton agrees to go to Transylvania for the CIA, he suspects it's not about ball bearings as he was told. What he finds is a plot that could kill millions of people and plunge the world into eternal tyranny and bloodshed. Branton doesn't know it, but he's about to face the adept guilds' worst nightmare: practicing necromancers with a taste for human blood.

So what can I say about this book. I am glad I won it because based on the cover I probably would not have picked this book up at all. It was an okay book for me but it didn't truly hold my interest like I hoped it would have. For me there just was not a lot of action like I expected in a book that has people who could do magic. The only thing I truly enjoyed in the book was the way the ending worked out. 

This book takes place in the late 1960's, one of the witches who everyone calls an adept is sent on a mission. While on this mission to Transylvania Peter encounters more than he bargained for he has to fight pretty much for his life to end the rein of necromancers that everyone thought was over centuries ago. He has to get help from different governments and guilds to stop the person who is at the center of it all, but will he succeed is the question because if he doesn't it could mean the end of the world for some. 

The plot is a good one and you get some back story as to who Peter is though I believe this book to be part of a series I don't think I missed too much from not reading the other books. It does make a good stand alone. 

I did enjoy how the author included necromancers into the story as I have never read about their kind before so that was a nice touch to it. If you are into government type stories (which aren't too heavy in it) along with people who have magic then I would recommend this book to you. For me it was just not something I really enjoyed. 

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 S. Evan Townsend is a writer living in central Washington State. After spending four years in the U.S. Army in the Military Intelligence branch, he returned to civilian life and college to earn a B.S. in Forest Resources from the University of Washington. In his spare time he enjoys reading, driving (sometimes on a racetrack), meeting people, and talking with friends. He is in a 12-step program for Starbucks addiction. Evan lives with his wife and has three grown sons at various stages of getting out of the nest. He enjoys science fiction, fantasy, history, politics, cars, and travel.