Review - In the House of the Wicked by Thomas E. Sniegoski (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 336 pages
Publisher: Roc Trade
Release Date: August 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0451464569
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Remy Chandler series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the fifth book in the Remy Chandler series. Like the last book, this story is told from many different POVs. However for this book it works much better than it did for the previous one.

A woman who is like a daughter to Remy, Ashley, is kidnapped and it is up to Remy to find her. Remy finds that she has been taken by a once-formidable sorcerer who wants vengeance against all who have hurt him. The sorcerer wants to use Remy as a weapon and Remy wants to rescue Ashley..but can he stop the sorcerer without getting Ashley killed?

If you have enjoyed the previous book in this series I think you will enjoy this one as well. This book was similar to the previous book in style; the story is told from a million different points of view. I didn’t really like that in the last book, but in this book it works well.

We hear from characters both in the past and the present. Events is the past are told about a group of formidable sorcerers that ended up creating great evil to extend their lives. These events end up tying in with current events that are happening. The time and POV changes do an excellent job of slowly unraveling and revealing the story.

Remy is struggling a lot in this book. His angelic nature has been pushing more and more to the surface and he struggles over and over to keep it in check. This book looks like it will just be the beginning of his struggles to hold on to some of his humanity.

I really wished that Marlowe and Remy’s girlfriend, Linda, were in the story a bit more...you barely spend any time with either of them. Not having Marlowe there as much sucked a bit of the fun out of the story. This book didn’t have as much humor as previous ones and had a pretty dark and serious storyline.

There are some very interesting new characters introduced though. Ashley is one tough cookie and I hope we get to read more about her in future installments. Detective Steven Mulvehill also plays a part in the story and I am to curious to see what becomes of him in future stories as well. A brand new character named Squire, who is a hobgoblin that resides in the Shadow Realms, added a lot to the story as well.

I loved that we spent some time in the mysterious Shadow realm. There are things revealed about this realm that reflect things that could happen to our Earth. All of this ties into the over-arcing story regarding the Grigori and their quest to end the world.

The book was easy to read and very well written. It was an engaging read and all in all a great urban fantasy story.

Overall an excellent continuation of this series. The story is told from a lot of different POVs, but for this book it worked. Remy struggles against his angelic nature and also uncovers some interesting information about the shadow realm. We meet some excellent new characters as well. This whole series is highly recommended to fans of urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge