Black City Demon by Richard A. Knaak

What can happen when a bad person gets control of a lot of power? Isn’t that what many Americans are asking themselves these days? Black City Demon tackles that question as well when an old enemy of Chicago gets his hands on the power of Feirie.

I received an ARC or review copy of this book from the author/publisher. All opinions are my own.

Title: Black City Demon
Author: Richard A. Knaak
Series: Black City Saint, Book 02
Publish Date: March 14, 2017 by Pyr
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Provided by the publisher

Publisher’s Description: Since he became the guardian of the Gate between our world and Feirie sixteen hundred years ago, Nick Medea, once Saint George, has battled to keep the darkest Feirie–the Wyld–from invading the mortal plane. With the dragon an unwilling part of him, Nick maintains balance between realms, often at great cost to him and those nearest to him.

Nick and his ragtag confederates—including the shape-shifter Fetch and Nick’s reincarnated love, Claryce—have battled the Wyld, but not mortals as sinister as the darkest Feirie. Now, with Prohibition in full swing and bootlegger wars embattling Chicago, a murderous evil born of the mortal world has turned its attention to the power of the Gate… and Nick himself.

Nick must turn again to his most untrustworthy ally: the dragon within. Yet even together they may not be enough to face what was once a man… but is now a creature even dragons may fear.

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

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Invested Ivana says…

This is a great follow-up to Black City Saint. Nick, Fetch, Kravayik, Claryce, and the Dragon have another mystery to solve, one even more insidious than the last.

I like how Knaak wove real Chicago history into this book. This particular historical figure seems to be popping up quite often in books and TV lately. He is an interesting psychological case study so I can see the fascination.

This book, even more than the first, truly establishes Nick as a curmudgeon. He is grumpy, and he can hold a grudge for a LONG time. I’m looking forward to the book where he can accept himself and all of his friends, including Claryce, and stop being so short and grumpy with them. However, a lot of urban fantasy detectives are grumpy; so are a lot of noir detectives. So that may never come to pass.

Knaak has a lot of really good side characters in this series. I really like Detective Cortez. I’m hoping he becomes part of the inner circle eventually.  I love Fetch, of course, even when his true nature peaks through. Kravayik fascinates me, too.  I’d love to learn more about his conversion to Christianity. I even like Diocles; the backstory between Nick and Diocles fascinates me. There are so many interesting stories that could come from that relationship.

I hope this series continues for a while. I think there are some great stories here worth telling.

Percy Procrastinator says…

The second book in the series starts slow but once it gets going, it’s non-stop action and fun!

A long time ago, I read a review of a movie and the reviewer spoiled the movie. The reviewer didn’t go out of his way to spoil movies, but if he had to do so for his review, he didn’t shy away from them. He did so because, in his opinion, if a movie can’t stand on its own even after a spoiler, it must not have had much to it.

With that, I get to my review, and while I won’t directly spoil the book, I could be giving enough information that other readers might feel I spoiled it.

This book picks up a few weeks after the events of the last book. This means prohibition is in full swing and the threat of a mob war lingers. Even with the threat to Feirie gone, Feirie has not let Nick go and still meddles. Nick returns to doing what he does—dealing with Feirie trespassers—and avoids Claryce, which is one of my issues with the book.

Nick is fifteen hundred years old. He would have seen many strong women in that time, and attitudes toward women go up and down throughout history. Indeed, he thought highly of his own Cleolinda from his mortal life. However, he treats Claryce no different than many men of the time treated women. He’s not telling her the whole truth, he’s trying to protect her and keep her out of danger, and he’s taking some choices from her about when she can help or not. I get it. He doesn’t want to lose Claryce, nor Cleolinda’s reincarnation. It annoys me because I take it as a lack of trust on his part that she will do what she can and not try to do too much.

Claryce is trying to clear up some business from her former employer, including selling old properties. One person interested in those properties has Nick on edge and worried that Claryce is going to be pulled into his world again. Here is my spoiler and what it did to me. Unfortunately, I recognized the buyer’s name, and if you do not recognize it, I suggest you not Google it. The first half of the book is finding out the identity of the buyer and because I knew, it made the book a tougher read than it should have been. This is one of those times when the author’s use of detail works against him.

Once that was done, though, this was a great read. The same details that were spoilers for me do pull me into the story later. His use of slang via Fetch helps immersion, as does his use of the everyday terms for appliances back then. I’m still fascinated by the realm of Feirie that the author has created and how it works. I want a bit more detail but not so much that the mystery is gone!

Even with the spoiler, I give this a solid four. I don’t think it would have gotten a five because Nick’s attitude toward Claryce still grates on me, but this is a good book.

Our reviews in this series…

• Black City Saint, Book 01
• Black City Demon, Book 02

Other recommendations

For another 1920’s urban fantasy, check out Ari Marmell’s Mick Oberon series.

I received an ARC or review copy of this book from the author/publisher. All opinions are my own.