Deadbeat Druid
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4.3 • 58 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Adam Binder has lost what matters most to him. Having finally learned the true identity of the warlock preying on his family, what was supposed to be a final confrontation with the fiend instead became a trap that sent Adam’s beloved Vicente into the realm of the dead, where none living are meant to be.
Bound by debt, oath, and love, Adam blazes his own trail into the underworld to get Vicente back, and to end the threat of the warlock once and for all. But the road to hell is paved with far more than good intentions. Demons are hungry, and ghosts are relentless, and what awaits Adam in the underworld is nothing he is prepared to face.
If that weren’t enough, Adam has one more thing he must do if he and Vicente are to return to the world of the living: find the lost heart of Death herself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Slayton delivers another tightly plotted contemporary fantasy in his fast-paced third Adam Binder novel (after Trailer Park Trickster). Previously, warlock Adam opened a portal that sent his evil great-grandfather John, a druid, to the underworld—and also took his boyfriend, cop-turned-reaper Vic, and his cousin Jodi. Now Adam is determined to get them back. Death herself provides Adam with Vic's location on the promise that he also retrieves another living person, Melody, who's similarly unfairly trapped in the afterlife. Adam; his brother, Bobby; and elf Vran embark on the rescue mission—and along the way encounter the ghost of Adam's father, who upsets Adam by not being the unrepentant villain he remembers. Meanwhile, Vic and Jodi are captured by demons who feed off their pain. They escape but subsequently get swept up by a cult of the dead who consume others to cling to any semblance of life. When the separate parties eventually reunite, they must find a way to stop John for good and repair the disruptions that their living bodies have brought to the underworld. Slayton continues to impress with complex relationships and clever mythologies. Series fans won't want to miss this.
Customer Reviews
Descent into the realms of the dead…
“Deadbeat Druid” is the third volume in the Adam Binder Novels by David R. Slayton. These might be classified as urban fantasy, as they take place in the modern world. However, there are other spirit worlds where mythological races and creatures exist adjacent to our reality.
The protagonist is Adam Binder, who has minimal magical abilities, and he comes from an impoverished family. He grew up in rural Oklahoma, where he discovered that he was gay, and that he had magical talent. He could see into the spirit worlds. In the first book in the series, he travels to Denver to help his brother. In the second book he returns to Guthrie Oklahoma due to the death of his Aunt Sue who raised him. This volume involves him going into the underworld on a mission for Death herself.
He is drawn there to rescue his beloved Vic, who has ended up transported to the realm of the dead, along with Adam’s relative, Jodi. Adam’s evil ancestor from the second book will have to be dealt with as well because he has also fled into this realm. There’s a lot of family issues that have to be sorted out, and then everyone needs to return to the land of the living.
This is a refreshing type of fantasy, with emotionally realized characters. It also portrays poverty in a realistic and sensitive manner. The LGBT romantic aspects of the story are tastefully portrayed, and provide a counterpoint to the darker main narrative. I’m looking forward to the fourth volume in the series, “Redneck Revenant.”