Much like the first book in the series, this was an entertaining romp in the Old West, full of inappropriate fun!

As I mentioned last time, one strange thing about this series is that it doesn't seem to have a protagonist. It has a narrator/POV character who's a member of the town and who sometimes seems to have a touch of omniscience for the sake of the story, but the story is kind of about the whole group and the goings-on in their town of Damnation. It's a format that works for this particular story though. I didn't feel close to any one character, but I was amused and engaged while reading nonetheless.

But that doesn't mean there weren't some great characters. In fact, I've become fond of them in general due to their ridiculous antics. It was the women who really stole the show this time though. Mabel didn't let herself be pushed around; she made things happen, held her own in a town full of men who didn't respect women in general, and even took one girl who showed up under her wing. Both Mollie and Annabelle turned out to be feisty when necessary, and I loved them for it. *SPOILER* One of them bashed a man over the head with a wine bottle then stabbed his neck with a shard when he grabbed her inappropriately. The other broke up a gunfight all by herself and turned out to be basically a sharpshooter. *END SPOILER* Even Gut-Shot Granny had her moments. The only one who wasn't around much was Ms. Parker. But overall, the ladies brought their A game.

Oh, and of course I liked the setting since I do love books set in the Old West, and this Afterlife version of it adds a layer of strangeness to the whole thing.

Since this book was set in the Old West, I do want to give a warning that there were some instances of racism, ableism, sexism, toxic masculinity, etc. from some of the characters. But these were fitting in the context, and a lot of it was acknowledged or subverted by the story and individual characters. There was a lot of acknowledgement of the terrible treatment of Native Americans and the stealing of their lands. As I said above, the female characters were awesome. The disabled characters weren't helpless or inferior. There was even mention of two guys holding hands, so there might have been LGBT+ characters. One male character openly wept at one point. So I do feel like it was just many of the characters that were realistically problematic, not the book. (But keep in mind I am not an expert on every marginalized group, and there's always the possibility of problems in books that I don't realize.)

I want to give one more warning, what with all the shootings happening in real life. There was lots of shooting in this book because of the Old West setting, but there was one scene in particular when someone basically just opened fire on everyone in the saloon that I imagine could potentially be triggering.

I had a couple small issues with suspension of disbelief. The plot was also a bit meandering again. Those were very minor things though and didn't hurt my enjoyment.

Overall, this was another fun book in the series with ridiculous characters, inappropriate humor, and a strange, lawless Old West Afterlife. So pull up a stool, keep your head down, and don't piss off any vampires, and you just might survive in Damnation long enough to make it to Heaven. ;-)

The sudden cliffhanger that ended the first book of the Damnation series all but forced me to read this sequel as well. I just had to know if and how the residents of Damnation would survive the threatening attack by the Indians (not to mention the nearby pack of werewolves).

Like with the first book, the beginning was very slow and I almost lost interest in reading any further. While new characters entered Damnation, others left for good, and all of them were memorized with short articles in the Crapper, Damnation's one and only newspaper. There it was again, the familiar repetitiveness I already knew from the first book.

But once the action started I, again, was glad I kept on reading and didn't give up too early. This time, Damnation is attacked by numerous hordes of Indians living just outside the city limits, and it doesn't look too good for our dead cowboys...

Also, we learn more about Luther, the second vampire in town, and more light is shed on baby Martin, the only living thing here.

A solid sequel, though I was disappointed there was no preview of a third book yet - I hope there will be one soon.

Dead Indian Wars by Clark Casey was received direct from the publisher. Hopefully you are not expecting a non politically correct novel of the old west (based upon the title alone). That is kind of what you get with vampires and werewolves thrown in to keep the reader on their toes. Mix this with warm blood and cold blood to keep the vampire genre evolving and you have a nice little Southwest US based vampire Western. If you, or someone you buy books for like anything mentioned in this review, this book should be purchased and enjoyed. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This is like no western I've ever read. A great summer read!

The Western book has been reimagined, with a vampire wearing the sheriff's badge, criminal werewolves skulking about the community, and there is just one living thing in the town of Damnation. It's a baby boy, born somehow to a vampiress who was changed while pregnant and gave birth to a normal child. The warm blood from a live creature is treasured as a way to transition to a better state of existence.

The evil ones can be killed and sent to hell, where they will ultimately be reborn. Others can regain their transition to heaven by good works, primarily not killing anybody. In this rough community, that's a hard thing to avoid. The sheriff is close to earning his heaven.

Now there are Indian warriors in town, unhappy over the infestation of werewolves and not pleased with the vampire species either. Can the sheriff achieve detente with the warriors and protect the one good thing in Damnation?