I really wanted to love this book because of the premise. I tried several times to read book 1 of this series and unfortunately could not get invested in the story.

"Nothing is ever only itself. Everything is a part of something greater. Every light casts a shadow."

Renaissance Raines is a psychopomp – a guide who leads the souls of the recently departed through the Seven Gates of the Underworld – and has done well in avoiding any attention from both the living and the dead, until her latest charge, Ramses St. Cyr goes missing. Renai finds herself in the middle of a plot with the future of the city on the line. Whoever is stirring up trouble will have to face down Renai to succeed, who is one of the few beings scarier than death.
(paraphrased from Goodreads summary)

I am so happy to finally finish this book. This book contained many details and chapter epigraphs, but it still found a way to enchant me as much as its predecessor. Renai is an awesome character and I would read many more books just featuring her and the others. Despite my love of Jude after reading The City of Lost Fortunes, Renaissance Raines proved to be a much more compelling character. She refuses to back down and shows little fear, despite the supernatural forces at work. The author has brought the city to life yet again in his continuation of his Crescent City series.

"The only thing death has never been is lonely."

Renaissance Raines, newly resurrected, is now a psychopomp, a guide that leads the souls of the dead through the Seven Gates of the Underworld. Until she shows up at the supposed death of a boy name Ramses St. Cyr to find that he has managed to escape his moment of death. As she starts to investigate where her soul has gone she ends up in the thick of a plot created by the Gods. When she discovers who is responsible for the escape of Ramses there will be hell to pay.

Gather the Fortunes is the second installment in the Crescent City series by Bryan Camp. In this book we return to the world of New Orleans and gods and tricksters. The storyline is focused on the underworld, psychopomps, and loa which was only touched upon in the first installment. The atmosphere in this book is still just as palpable as it was in the first book, very creepy and dark and it was really good to visit this world again. Many of the characters that you meet in the first book, The City of Lost Fortunes, make an appearance in this one. The main character being Renai, who ends up being somewhere between the living and the dead, helping souls travel through the underworld. The plot is not as twisty in this second installment but in turn it is also much easier to follow.

Many of the chapters follow the same vein as the first book where they begin with different beliefs and mythologies throughout many different cultures; each usually focusing on one theme that is relevant to the chapter. Knowledge of the greek gods and mythology would make this book more enjoyable, I suspect, but it certainly isn't required. I have very basic knowledge myself and still enjoy this series immensely.

"What's a life-bringing rain god doing in the underworld?" "Same thing a god does anywhere else," Sal said. "Whatever the F**k he wants."

throughout this book Camp has touched on some extremely important subjects such as destruction, injustice, slavery, racism, and many other issues prominent today and in the past. He laces these important issues seamlessly throughout the book and uses his MC Renai as a voice of justice. I love her as a character. She is angry at the world for all the ways people can hate each other and she uses that anger as a powerful gift to take down her enemies. I think it's really well done. Bryan Camp is a phenomenal writer with such intelligence I couldn't help getting lost in the language of the book. If you read this series you will immediately understand my meaning. His books are filled to the brim with diversity of character and culture. I think there is something in these books to make almost anyone feel seen no matter where they hail from or what type of environment they grew up in. I love how the foundation of this story is built with Hurricane Katrina at its core and it speaks of a community torn apart but who refuse to stay down and are determined to rebuild again and again. In the Crescent City books New Orleans is a living, breathing character. Her Voice, Magic, and Luck being bestowed on some of my favorite characters in the books. Simply put, I doubt you'll ever read a book like this one. If you enjoy learning about mythology, culture, gods, race, history, or the city of New Orleans specifically you will love this. I also recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy and magic in their books. This one is chock full of it. If you're looking for a book with a young black woman as a main character, look no further. You'd be hard pressed to find another like Renaissance Raines.

Description
Renaissance Raines has found her place among the psychopomps—the guides who lead the souls of the recently departed through the Seven Gates of the Underworld—and done her best to avoid the notice of gods and mortals alike. But when a young boy named Ramses St. Cyr manages to escape his foretold death, Renai finds herself at the center of a deity-thick plot unfolding in New Orleans. Someone helped Ramses slip free of his destined end—someone willing to risk everything to steal a little slice of power for themselves.

Is it one of the storm gods that’s descended on the city? The death god who’s locked the Gates of the Underworld? Or the manipulative sorcerer who also cheated Death? When she finds the schemer, there’s gonna be all kinds of hell to pay, because there are scarier things than death in the Crescent City. Renaissance Raines is one of them.

MY REVIEW:
Gather the Fortunes is the second book in a serious and very interesting. The main character, Raines is a psychopomp. She gathers the souls of the recently departed and leads them to the gates of the underworld.

For me, the problem was that this is not a standalone and so I was a bit confused, thus taking me a while to catch up. However, on the positive side, the characters are well written and the scenery is believable. It had twists and turns keeping me interested until the very end.

This book was provided fee of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. I recommend this book for those readers that enjoy urban fantasy and magic.

I was so excited when i saw the second book and i am so happy that this was really good. I loved it a lot. I liked Renai in first book she was full of sass and we got to know her more in this book. Renai was sassy, smart and fierce and i loved reading her story. Another thing that i love about this book was Bryan Camp knows New Orleans. It was rich and full of details and it was amazing.

When I first read the synopsis of this novel on NetGalley, I was totally intrigued. I especially loved how it was a fantasy story set in New Orleans. What I didn’t realize is that this book is actually the second in a series that begins with The City of Lost Fortunes. Unfortunately, the fact that this book is a sequel impacted my reading experience and my ability to enjoy the book. Still, there were some great features to Gather the Fortunes. Here’s my quick summary:

Ever since Renaissance Raines cheated death, she’s worked as a psychopomp--gathering the souls of the dead and leading them to the Gates of the Underworld. But when a mysterious, or rather shady, god asks Renai to keep an eye out for a boy named Ramses St. Cyr, and then Ramses misses his appointed time of death, Renai gets embroiled in a plot that could break the cycle of life or death.

As I mentioned above, one of my biggest issues with this book is that I didn’t read the first book in the series. This left me a bit confused at the beginning about who Renai was and how she had ended up a pscyhopomp. These events are occasionally referenced throughout the book, but ultimately I was able to follow this novel’s story without too much trouble.

One of my other main concerns with Gather the Fortunes is that occasionally, some chapters began with extra information relating to the different death practices and beliefs of cultures around the world. While this could potentially be useful for “creating atmosphere” for some readers, I mostly found it to be unnecessary and, usually, bothersome. These moments didn’t add anything to plot and, in my opinion, made the book longer than it needed to be.

Despite the above, there are some parts of this book that I really enjoyed. First, Bryan Camp really understand New Orleans. Reading this novel, I thought Camp captured the spirit of the city, and it was fun to see Renai traverse across some of its various landmarks. One of the other things I really enjoyed was the plot twist that came at the end of Part 1. Something happens that I in no way saw coming, and it blew my mind a bit. Camp has also done a great job of developing a unique magic system (afterlife system?), and I liked exploring more of how it worked.

I would recommend Gather the Fortunes for fans of New Orleans and urban fantasy, though I would suggest reading the first book, The City of Lost Fortunes, first.

3.5 stars

Renai is a psychopomp, someone who leads the souls of the dead to the afterlife. But when a boy, Ramses St. Cyr, seeks to escape his fate, Renai gets caught up in a plot among the deities unfolding in New Orleans.

I always enjoy supernatural stories set in new Orleans, though I've only been there once. I also enjoy Underworld stories, so this was an obvious choice for me. I've only just learned that it's actually second in a series, but I don't think that's why I found it a little hard to engage with it.

The writing was good and the descriptions well done, but I just didn't connect with the characters and some of the supernatural happenings and use of mythology just felt a bit off. The pacing was also a little awkward. Still, the premise was interesting. I would read this author again and might well look into the first book of the series as people appear to prefer it.

Even better than the first book. Great characters, intense situations, both in real world New Orleans, as well as the Underworld, with gods, demi-gods, and other spirits vying for control, with young Renaissance Raines in the middle of all the action. Fortunes prove to be in her favor. Not sure if there will be more Crescent City stories, but even if not, I'll follow Bryan Camp, whatever he writes. I created a new page to combine the two reviews.

I found this book difficult to read because I discovered it was the second in a series after requesting it. Although I appreciate the opportunity to read, it would make more sense for Netgalley to advise potential requesters when a book is not the first of a series. The writing was descriptive and premise interesting. I will definitely add the first of the series to my TBR list in order to go back and give this author another shot.

Dang it, I really wish Netgalley had a system that let you know when a book wasn't the first in a series. I gave this book a much longer chance than I usually do when a story isn't catching my interest, because the writing in parts was beautiful, and the world showed promise. But ultimately, I kept finding my mind wandering, and re-reading paragraphs over because I unconsciously lost interest halfway through them.

I finally decided to look it up on goodreads only to find out it's the second in a series, and I'm wondering if that's why I couldn't fully place myself in the world. I never would have requested it if I'd known it wasn't the first, as I'm the type of reader who HAS to start at the beginning of things, and I always feel immensely guilty when I end up with an approved ARC that doesn't turn out to be a good fit for me.

DNF, although it left me with an interest for the first one, and I know we have it at my library as that cover stood out in my memory. Giving it 4 stars because I DNF and I have to give stars to submit a review, and the writing was promising.