This book was like an entertaining B movie. The main character,Julie, is fighting demons (very gross demons) to get by. When an opportunity for a better life presents itself, she grabs on - with some consequences and more battles. I enjoyed this book and would read the sequel.

While I loved the idea, and bits and pieces of the story, the whole thing just felt a bit off. I never really cared about Julie, our main character, one way or another. I'm fine with having a dislikable main character, but I just didn't care at all. It often felt disjointed and I never fully understood who I was supposed to be rooting for. It's still readable, but honestly I do not see myself picking up the second book in the duology whenever it comes out. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Series Info/Source: This is first book in the Carrion City duology. I got a copy of this to review on ebook through NetGalley.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this a lot. It has a very Nightside (by Simon Green) feel to it. Lots of crazy eldritch horror stuff going on here and many intriguing characters (that aren't exactly likable but are very intriguing). The book has Kadrey's grittiness with Khaw's horror elements; the characters are all flawed but fun to read about.

The book follows Julie who lives hard and does ample drugs and alcohol. She is trying to make a living taking out all the magical nastiness but keeps getting screwed over by people. Then her best friend Sarah shows up and Julie gets drawn into some true eldritch horror craziness.

I did get an eGalley of this for review and noticed quite a few editing errors; like mixed up word order, missing words, and mixed up punctuation. Hopefully those will be fixed in the final book.

I liked the gritty tone to this and the quirky characters. The plot takes some seriously weird turns, so you never know what to expect and I like that. I found the "magic system" somewhat confusing and was a bit confused by what magic was actually being practiced here. Then there are angels and demons involved along with other strange eldritch powers and it's a little tough to follow how it all fits together. However, if you just sit back and accept all the weirdness it's a fast-paced and fun ride.

I really enjoyed the characters; they have a quirkiness similar to Green's Nightside series but I found them to be more engaging and personable. They all have intriguing histories and good depth to their character. I liked that Julie grew throughout the book as well.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I really liked this. There were some rough edges both in technical editing, and things like the magic system and plot being a bit hard to piece together and make sense of. However, I think all of this was more than offset by the quirky characters, intriguing world, and fast-paced craziness. If you are looking for a urban fantasy horror with some eldritch weirdness and odd characters that are surprisingly easy to love and engage with, I would highly recommend this. I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

Julie is a drugged-up mess who fights horrible monsters in NYC to get by. When her friend and crush Sarah arrives unannounced, Julie dreams of a better life and she attempts to summon something to help her. But that something could of course destroy the entire world. This novel, the first of a planned duology, mixes eldritch horror, the grittiness of NYC, and a LOT of gore. It's entertaining enough, but it felt a bit rushed and disorganized for me. Perhaps the sequel will fix these issues.

3.75

This book is so unique and more than a little bit wild, and I'm absolutely torn on it. While I loved the writing style and the immaculate eldritch horror and gore, the concept does lose its footing and the plot was all over the place. It struck me as a 'can't see the forest for all the trees' situation, because the story would continuously get sidetracked by new monsters and horror situations. Don't get me wrong, all of those were fun and the details are really what make this book stand out, it's just... messy, I guess? Which may be intentional, given the subject matter and the main character's general state of being, it just isn't the type of reading experience I personally enjoy all that much.

At the same time, however, I love so much about this book. I love Julie being an absolute disaster of a person with a somewhat tarnished heart of gold; I love her relationship with Sarah, her best-friend-slash-something-more. I love how unabashedly gross and gory this book is, with a specific flair for pulpy-yet-poetic descriptors. I just wish it were a little tighter in terms of its ideas, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this series plays out.

This book was so fuckin’ fun holy shit.

So much happened at once in the best way possible. It had the perfect amount of humor mixed in with the serious moments and plenty of gore and disgusting mental visuals to keep you up at night. It had everything, Freelance magic work, Wall Street eldritch bosses, worms! The works. I loved this.

I’ve never read from Richard Kadrey before but I have read from Cassandra Khaw and I think this is my new favorite book they’re written.

I need the next one yesterday.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

Holy crap. What the heck did I just read?! I've never read anything by Kadrey or Khaw before, but I'm a new fan for life. The Dead Take the A Train was so unique and disturbing and I loved everything about it! Dark, disturbing, weird, colorful, and exciting. Highly recommend and will be purchasing for our collection.

This type of horror is not my typical read but I wanted something different and boy did I get it! The two words that kept jumping in to my head were dark and disturbing which is what you want in a good horror read. Will definitely be pushing it to my dark and disturbed horror reading co workers.

Kadrey and Khaw are a dream (nightmare??) team. This grips you by the throat and doesn't let go. A recommended purchase for collections where the pair's previous titles are popular.

What would you do if your bestfriend/crush shows up asking for your help to stop her abusive ex... all the while your own evil ex has gotten you to accidentally unleash a monster who is killing people left and right.... its definitely going to be a long week. Julie is a coked-up, burnt out thirty year old who is barely making rent but her job is to basically exorcize the nastiest demons and make deals with gods to just make rent. Julie needs to make money to pay rent to her landlord and after being behind rent for so long that means she has to get a job from her very douchey ex who has done nothing but steal credit for her work and think he’s better than her. When she’s had enough and confronts him, he decides the best way to get back at her is to send her a fake demonic book only for her to end up summoning a “angel” who is actually so far from angelic and is bent on consuming human bodies. Then Julie’s best friend and crush. Sarah shoes up asking for help, Julie is willing to do anything, but things start to get really really out of hand and now its up to Julie to stop the demon she unleashed, save her friends, and finally maybe get the girl she’s been in love with since forever. This was such an amazing first book in the duology, it mixes magic with an urban settling and definitely is non stop action and fun.


*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group, Tor Nightfire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*