A Tree of Bones
By Gemma Files
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
A new Civil War is brewing. With the city of Bewelcome as its headquarters, Allan Pinkerton’s Detective Agency leads a siege on Hex City, the town founded by “Reverend” Asher Rook and his consort, the Mayan goddess Ixchel. Monsters prowl the battleground, rocket trails of spells crisscross the sky, and an unnatural rain falls.
Sides must be taken, but Pinkerton-agent-turned-outlaw Ed Morrow, spiritualist Yancey Kloves, and even Rook must choose what ruin or redemption means to each of them. Meanwhile, Chess Pargeter gears up for the greatest fight of his life—and death. A battle out of hell itself . . .
Praise for the Hexslinger Series
“Gemma’s been producing top-notch horror stories for years, and her weird Western Hexslinger trilogy is chock full of hellish horrors.” —Mike Allen, author of Unseaming
“Potent mythology, complex characters, and dollops of creeping horror and baroque gore establish Files’s Hexslinger series as a top-notch horror-fantasy saga.” —Publishers Weekly
“Paints a stark, vivid, and gory picture of the ‘wild west’ in the years following the Civil War . . . Files’s latest is not for the squeamish but should delight fans of gothic Western fantasy and Central American myths.” —Library Journal
“Ridiculously vivid . . . A magic-riddled, horror-strewn West with hexes running around wrecking reality and a spectrum of queer characters.” —Tor.com
“Truly one-of-a-kind: violent, carnal and creepy.” —Fangoria
Gemma Files
Gemma Files, a former film critic, journalist, screenwriter, and teacher, has been an award-winning horror author since 1999. She has published two collections of short work; two chapbooks of speculative poetry; the “weird western” Hexslinger Series; a story-cycle; and the standalone novel Experimental Film, which won the 2016 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel and the 2016 Sunburst Award for Best Adult Novel. Files also has several story collections and a collection of poetry forthcoming.
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Reviews for A Tree of Bones
15 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Book Info: Genre: Weird Western/Supernatural Horror/SteampunkReading Level: AdultRecommended for: Fans of Weird West, horror, those interested in Meso-American religious practicesTrigger Warnings for Book 3: killing, human sacrifice, bullying, non PC languageMy Thoughts on Book 3: This really is a most satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Watching Chess's evolution has been quite amazing, and I've also quite enjoyed seeing how Yancey and Ed and Songbird all grew and changed through the course of the trilogy.These books are very LGBTQ oriented, with a number of characters from the QUILTBAG included, as well as the inherent hostility toward them of the time. Still, it was refreshing to see a piece set during the late 19th century that was open and honest about the existence of all types. Ultimately there is not a lot I can say here without there ending up with spoilers, so I'll just say that I really did enjoy this book—this whole trilogy—quite a lot. Watch for my review of the omnibus, which also includes a bonus short story.Series Information: The Hexslinger SeriesBook 1: A Book of Tongues, review linked hereBook 2: A Rope of Thorns, review linked hereBook 3: A Tree of BonesDisclosure: I received a copy of the omnibus from ChiZine in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.Synopsis: New Mexico, 1867: Months have passed since hexslinger Chess Pargeter sacrificed himself to restore the town of Bewelcome, once cursed to salt by his former lover, "Reverend" Asher Rook. Now a coalition led by Allan Pinkerton's Detective Agency lays siege to reborn Mayan goddess Ixchel's notorious "Hex City," the one place on earth where hexes can act in concert, and the desert just outside Bewelcome has become the front line in what threatens to become a new Civil War—one in which wild magic and black science clash headlong, producing carnage like nothing the world has ever seen!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a tremendously appropriate ending to the series. I adored it, obviously. (And now I want to start over again at the beginning just to get my heart broken all over.)