Name: Hemlock
ISBN: 9781985040335

Jesse Teller

The busiest pirate bay in Perilisc is newly infested with vampires. These monsters will soon overrun the world, but the Manhunters must try to stop them in secret. Agents of the king are hunting Rayph's vigilante crew. With one false step, they could all end up at a royal execution.

Hemlock

Alexia Cambaling

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

The second book in The Manhunters series takes us to the city of Hemlock where this time, the Manhunters pursue a different villain- Tristan the Sour and his wife Kat. The book also expands on the existing lore as well as the background history of the main character, Rayph Ivoryfist. Besides that, a new character called Aaron the Marked is also introduced.

Like the first book, this is not for the faint of heart. There's a lot of violence and gore in this book which is pretty much the case in a lot of grimdark. The general tone of the book retains that grimness although there are some very touching moments here. Like I said, the lore is expanded upon significantly and I did like learning more about this world. It's definitely a very well-developed one and it's pretty cohesive and not a headache to read on about.

This time around the enemies are heroes are pursuing are vampires who are intent on spreading the illness throughout Hemlock, and possibly everywhere else. The book focuses on their fight to eradicate the city of vampires and kill Tristan the Sour and Kat. There's a lot of action in between as well as a lot of character development. I'm not going to touch on those because I don't want to spoil much, but they are very well-done. I also loved getting an insight into Rayph's origins. It's definitely something I'd love to see more of.

The addition of Aaron the Marked is a welcome one. He's pretty much kind of a young general in service to his king. He's very loyal, much like Rayph is, although he actually likes his king and will die for him. I love seeing the madness in him, as well as his undying loyalty. There's one moment where it kind of falters a bit, and I liked seeing how he deals with the knowledge he gets and its implications.

Overall, I found Hemlock to be very enjoyable and I would recommend it to those who liked the first book.

This review is also on:  The Bookworm Daydreamer