A review by bookwormbunny
The Curse Mandate by J.P. Sloan
5.0
The Curse Mandate by J.P. Sloan is book 3 in the Dark Choir series. In this book we catch up with Dorian Lake as he works to try and locate his soul. The clock is ticking and Dorian has a right to be concerned. When most lose their souls either they become a husk of a human or they become a tool for the Dark Choir. Dorian has been lucky so far in that neither of those fates has befallen him…yet. But this is just one of many problems that Dorian is soon to be facing. Someone has it out for the Presidium and they are out in a serious way to bring it all crashing down. A local politician takes it upon himself to out several of the sitting members of the Presidium and then he ends up dead but that’s not the only thing that’s going down. Jinxes are being detonated in several strategic places all over the city and beyond and Dorian has no idea why but he knows and understands all too well the dangers that these things can bring. Chaos is wreaking havoc in Dorian’s life and it is affecting everyone he interacts with. The question is how many will suffer behind just knowing him and having some sort of association with him? But another question also arises…what will happen if someone else, who is hunting for his soul, gets it first? Especially when this person is almost directly associated with the Dark Choir?
The Curse Mandate is the first book that I have ever read by J.P. Sloan and by consequence the first book that I have ever read of the Dark Choir series. That being said, while there are moments of where I don’t fully know what is going on for the most part I really enjoyed this book. It is told from the first person perspective and you really end up in Dorian’s head a lot as he works to sort out all the chaos and mayhem that he finds himself in. Even though he has no soul that doesn’t mean that he’s without a conscious. He’s very paranoid half the time and justifiably so when a man named Parrish shows up offering him the opportunity to fulfill the contract that he became a part of that was the step in having his soul stripped from him in the first place. Dorian refuses which sets in place the game of “who’ll find it first” when it comes to his soul. Too bad Dorian ends up with other problems on his plate as well.
Dorian tries so hard to either try to stay a step ahead in the game or just to keep people at a distance that he really ends up hurting himself more than anything. He’s not really sure where to go or what to do with the people in his life. He cares about them that much is clear but he struggles with it at times. He knows the dangers of the world that he is a part of and wishes to protect those around him but all in all he really can’t at the end of the day which he learns more than once.
This book really has a wide assortment of unique characters. You have the magic users who know the dangers and of course some are much better than others because they are trained to look for every aspect of a situation while you have the others who you can tell really either don’t believe or don’t want to believe in the magic around them. I have to say that I honestly love that because for some of them you get to see them become believers as it is shown to them in a way that they can’t deny it.
The Curse Mandate really has some good twists and turns that keep you engaged in the book for the most part. There are moments for me of where the story ebbs and flows like the tide, where it’s engaging and has you turning page after page and then there are moments of where it’s a lull and you need to stay focused to move forward. In some aspects you can read this story as a standalone but then there are others of where the author touches back on situations that have already happened and you would have needed to read those previous books.
All in all this book, for me, is very well written and is mostly very interesting and engaging. It’s a paranormal mystery/suspense novel. It’s a multi-race novel of where the race is on for Dorian to 1) locate his soul before Parrish does and 2) to figure out who is dealing in chaos magic and why and what their end game is. There are so many layers to this story and just as one starts to come together another layer is peeled back and revealed which, for me, is what makes this a really good book. I will of course be going back and finding the first two books in this series and reading them. I’m a bit hopeful that there will be another book after this one so that we can learn what happens next with not just Dorian but some of the other characters as well including his student Ches and her brother.
So if you’re looking for a good book AND you’ve read the first two books in the Dark Choir series then I definitely recommend this book if you’re looking for a good paranormal/supernatural mystery/suspense novel. This book definitely fits the bill. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, not every day you find such a multi-layered novel such as this.
The Curse Mandate is the first book that I have ever read by J.P. Sloan and by consequence the first book that I have ever read of the Dark Choir series. That being said, while there are moments of where I don’t fully know what is going on for the most part I really enjoyed this book. It is told from the first person perspective and you really end up in Dorian’s head a lot as he works to sort out all the chaos and mayhem that he finds himself in. Even though he has no soul that doesn’t mean that he’s without a conscious. He’s very paranoid half the time and justifiably so when a man named Parrish shows up offering him the opportunity to fulfill the contract that he became a part of that was the step in having his soul stripped from him in the first place. Dorian refuses which sets in place the game of “who’ll find it first” when it comes to his soul. Too bad Dorian ends up with other problems on his plate as well.
Dorian tries so hard to either try to stay a step ahead in the game or just to keep people at a distance that he really ends up hurting himself more than anything. He’s not really sure where to go or what to do with the people in his life. He cares about them that much is clear but he struggles with it at times. He knows the dangers of the world that he is a part of and wishes to protect those around him but all in all he really can’t at the end of the day which he learns more than once.
This book really has a wide assortment of unique characters. You have the magic users who know the dangers and of course some are much better than others because they are trained to look for every aspect of a situation while you have the others who you can tell really either don’t believe or don’t want to believe in the magic around them. I have to say that I honestly love that because for some of them you get to see them become believers as it is shown to them in a way that they can’t deny it.
The Curse Mandate really has some good twists and turns that keep you engaged in the book for the most part. There are moments for me of where the story ebbs and flows like the tide, where it’s engaging and has you turning page after page and then there are moments of where it’s a lull and you need to stay focused to move forward. In some aspects you can read this story as a standalone but then there are others of where the author touches back on situations that have already happened and you would have needed to read those previous books.
All in all this book, for me, is very well written and is mostly very interesting and engaging. It’s a paranormal mystery/suspense novel. It’s a multi-race novel of where the race is on for Dorian to 1) locate his soul before Parrish does and 2) to figure out who is dealing in chaos magic and why and what their end game is. There are so many layers to this story and just as one starts to come together another layer is peeled back and revealed which, for me, is what makes this a really good book. I will of course be going back and finding the first two books in this series and reading them. I’m a bit hopeful that there will be another book after this one so that we can learn what happens next with not just Dorian but some of the other characters as well including his student Ches and her brother.
So if you’re looking for a good book AND you’ve read the first two books in the Dark Choir series then I definitely recommend this book if you’re looking for a good paranormal/supernatural mystery/suspense novel. This book definitely fits the bill. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, not every day you find such a multi-layered novel such as this.