A review by a_reader_obsessed
An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I haven’t read a Charlaine Harris novel in a little over ten years, and what stood out to me the most is that her female protagonists are still sensible and resilient.  What also remains the same is her simple storytelling that just pulls the reader along easily with no fuss.

Here, Lisbeth Rose is a very good gunslinger, and she knows it.  So when she takes a job escorting and guarding two wizards across the southern US and into Mexico, she does it not only for the money but to also ensure some secrets remain hidden. As Lisbeth and her two companions travel across the brutal landscape, one knows that their journey will be anything but easy.

This series is an untamed alternate history Western, where the US has been devastated by disease, loss, and an unraveling of the government and its territories.  Toss in the Holy Russian Empire who now rules from California, along with plenty of magic and shootouts, this is a world where everyone’s just trying to survive any which way they can.

Overall, Lisbeth is an unconventional heroine, competent and deadly when needed, older than her young 19 years, firmly grounded in practicality, and not prone to nonsense from herself and certainly, not from others.

I enjoyed exploring Harris’s latest creation and plan to come back to see what’s in store for this shrewd heroine soon!