The Dead Never Die

Lovecraftian Mythical Fantasy (Chronicles of Cain, Book 5)

De: John Corwin

Narrado por: Austin Rising

To-do list: Stop a zombie uprising. Stop the apocalypse. Resurrect a goddess.

They say no good deed goes unpunished, and Cain is living proof of it. His quest to help the gorgon Dusa and his favorite bartender, Aura, went terribly right and horrifically wrong. Now, the sword Soultaker has claimed two more souls and added them to its undead army. Zeus and Mars tell Cain to fix the situation, or they'll erase him permanently along with everyone he cares about.

To free souls from Soultaker, Cain needs information from the original Thanatos, Greek god of death. But Thanatos vanished long ago, creating the office of the Grim Reaper, which is now occupied by a man named Garrick.

Garrick agrees to help Cain find Thanatos, but before they get started, the other three horsemen, War, Pestilence, and Famine, put Garrick in a coma so they can they seed the world with plagues, conflict, and starvation and start the apocalypse. Without Death to free the souls of the humans dying from the chaos, their bodies are rising from the dead, killing more humans, and threatening the very fabric of fate itself.

Cain reluctantly accepts the mantle of Death, so he can stop the zombie apocalypse and use the powers of his new office to find Thanatos. His journey will take him all over the world - to Hell, Hel, and beyond.

Dealing with one pantheon was nearly impossible. Now, Cain finds himself tangling with the Norse, Greeks, Christians, and of course, minions of the Elder Things. Cthulhu and Shub-Nuggerath were horrific enough, but this new entity is even worse. But there's one thing Cain's enemies didn't count on. If there's an apocalypse, there will be no more mangoritas.

No more plastic pirate swords with fruit. No more toothpick umbrellas. The bad guys are about to find out the hard way that no one, not even a god comes between Cain and his mangoritas.

©2021 John Corwin (P)2021 John Corwin

Classy Caine, asshole gods, frozen mangoritas!

Was a great read and a really fun play on different pantheon. Sluggish ending, I felt that up until the last few chapters it was slow going. regardless, being pulled into Caines world(s) is always fun and rich in story.

I really enjoy this series

Great series! It's even better when the author drops hitns of people from other amazing books. There's people that could be from Dresden and even The Iron Druid series. Both are in my top 5 of all time picks. If you haven't read them they are a must.

amazing as usual!!

can't wait to start the next book in the series. I loved how he used modern day events in this book /) great job!!!!

Zombies?

Rank B-
Personal Tags: Urban Fantasy, FR, PR, GP, Fae, Lovecraft, Large-scale
4-star. This one really feels like the series hitting its stride again. A lot of the plot focuses on escalating fallout from earlier books, and I liked how problems Cain created in the past are no longer abstract but actively coming back to bite him. The Lovecraftian gods continue to be the highlight for me, especially as their influence feels more direct and unsettling rather than just looming in the background. Cain’s growth feels more grounded here, particularly in how he handles leadership and accepts responsibility instead of just reacting to threats. There’s also more attention paid to alliances and political maneuvering, which helped the world feel more lived-in and less episodic. The action scenes are still fun and chaotic, but they’re broken up with quieter moments that give the story room to breathe. The humor is still present and mostly lands, helping keep things from getting too heavy. A few plot resolutions feel a bit convenient, but not enough to derail the overall experience. By the end, it felt like the series was clearly setting up bigger conflicts without losing sight of the characters. Overall, this was a confident, satisfying entry that reminded me why I’ve stayed invested in Cain’s story.

Less Layla the better

I love the books for the most part. However the two main female characters are some bizarre charicature of an actual woman. Aura, a lying, backstabbing, selfish lunatic and Layla, a vulger mouthed narcissistic skank. There is so much wrong with the two that I wonder about the authors mindset regarding women. Without exposing the story, Layla wasn't in this book much. This made me happy. I hope the Hannah story takes lead at some point.