Book source ~ NetGalley

Many men and a few women get sent to Damnation when they die. Sort of like a Purgatory, if you've done bad and good then your actions in Damnation can determine where you finally end up: the good place or the bad. There are two rules to "live" by: get shot, go to hell or not shoot anyone for a year and don't get injured bad enough to die (again) and you should end up in Heaven. That's the theory anyway. No one has ever gone a year without shooting anyone or dying again, so there's only that slim hope to hang onto. Everyone needs a little bit of hope, right?

Damnation is one strange place. It's perpetually grey, but something weird has been happening to the sky. Ever since a dead lady showed up pregnant with a live baby things have gotten very interesting. Outlaw Buddy Baker takes a shine to her and protects her against the others. Everyone passes time by drinking and playing cards. Gambling is about the only way to make money in Damnation though they are a few other occupations. Sal who owns the bar, the blacksmith who makes the bullets, and Tom, the guy who writes the weekly paper, The Crapper make money in other ways, but really the only source of income is cards and you better be good or you don't eat or drink. Not that you can starve to death in Damnation, but it helps keep the boredom at bay.

Dawn in Damnation has an interesting concept with decent writing and colorful characters. If you're looking for something a bit different to read then I recommend picking up this one. I don't think you'll regret it.

Flashing its trashy cover at me, the book immediately caught my eye. Sadly, 10% into the book I had lost all interest, but I kept on reading, wanting to give it a chance, and eventually it did get better.

The entertaining western-horror crossbreed provided an original plot and a kaleidoscope of characters, who by telling their life story and the way they died each added a curious little anecdote to the whole thing. While the action did get repetitive at times, you have to consider that there really is not much to do in Damnation besides drinking, gambling and gunfighting. So each change in the routine was very welcome by the dead residents of Damnation - and me too, of course. While I was a bit miffed about the sudden cliffhanger ending, I was consoled by the fact that a sequel is already on its way and the attached preview into it.

Well this was just a heck of a lot of fun.

"Damnation," is a lot like what the Christian church-goers might refer to as "Purgatory" - that place in-between the land of the living and either heaven or hell. But with a twist. Those arriving in Damnation have a past that's checkered with some foul deed or another and it's pretty well-assumed that those who move on from Damnation will only go in one direction.

But those arriving in Damnation, which resembles an old west cowpoke town, don't have to leave. If they can stay 'alive' they remain in Damnation. But get killed a second time and it's out-of-town for the poor soul. Our story is told primarily from the point of view of a man whose stayed out of trouble since arriving and even started his own Damn newspaper, keeping the residents apprised of the comings and goings of all the other residents.

Just in case the purgatory of the afterlife isn't supernatural enough for the reader, Damnation also has its vampire residents and some werewolves who invade the town from time to time. The vamps and the wolves are just as subjected to being 'killed' and moving on to their final destination as the humans.

I was expecting something a little more ... cheesy, I think. Something that was more along the lines of spoof or farce, but instead we actually get a good mash-up of two unlikely genres - the western and the paranormal.

There wasn't anything here too serious, but the story was strong enough to capture my attention and to hold my interest. What Damnation is, or was, was nicely, slowly revealed, though there are still some questions about the place and why people arrive or don't and where they go afterward. I had fun in Damnation and I'm hoping there will be more stories there to take me back.

Looking for a good book? <em>Dawn in Damnation</em> by Clark Casey is an entertaining read and a nice blend of paranormal/fantasy and old-fashioned western.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I've read a LOT of books over the years, but I can safely say that this was the first time I've ever read a paranormal western and it proved to be an excellent introduction to the genre.

In a lot of ways the imagery I had in my head was that of a typical western movie, except the gunfighters were all dead with the bullet holes (or whatever the cause of death might have been) still in evidence! This meant that although there were aspects of the plot that were fantastical in a lot of ways (the 'undead', vampires and werewolves) a lot was also very familiar with the hard drinking, hard fighting men and the politics and dynamics of a small town in the old west.

I won't go into detail about the plot, the cover blurb gives enough information for you to either be intrigued or not, but I will say that I thought it was really well written. This is obviously part of a series (which I think should have been made clear at the outset as this will annoy some people) and the purpose of this book was to establish the scene and the characters. The action was just the opening skirmish, the rest of the war is still to come and I for one can't wait!

The next story in the series is The Dead Indian Wars and there is a preview at the end of the book.

*ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review*

Interesting setting and plot wasted with a lackluster resolution.

Dawn in Damnation opens in a western bar where a veteran resident is explaining how a newbie got there. Damnation is "hell's sifter". Those that have some redeeming qualities included in an evil life, go to Damnation to be judged. Those that kill a man, go straight to hell. Men who can avoid killing for a year might make it to heaven but no one has made it yet. The town, in perpetual dusk with an eerie sky, includes a "dead" vampire and a pack of dead werewolves.

The setup for this plot is innovative. However, foreshadowed events go nowhere and the ending just dribbles to a close without resolution of any of the town or citizen's issues or questions. Instead there is a preview of volume two of the series that seems to indicate the addition of more problems rather than a resolution of the current ones.

There is nothing more frustrating than rushing to read a book to find out what happens--and then nothing is explained (heavy sigh). I can't recommend this book even though I loved its innovation. 1 star.

Thanks to the publisher, Lyrical Underground, and netgalley for an advanced review copy. This book will be published on October 31, 2017.

The Wild West meets the afterlife in a mash up unlike any you have ever seen. Casey manages to genre bend with much mastery as to create something utterly unique and magnificent.

Damnation is somewhere between heaven and hell, the place where you end up if you don't make it to heaven. If you die while you're there (even though you are already dead?) it seems to put you on the fast track to hell. If you can behave yourself and not kill anyone, rumor has it that you might be allowed into heaven after a 1 year stay. So far nobody knows. Oddly enough there is no shortage of bacon here and although you can't starve to death when you are already dead, the townsfolk do seem to enjoy being able to eat piles of bacon strips. Women are few and far between in Damnation, and on the rare occasion one shows up they tend not to last too long. When a pregnant dead woman lands herself in Damnation somehow still carrying a live unborn baby it's an unusual situation even for this odd town.
Although I do enjoy comedy/horror this one just wasn't my cup of tea. I think fans of fantasy may enjoy it more than horror fans.