Thank you to the publisher for the ARC through NetGalley.

I loved this as much as book one. These are such cute books. I was lucky enough the first book through the mail when this series was first started. I think Sam Hooker does a good job. I recommend these books and if there are more books, I hope to get those also.

I really enjoyed this book! It was funny, and different. I enjoyed it just as much as the first. The sense of humor really is very British, like Monty Python, and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Sloot has you rooting for him the whole time! I felt like the language used made it a lot easier to really invest myself in the story. It made it an easy read. The denial of everyone about the evil, can be a bit frustrating. I find willing ignorance to be really annoying. This book is a bit busy, but if you can handle it, then this is the book for you! That ending though!!! I just need the next installment to release like tomorrow. Okay, thanks!! I also want to say how much I love the cover. It is just perfect!

I requested this book from Netgalley for an honest review. This book made me laugh quite a bit. The main character is a dead guy and that's what enticed me to read it. The story sometimes went in too many directions and I haven't read the first book in this series, but I didn't feel lost in what was happening.
My favorite part was the goblins. I love that by swearing you summon them to your home! I'd have a bunch in mine if that were true.

I so hoped to like this book, but it was just not for me. When I don't like a book I would just rather not write anything, because it may just not be for me.

I'm sorry. I really tried to force myself, but I couldn't finish this. I made it to 47%. Book 1 was so interesting and funny. But this is a one joke farce. One of the problems with series is that you get to introduce the characters (and characterization) and the world in the first book, but then the second relies almost entirely on plot, of which this has little and it takes forever to get going. Instead of having Peril exploring Salzstadt and Carpathia and revealing what an odd world he lives in, in this one he is basically tugged by the ear into an endless stream of annoying conversations punctuated with jokes about being dead that begin to become tiresome. It just didn't engage me. Sorry.

The book itself was good but it was really difficult to get into because so much was predicated on the first boo, which I hadn’t read (Peril in the Old Country). The story was light and an easy enough read. So it’s definitely not a stand alone. The hero was a good guy, his girlfriend kind of disappeared in and out of the book. To fully understand it, I’ll have to go back and read the original book.

This book reminds me of a play I saw once. Lots of exuberant characters always coming and going. Random asides that don’t seem to fit or move the the storyline. Some laughs along the way to keep you interested.

In the end though, it just wasn’t my play and this isn’t my book.

Sloot Peril keeps things grounded. Even if he’s no longer grounded himself as he’s a ghost that floats through the ether. Except when he’s summoned for spy duty by what used to be his head and is now a shrunken head worn on a belt. Then he’s taken back to The Narrative (the real world).

My favorite part of this book is the goblins. Granted if summoning goblins to your home only requires you to swear... well my house would be overflowing with the little monsters. There are other funny asides sprinkled throughout including a literal eternity waiting in line. I enjoyed the gothic feel of the book as well.

The story felt crowded at times. There were a lot of subplots. I wasn’t always able to juggle them enough to get attached to any of them. Overall this book stuck me as one people are going to either love it or leave it.

This was a fairly enjoyable read and a decent sequel. The plot was certainly intriguing, and I thought that the characters were developed, especially Sloot. The writing was also well done and I liked the gothic feel/atmosphere that the book had!

I had been so excited by the description of this book that I could hardly wait to jump in. Unfortunately, it took me much longer to get through than I had expected because it was just far too tedious of a read. There were just too many moving parts that it was hard to follow the plot or the point. I have yet to fail to finish a book once I’ve started it, but I came pretty close to doing so with this one multiple times

Warning: to avoid angry swearing (and the resultant summoning of goblins) be advised that after this initial paragraph there will be terribly serious spoilers for the first book in the series: <i>Peril in the Old Country</i>. Not only should you not read beyond this paragraph if you have not read <i>Peril in the Old Country</i>, but you probably shouldn't read <i>Soul Remains</i> yet. The absurdist plot to this book picks up shortly after the previous one left off and does not bother to do much in the way of reintroducing characters or recapping storylines in the web of plots that have ensnared the pathetic, neurotic Sloot Peril. Suffice it to say, it is well worth your time to read both of these hilarious books as long as you don’t mind cliffhanger endings. Now, off you go to check out the first book if you want to avoid having its ending spoiled…

…

…

…Okay, if you’re still here you know (or are about to find out) that the first book ended with many of the characters dying (very <i>Blackadder</i>), including poor Sloot crushed to death under a pile of goblins. Sloot, being the unlucky fellow that he is, is not permitted to rest in peace (though possibly in pieces). He remains enmeshed in all the various plots and counterplots with the added inconvenience of being a ghost who can be summoned, banished, etc. All of this makes the book a bit more disjointed and surreal than the first one, but no less entertaining. The author takes satirical potshots at a wide variety of topics and tropes (he has a whole new set to work with since half of the characters are now dead-ish) and throws in witty turns of phrase that kept me chuckling throughout. The book again ended on a cliffhanger, which I’m still not a fan of, but at least I was expecting it this time…and I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

Soul Remains (Terribly Serious Darkness #2) by Sam Hooker is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. I really think the author is related to Monty Python. This book has similar wit, cleverness, and crazy characters one might expect from the Python movies. This is book two and I didn't read book one but I can't say I felt behind, the story caught me up so I had no lag time. I think my jaws are sore from smiling! 😆 This was a fun book to read, I will have to make time to read the first one. Lots of humor, creatures, creativity, fun plot, zany characters, and unpredictable circumstances, what more can you expect from an dead hero?

It’s dark in the old country. Where do goblins come from? Why do they only turn up on the old country, and why do they like swearing so much? Everything changed after the Fall of Salzstadt,but try telling that to the people of the city, whose capability for denial is unmatched. They have yet to acknowledge that Vlad the Invader cut a bloody swath through their city, that the dead are walking the streets, of that the Dominator long may he reign has fled to wherever despots go on a very long vacations while goblin infestation take care of themselves.

I appeciate having had an opportunity to read and review this book. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

"Where do goblins come from? Why do they only turn up in the Old Country, and why do they like swearing so much? In the second book of Terribly Serious Darkness, Sloot Peril—a “hero” who’s staunchly averse to heroics—goes looking for answers. Much to his chagrin, he finds them." Such a fantastic read, laugh out loud funny and a most definite page-turner!