46031299Renaissance Raines has found her place among the psychopomps – the guides who lead the souls of the recently departed through the Seven Gates of the Underworld – and done her best to avoid the notice of gods and mortals alike. But when a young boy named Ramses St. Cyr manages to escape his foretold death, Renaissance finds herself at the center of a deity-thick plot unfolding in New Orleans. Someone helped Ramses slip free of his destined end – someone willing to risk everything to steal a little slice of power for themselves.

Is it one of the storm gods that’s descended on the city? The death god who’s locked the Gates of the Underworld? Or the manipulative sorcerer who also cheated Death? When she finds the schemer, there’s gonna be all kinds of hell to pay, because there are scarier things than death in the Crescent City. Renaissance Raines is one of them.

Source Format Pages Publisher Genre Publication Date
Publisher Paperback/eARC 599 Titan Books Fantasy May 25th, 2019

Also check out: Review for City of Lost Fortunes #1

*gives Bryan Camp a standing ovation* Well, well, well Mr. Camp, you gon’ done a thing!

Diving into this book, both of the Crescent City books this far, has been like shutting out the reality and stepping into a world mystery and otherworldliness and peace and danger.

Whilst book #1 focuses on Jude (who was – is- a super character, by the way), Gather the Fortunes centres around Renaissance Raines, or Renai, who has become a psychopomp. The guide of souls from this side of life to the other. Raines’ story is one that is full of adventure and wonder and myth and gods – but truly, the blurb is all you need to dive into this book. Yet again I am unable to make justice to the story through my own words- you simply need to experience it yourself.

Again and again, immunity from the grave is not a gift to be granted but a sentence to be carried out. Not a blessing, but a curse.

Bryan Camp – Gather the Fortunes

What starts out as a story about a psychopomp task gone wrong, turns into a much bigger agenda mixed up by the courtesy of deities. Gods, whether they are inherently evil or not, they do eventually get bored and fuck up. But Raines has a sidekick Sal – a bird/dog (depending on what’s required)- who has a filthy mouth in some version of the multiverse and a tight-lipped on in the other. This was actually one thing that really threw me once I got to Part 2 of the book- I was so bloody confused- what the hell happened? Well, simple- Liis wasn’t paying enough attention and when she read back the ending of Part 1 – everything was clear as day.

There is a lot of different parts that make this story great that Camp has had to juggle and put together like a little precious gothic looking ragdoll, but he bloody did it. It is not simply the vibe and atmosphere that Camp has captured of New Orleans – there is the myth, the legend from various cultures. There’s a presence I could imagine about all of the characters, of the legba, of the gods that mingle among people… There’s also the offering of a good laugh out loud moment many a times. I mean, this is what a reader wants, is it not? Gather the Fortunes is a wonderful portal that will blow your reality to smithereens and suck you into fantasy with the insane imagination and ability to twist the legend into contemporary story!

When she finished, Sal said nothing for a few seconds that felt like hours. When he spoke, he no longer sounded angry – only tired. “There just ain’t no side of this ain’t fucked from hell to breakfast, is there?” he asked, though it seemed rhetorical.

Bryan Camp – Gather the Fortunes

I’m telling you, if you love an imaginative story full of quirk and fun and adventure and mystery, then Camp is your man. I cannot wait to see what he will surprise us with next! My biggest and bestest thanks also go to Titan Books who took me by complete surprise and sent me a review copy all the way to Estonia. I danced of joy! Thank you!

City of Lost Fortunes #1 – Book Depository (Affiliate Link)

Gather the Fortunes #2 – Book Depository (Affiliate Link)