Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Dark Rivers
SERIES: Witchbane
AUTHOR: Morgan Brice
NARRATOR: Kale Williams
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 7 hrs and 17 min
RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2019
BLURB:
One hundred years ago, a sheriff’s posse killed dark warlock Rhyfel Gremory, but his witch-disciples escaped, and their magic made them nearly immortal. To keep their power, each year one of the witch-disciples kills a descendant of one of the men in the posse, a twelve-year cycle that has cost dozens of lives, including that of Seth Tanner’s brother, Jesse.
Seth Tanner uncovers the cycle of ritual killings that feeds the power of the witch-disciples, and he’s hell bent on getting vengeance for Jesse and stopping the murders. His fledgling romantic relationship with Evan Malone complicates his mission, but Seth can’t walk away. Seth and Evan are learning to navigate their partnership—as lovers and monster hunters—while they chase down the next witch-disciple and avoid attracting the wrong kind of attention.
When the hunt takes Seth and Evan to Pittsburgh on the trail of the next killer, they’ll have to save the intended victim and take down the powerful witch. If the skills they possess and the bond between them isn’t enough, the evil will remain unchallenged, and more people will die…
Note: Includes mention of past domestic violence and stalking.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the second novel in this series and as such has major spoilers for the first book and it is recommended that they be read in order.
This series picks up after Seth and Evan have defeated the first witch disciple in Richmond and saved Evan. They have moved on to hunt the next witch disciple – even though the sacrifices are normally made on Halloween, they think that the next descendant targeted may in fact be moving up his time table. So they have relocated to Pittsburgh to see if they can locate the next potential victim and determine who the witch disciple is in his current incarnation.
While they are able to locate the sacrifice, they have a great deal of difficulty trying to determine who the witch disciple is in this era. They also don’t know where the anchor for the witch disciple is located either so they are worried about being able to fight his power. It seems that this witch disciple has been busy and there are a lot murders he has committed in the interim to boost his power. Seth and Evan work with the ghosts to try to figure out just who the bad guy is.
In the meantime, Seth runs into some other monsters hunters, including a former priest and an EMT. Turns out the skills of these new acquaintances come in handy. These hunters are skeptical at first of Seth’s story and skills and Evan’s part in the last sacrifice as well, but when the chips are down, it takes all of their skills and powers to fight the next witch disciple and his henchmen.
Overall I liked this story. Kale Williams does a great job in narrating this series. Each of the voices is distinct and he gives the characters nuanced personality. Personally I could do with a few less sex scenes, but I appreciate that the author is trying to continue building the relationship between Seth and Evan as they have recently become involved and they are living a pretty fraught an dangerous lifestyle. Each new encounter with the witch disciples is literally life or death for them I’m looking forward to their next adventure and I hope that maybe they will have some in person dealings with some of the other hunters as I really enjoyed seeing Seth and Evan interacting with other characters who are aware of the supernatural world they are fighting in.
RATING: 
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