Heartland: The Second Book of The Codex of Souls Mass Market Paperback – May 1, 2009

I enjoyed this and it's predecessor, Lightbreaker. I recommend this for action magic lovers and even those, like myself, who would not be seen dead with a deck.

Heartland by Mark Teppo is the second in The Codex of Souls series, which picks up soon after the action of where Lightbreaker (reviewed here) drops you. In fact the excerpt for Heartland at the end of Lightbreaker doesn't appear in Heartland itself so definitely check it out as it lays out the impetus behind this volume. The reasons are still explained well in Heartland, but it helped introduce a fairly pivotal--if short lived--character.Markham is back to his old haunts this time around as he travels to Paris to face La Société Lumineuse, the very group that thinks him 5 years dead. His strings have been pulled and he must fulfill the clouded wishes of its now deceased leader as Markham just have happened to add his soul to the recently rebooted Chorus, which leads to all kinds of odd and cryptic internal dialogue. Teppo smartly avoided having the obligatory fight on the Eiffel Tower, but he does visit other well known sites of Paris in a very action oriented story as Markham jumps from one fight to the next barely catching his breath in between.Teppo doesn't suffer the sophomore slump at all with Heartland. In fact, the same level of cleverness and knowledge of the occult still clings to Teppo's prose as this man is a knowledge bucket of the arcane and manages to make it fresh and undaunting. Markham is given some added depth filling in his back story and the relationships he left behind. Even with all the reveals I can't help but think there is still a lot more of Markham left in the dark. Lightbreaker Markham was continually fighting to keep the Chorus in control, but now he is learning how powerful it can be when its working towards his own ends. Yet I still don't have a clear picture of how powerful Markham is despite all the opponents and obstacles he faces. This could stem from Teppo not wanting to empty his quiver too quickly, but it certainly left me more than curious about Markham. I guess it is a case of whetting my appetite for more.We finally meet Marielle, Markham's perplexing lover from his days in Paris. If I had any complaints it would be the readiness that Marielle accepts what happened to her father, which came a bit too easy for me even given the explanation later on and there are almost too many turnabouts. Teppo really hammers home the old adage of trust no one. Also, the pacing does feel a bit jumpy in a couple spots, but this was mostly due to Markham getting incapacitated a few too many times.The Codex of Souls is without a doubt one of the most original Urban Fantasy series going right now. It has stepped away from the pack and embraced a different type of magic and a very different sensibility worth checking out. I give Heartland 8 out of 10 hats. While the series is projected to be 10 books when done the first two books comprise an arc that feels complete, but lays the ground work for a beautifully realized dark-world full of surprises and twists. The third in the series Angel Tongue can't get here soon enough for me.

Heartland (The Codex of Souls)Mark Teppo(2009), Paperback, 425 pages, Release 26 Jan 2010**Want spoilers??** None here today!Mark Teppo's second book in The Codex of Souls picks up at the end of the cleverly crafted bridge just past the end of Lightbreaker. He crafts a dark tale of twisted intrigues, using an encyclopedic array of magickal and physical disciplines; tarot to Qabalah, spell-casting to sword fighting.There is a richness of language and image not seen in Lightbreaker, and a complexity of characters more fully made real. References to well-documented historic and esoteric source materials are well presented and integrated in such a way that it is not a challenge to suspend belief. What is a challenge, however, is trying to anticipate where the story will take you - just about the time I thought I knew there would be a new fork in the path which might lead to an entirely different end.I look forward to new works by this author. He writes engagingly and accessibly, but with sufficient depth and color to create a positively vivid word picture.Well Done!Original review posted at [...](Because Amazon doesn't have .5 star increments this work is granted +.5 stars vs Librarything.com review)

I liked Mark Teppo's first novel but I find his second a significantly more confident and involving book. Picking up where the first left off, it opens with an arrival in Paris and drops us into the world only discussed in the first book, the council that watches over magic in the world. Teppo folds in familiar elements of the iconography of magic and supernatural/mythological items of power and import, but brings a satisfying skepticism to the accepted mythologies behind them. Religion, faith, mythology, ancient arts... it's all of the same source when it comes to the powers mastered and wielded by these magic users.His writing is stronger here. His similes are sometimes overworked but mostly he pares his prose down to fewer well chosen words for maximum impact. And that's where the book works best: it creates quick, vivid word images and moves us through the adventure with a momentum that never feels rushed but always moves us forward. The details and backstories are brought out efficiently and effectively and always serve the bigger picture. His portrait of this ancient order suggests an almost medieval culture in the modern world, where power is taken and rivals are taken out. And as he further explores the power of the Lightbreaker and the Chorus, we get further detail on a fascinating creation within the fantasy world.I recommend both books in the series and I want to read where he takes the Codex of Souls next.

An in depth contination of were left off in Lightbreaker. A few more mysteries are revealed and you are left wanting more.