REVIEW: The Temple of the Dead by Tim Marquitz

The Temple of the Dead by Tim Marquitz
Publishing information: Kindle Edition
Publisher: Damnation Books 1 March 2010
ISBN 10: 1615722718
ISBN 13: 978-1615722716
ASIN: B004E3XTR0
Series: Part II of the Sepulchral Earth
Copy: Provided by Author
Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "Two years after the furious dead rose up to murder the living, the remnants of mankind face a brutal extinction. Wretched and broken, trading humanity for life, the survivors suffer under the inevitable shadow of death.

Aided by friendly spirits, the necromancer Harlan Cole wages war against the merciless forces of the undead. Driven to bring peace to the souls of his wife and daughter, Harlan vows to return the dead to their graves, or join them trying."

Last year I reviewed an very impressive debut, Armageddon Bound, after my review the author contacted me to read a short story that he was working on, Sepulchral Earth. I was blown away and begging for more. A few months ago, Tim Marquitz contacted me again to see if I would be interested in reading the sequel to his first short story. I jumped at the chance.

The Temple of the Dead was a lot of fun to read and provided a lot of insight into just how things on earth got as bad as they have. When we left our hero, Cole, he was saving a family from the undead. In this latest installment he is dealing with his past. The reason part one of the Sepulchral Earth was so mind boggling was the hero and his mysterious ghostly sidekick, is the mystery that surrounds him and his past. Temple of the Dead was kind of a let down as you learn how things came to be and to learn what drives Harlan to be the man he is. While I like to learn more about him and his sidekick. This sequel hits you over the head with how things came to be and I would have liked a slow reveal. With that said I still enjoyed this chapter in the series. There is plenty of zombie goodness and lots of action for Cole.

Marquitz does a great job of showing the despair that human-kind has sunk to with legions of undead "dying" to get a piece of them. There is a fascinating new villain that Cole must come to terms with and he has a new friend along for the journey. While the story is rather short Marquitz does an excellent job of throwing in some stylized action within the pages. The Temple of the Dead is a welcome addition to the Sepulchral Earth series.

As I said before I was a bit disappointed with the unveiling of Cole's past but that aside it was great to get back into the series and I look forward to seeing more of his adventures.

Plot 7
Characters 9
Style 7

Overall 7.5/10