Death of the Body by Rick Chiantaretto

Genre:  New Adult Fantasy

Crossing Death Series, Book 1

Rick Chiantaretto's website

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Description (taken from Rick Chiantaretto's website):

I grew up in a world of magic. By the time I was ten I understood nature, talked to the trees, and listened to the wind. When the kingdom of men conquered my town, I was murdered by one of my own—the betrayer of my kind.

But I didn’t stay dead.

I woke to find myself in a strange new world called Los Angeles. The only keys to the life I remembered were my father’s ring, my unique abilities, and the onslaught of demons that seemed hell-bent on finding me. Now I must find out who I really am, protect my friends, get the girl, and find my way back to my beloved hometown of Orenda.

Jumping from a fantasy world into our world.  What a culture shock!  This book combines pieces of magic along with the need to understand and survive.

Edmund lives in Orenda as a mage.  He lives in a community where the use of magic is normal.  But something devastating occurs, and the community is destroyed by energumen: dark shadow beings that basically consume energy.  While trying to figure out what happened and salvage his world, he is murdered by his own.  And somehow, that throws him into a Catholic orphanage within our world.  While he begins to show our world bits of magic from his old world, he finds he's still being chased by something.  With the help of his friends, he works to uncover his past and figure out how it ties into our world.

This book is fast-paced and easily pulls you in.  The fantasy and questions just keep you going.  However, there is a lot of mention of religion in this book; I mean Edmund ended up in a Catholic orphanage.  While it doesn't seem to heavily push you towards a certain religion, this book slowly explains the fantasy aspects using our religious stories, if that makes sense.  My only issue with this book was my need to understand how Orenda worked.  And the explanation at the end felt way too rushed (whatever, he was being chased by energumen, of course it was rushed).  I guess I want to know more about this world and how the magic functions.

A good fantasy series to pick up.  Plus, it's from a boy's point of view, and I didn't find this obnoxious in the slightest (boy protagonists tend to annoy me usually).

Thanks goes to Rick Chiantaretto for providing me a review copy.