Days Gone Bad by Eric Asher

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genres: Paranormal, urban fantasy, horror, thriller, drama
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I picked up this book, not sure of what to expect.. First: It was written in the first person, which doesn't always work in my mind... After reading a few pages, it wasn't a problem... Second: It wasn't a paranormal romance, which is the genre I usually aim toward reading... Again, just a few pages in, it was no longer a problem! Come to think of it, there wasn't one bad thing about this book! Well, other than the fact that it ended & I didn't want to leave Damian's world yet! 
Eric Asher is one helluva an upcoming new author & I have a feeling this man will be soon in the ranks of Dean Koontz, Stephen King & James Patterson. The book has it all! Drama, intrigue, horror, fantasy, and some of the best dark humor I've read in years! I can't tell you how many times I laughed aloud while reading this book, even in the middle of intense dramatic scenes, just because Damian is such an incredibly relatable, witty, believable & sarcastic character whom I absolutely loved! Eric Asher knows how to draw a person in with creative writing, and the worlds he invents to share with us are nothing short of astounding! I'll be in line first, for any other books this fantastic author decides to release!
We are introduced to Damian, who is a human necromancer that owns an inherited quirky little spell/magic shop and is surrounded by all species of creatures including vampires, demi-gods, fairies, demons, other necromancers and more.. As a matter of fact, his own sister is a vampire.. Damian handles it well, between cu-sith dogs (green blobs of fur, lol!) attacking him & fairies popping in & out, (they live in his grandfather clock:) demanding his attention. His necromancer mentor suddenly reappears back into his life & he realizes that this time, it's not just for fun & games.. If he fails the mission Zola is attempting to complete, it could mean the end of his existence or the end of the entire world, in general! 
Damian embarks on this mission with his mentor, Zola, his fairy-bff, Foster, (I loveeee Foster!) and gets help from his vamp sis, Sam, along with Foster's mom & wife and a few other unique friends. This book is not for the faint of heart, so there's your warning. It contains gory scenes and a lot of dark humor, but to me, it was about as close to perfect as a book could get!
If you are up for a wild, thrilling, crazy ride through the world of necromancers, magic, demons, vamps, fairies & more, don't hesitate and run out to buy this book immediately! It is one of my top pics of the year and I'm proud that I was given the chance to do a review on this fantastic book by this great author!

Platinum Reviews Gives Eric & "Days Gone Bad":
FIVE PLATINUM RINGS!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
My name is Damian Valdis Vesik. I am a necromancer, an ability feared and hated as much as the powers my master and I set ourselves against. We've vanquished many evils, but now something is releasing a new evil, forcing us to hunt an enemy beyond anything I’ve faced before. I was already busy enough with vampires, fairies, witches, Watchers, weddings, and … damn, I need a vacation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:

We didn’t even make it three steps from the door before two silhouettes walked toward us from either end of the parallel-parked SUV. They moved into the halo of light at the edge of the street. Dressed the same, they were both clothed in dull black leather pants and skin-tight jackets. My eyes flicked between the blond and the raven-haired vampires. The latter was grinning.
“Vesik.” The raven-haired vampire laughed.
“Rogues,” I said. “You know my name …”
“Rogues?” He shook his head, eyes never leaving mine. “No, he is only my puppet, just as you will be my master’s. It is unwise to stand against the master.”
“Who are you?”
He pointed his finger at me and the blond vampire struck.
I reached out with my power, ready to grab hold of the blond’s aura and pull his skull out through his face.
“No fucking aura-” was all I spat out before he was on me. Colin moved fast. Faster than I could see, but by the time he swung the massive claymore the vampire was out of his reach. Colin’s sword cleaved through the side of the rental.
No aura meant zombie. Zombies should be slow. This zombie was flashing vampire fangs and was anything but slow, otherworldly fast. The supercharged zombie tore the backpack out of my hand and threw me through the windshield of a minivan across the street.
“Damian! Holy shit, are you alright?”
As the stars cleared, I found Foster running his eyes over me from his perch on the minivan’s dashboard.
“Dandy.” I glanced back at the blond as I scrambled for the passenger door. I hurt, but the surge of adrenalin was pumping hard enough I could easily ignore the wounds pumping blood down my left arm. The blond was still as a dead tree, eyes focused on nothing but the sidewalk. “What the hell is a puppet, Foster?”
“I don’t know.”
The other vampire was laughing again. He was practically hysterical. “Too long, it’s been too long,” he said as he took a deep breath and clenched his outstretched hands into fists. He pointed at me again.
“Impadda!” I screamed before the blond reached me. This time I was expecting it. Power surged and thickened into a shield arching over my head. He slammed head-first into the wall of force at a flat out run. There was a horrible crunch and he slid to the ground. No strings of power stretched back from the crumpled vampire to his master, no aura shifted around him. No way was he getting up again. I dropped my shield and stepped past him to focus on the rogue. Silly me.
The grounded vampire grabbed my ankle and tossed me into the brick face of the closest building. My back hit first, and then my head cracked hard enough to make my vision cross-eyed. I slid down the wall and landed on my ass.
I stared at the blond vamp as my vision congealed back into something resembling normality. He was deathly still again. I looked hard and focused my Sight. “Oh, fucking god no.” The aura was there, it was just beneath the skin. It was black and dark and tainted with the deep red of infection. His fingers were twitching in random patterns. I hadn’t noticed it before. The vampire was possessed. Not only that, his own aura had been extinguished. He was something else now, but I had no idea what.
Zola’s training kicked in and I reached out to that unholy aura. My power swarmed over the vampire. I waited for the hook, the telltale feeling of an aura I could latch onto, the surge of forsaken knowledge that came with necromancy, but nothing came.
Colin struck at the rogue with two quick slashes. Both were turned away in a thunder of sparks by a shield incantation. “Pulsatto!” A wave of force threw Colin away from the vampire. He landed out of sight, up the street just to the north of the shop.
“What the hell?” My voice slurred a bit.
“Vampires can’t do that,” Foster said.
The black haired vampire spoke again. “The Unseelie Sidhe will rise with our power and crush this world.” His hands balled up into fists. “They will rule the nether lands from the underworld to the Wild Hunt by sword and spell. Gwynn ap Nudd will lay dead at our master’s feet.” His voice rose to a scream and his eyes bulged. “Our Sidhe enemies will die.” He pointed his finger at me. “And you, the righteous necromancers, you’ll never stop us. I’ll break Adannaya’s neck for what she did.”
“Did you just monologue at me?” My speech was slurred and I couldn’t stop the somewhat incoherent giggle dripping from my mouth.
“Gut the blond, Damian!”
I spared Foster a glance. It was an idea, and a better one than I’d come up with during the vamp’s monologue efforts. As I stood up, I took a step forward, brought my arm down in a diagonal line and screamed, “Modus Incidatto!”
The blond didn’t even flinch as a deep and ragged wound opened across his shoulder and guts. It was a massive cut and things never meant to see light began a slow push through the wound.
I could see the aura come out with the viscera and I latched onto it with my power. It slithered and fought and felt like Zola’s godforsaken dolls, but there was no surge of knowing. It was exactly like Zola’s dolls. I pushed it out until it touched the rogue’s aura and opened a hole.
His eyes went wide for a moment and I screamed, “Pulsatto!” My power raced down the connected auras and then everything went wrong.
My power rebounded off the raven-haired vampire’s aura. Something was riding it back, right through my defenses. By the time I could even think the incantation for my shield, I couldn’t move.
“Nice try, Vesik,” he hissed. “See if Zola can put this back together again.”
I don’t even know what the bastard hit me with. I knew I was airborne, and I knew it was going to hurt when I landed, but holy shit. The impact was agonizingly slow. My leg smashed into a fire hydrant. I felt the bolts dig into my knee, heard the crack as something broke, and screamed as my body followed my leg into the hydrant. Something popped in my hip and my heel was suddenly touching the back of my head as I twirled and rolled across the sidewalk. I didn’t pass out. If ever I had wanted to pass out, it was then. The tears that ran down my face in torrents would have vouched for me.
The blond came at me again.
Foster struck. “DAMIAN!” I heard his scream. It changed from his normal voice into the basso war cry of a giant. I’d seen Cara grow before, but even through my haze of pain I could tell Foster was bigger. In the span of a single breath he grew to the size of a seven-foot colossus. Rage creased his face and his claymore was so big it was almost comical.
Comical until Foster launched himself into the air with a sweep of his wings and another cry of rage. He folded his wings and came down on the blond from eight feet in the air. His sword met the crown of the possessed vampire and continued in a smooth slash to his crotch. Blood and entrails exploded across my field of view as the fairy kicked one half of the separated vampire at the rogue.
Foster spun around before the two halves of my attacker ever hit the ground. His arms moved forward in an overhand slash and he let his sword fly. It spun end over end with enough ferocity to kill any vampire, but the rogue vanished with a snarl. There was a thin red vortex of energy where he’d been standing a moment before. The sword passed through the red remnant, slammed into a nearby tree, and buried itself to the hilt.
Things started to go dark. I heard footsteps and mumbling and thought I heard Colin’s thick voice say “Socius Sanation.” There was a twinge in my hip and back, followed by pain. Then darkness mercifully wrapped its arms around me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~CLICK HERE TO FIND ERIC ON FACEBOOK~~~~

~~~BUY "DAYS GONE BAD" ON AMAZON HERE~~~

~~~BUY "DAYS GONE BAD" AT BARNES & NOBLE HERE~~~