Review of An Easy Death

An Easy Death is one the latest novels from prolific author, Charlaine Harris. Harris is known for her other series she has written.Three of her series have been adapted to TV. The Sookie Stackhouse series (aka Southern Vampire Mysteries) were shown on HBO as True Blood. Midnight, Texas was on broadcast TV, and the Aurora Teagarden is shown on Hallmark.

The setting for An Easy Death(AED) is set in a balkanized United States during the thirties. As briefly outlined, the president died during WW1, the VP died during the Spanish Flu epidemic, banks crashed and then a second outbreak of the Spanish Flu. The country broke apart after that. And magic returned.

The independent countries are: -Britannia: The original thirteen colonies minus Georgia rejoined the UK. -Dixie: The remaining Southern states plus Georgia. -Canada: The Northern states joined Canada. -Holy Russian Empire(HRE): California & Oregon ruled by the rescued Russian czar and family. -Texoma: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and parts of Colorado. -New America: All the remaining territory. -Alaska and Hawaii are not mentioned.

The story starts in Segundo Mexia, Texoma and we meet the protagonist of the novel, Lizbeth Rose. Rose is a gunnie. Gunnies are hired guns for hire: mercenaries, guards, assassins, etc. Rose is fairly young but experienced. She is no Mary Sue. Her weapons are a Winchester Model 1873 lever action rifle and a pair of matched Colt 1911's. After a job goes bad, she is hired by a pair of grigori's. Grigori are people who can use magic in the setting. They are looking for low level magic user who they believe is a descendant of Grigori Rasputin. His blood is needed to control the HRE emperor's hemophilia. The trip is perilous and not without danger.

Game play: The setting reminds of Pinnacle's Deadlands setting mixed with Crimson Skies. The grigori are magic users of various skills and powers. They are divided into different guilds: earth, air, water, fire, healing and death. All spells require components and spoken words. All grigori wear vests to hold these components. While they are powerful, if they are not paying attention, they can be taken out by blades or bullets. Death spells are draining and guild members can cast spells from other guilds. They also all hail from HRE as they are the only country that accepts and trains them.

If a GM wants to use the setting for their next game, I would choose a system that can handle magic and firearms. Also, the pc's need to be careful in combat. I am thinking of maybe Basic Roleplaying, Savage Worlds, or GURPS, are the ones that come to mind. The setting is easy to understand and a GM should be able to create or adapt adventures for their games.

One last thing. The title comes from a saying gunnies say to each other as they leave to do their jobs. Like 'break a leg' said to actors before they go on stage.

I do recommend everyone give this book a read. A sequel, A Longer Fall, came out earlier this year.