Title: Worth His Salt
Series: Tattooed Corpses: Book Two
Author: Ofelia Grand
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 47 Pages
Category: Fantasy, Murder Mystery
At a Glance: This was a fascinating premise, but the story tried to be a few too many things at once and, as a result, ended up being nothing of any of them.
Reviewed By: Jenn
Blurb: Eldred Henstare is a not so powerful witch who’s been left in charge of helping the city’s lingering spirits to move on. He usually handles it pretty well, but something’s wrong with the spirit leading him to the abandoned lighthouse.
Mo Vin likes his quiet life in the cottage next to the lighthouse, at least it’s quiet until one night when Eldred Henstare—young, beautiful and crazy—arrives. After that night things aren’t the same. A man is found dead on the beach outside Mo’s cottage, and he’s almost sure he’s the one who killed him, except it doesn’t make sense. Why would he kill anyone?
Eldred needs to get rid of the ghost haunting Mo. If he doesn’t Mo’s life is in danger, but to do it he needs both Mo and his brother Lachtin to help out.
Review: This was a fascinating premise, and I found myself looking forward to it. We immediately jumped into Eldred’s mission of laying ghosts to rest as he combs the dark and stormy coast, trying to pinpoint the evil spirit. The spirit’s malevolence is seen right from the start when it tries to lure Eldred into the sea with its call. At some point in his search, Eldred stumbles across Mo Vin’s home, who gets him to come in out of the awful weather and relax.
I found myself as sceptical as Mo about Eldred’s powers, as we don’t get to see or experience much of them to begin with, only the call that Eldred describes, though he does slowly start using some of that power and letting us see a bit deeper into his world. Since the call goes silent in Mo’s home, Eldred decides to regroup and try again the next day. Only to discover a body was found near where he was searching. The story has the right elements of obstacles and hardship for the protagonists to overcome There wasn’t much romance, and Mo went from being against a relationship because of the potential difference in ages, and Eldred’s possible insanity, to the possessive caveman by the end of the story, with no rhyme or reason seen between the pages.
But much like the first in this series, as the story is wrapped up, I found myself disappointed as not a lot was really clarified, and I was left with far too many questions. Like, who was the body that was found, and why was he stabbed? We think the murder was associated with the ghost haunting the lighthouse but are never really told if he was. What was the significance of his tattoo? How old is Eldred, and is his mother really as terrifying as they make her out to be? The last question is probably best left unanswered, as what we build up in our minds is scarier than any monster reveal could potentially be. And yet, it would have been nice to see more than just her sons trying to avoid her.
Worth His Salt is a story that tried to be a few too many things at once and, as a result, ended up being nothing of any of them.
You can buy Worth His Salt here:
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