If you’d asked me a year ago, I’d have said that I had no interest in getting involved in yet another fantasy series. Times change! I read book one of the Gunnie Rose series, An Easy Death, in February of this year, and since then have inhaled the rest of the available books. As you can imagine, I was delighted to get my hands on a copy of All the Dead Shall Weep, the newest release in this terrific series.

Quick refresher/overview: The Gunnie Rose series takes place in an alternate world in which the United States fractured during the 1930s. The continent is now divided into separate, independent countries, among them the Holy Russian Empire (our California and Oregon), New America, Dixie, Britannia, and Texoma (our Texas and Oklahoma), home to main character Lizbeth Rose.

Lizbeth is a “gunnie”, a talented sharpshooter for hire who earns a living protecting people and cargo. Over the course of the series, she’s met and fallen in love with Eli Savarova, an aristocrat from the HRE and a gifted “grigori”, a term used for Russian magicians. In this world, magic is real and powerful, and while in some circles grigoris are esteemed, in Texoma, they are generally feared.

The first three books in the series are told from Lizbeth’s point of view, and book four switched to Lizbeth’s sister Felicia as narrator. Here in book 5, Lizbeth and Felicia both narrate, each getting their own chapters to lead us through the story.

Lizbeth and Eli are settled in Texoma, enjoying married life in her small town, earning a modest living and trying to fit in. When Felicia and Peter, Eli’s brother, come for a visit, things start getting more complicated. A previously unknown militia group shows up in town with lots of firepower, and end up causing harm and danger to the family. Following these events, Eli departs with Peter without much of an explanation, and Lizbeth is left to believe that Eli has left her to return to his more privileged, comfortable life in the Holy Russian Empire.

Meanwhile, Felicia, who has astounding magical powers of her own, is being courted by eligible partners from the most elite magical families, and this leads to even more danger for all involved.

It’s challenging to sum up the overarching plot of this particular installment in the series, because it often felt like it lacked one. There are several high-adventure set pieces, and some connecting threads, but I was puzzled throughout about what the main point was and where the story was going. In some ways, this book feels like a bridge between plot developments — we spend time with the characters and certain things happen, but it feels largely like set-up for other major events yet to come.

All the Dead Shall Weep is shorter than the previous books, and I found myself somewhat less engaged by the plot. However, I do love these characters and find the world of the Gunnie Rose series to be fascinating, so spending time on this book was a nice treat despite the slightly less propulsive plot.

Obviously, with an ongoing series like this, the 5th book is not the right place for a new reader to start — definitely begin with An Easy Death if you’re interested! While this particular book wasn’t as great as some of the others, I still enjoyed it, and absolutely can’t wait for the expected huge payoff in book #6, which I hope will come along soon!