Jude Dubuisson has a magical gift, to find lost things. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, so much was lost, his power overwhelmed him. Since the storm he’s been lying low, until he is drawn into a card game where his fate becomes the ante.

Morđor is the death that should not have happened. It is a wound in the world.

Each section begins with a paragraph about myths that overlap different cultures and beliefs, giving you a big hint about what this is all about. Jude’s magic came from his father, a god unknown to him. At the card game he faces New Orlean’s fortune god, Papa Legba, an angel, a vampire and Thoth from Egyptian mythology.

Jude was dealt a blank hand, and slowly the tarot cards are revealed to him, showing how his fate is intertwined with these deities. Each god gets their part, and some show more compassion towards him than others. It is always in the back of his mind that one of them could be his father.

I liked the concept behind The City of Lost Fortunes but I didn’t really care about the main character, he was lacking in emotion and he didn’t seem much of a person beyond his magical abilities. However the story really picked up for me when we encounter the underworld and the purpose becomes apparent. Personally, it was a bit on the long side for a book where I wasn’t invested in the main character.

He’d hated his gift after the storm, called it a curse. Now that he was being forced to live without it, he fervently, urgently wanted it back.

I do always love it when a city is a character in itself and there is some of that here. New Orleans suffered a great deal and that is reflected in the cracks in the supernatural world within.

The City of Lost Fortunes is published by Titan Books and is available now in paperback and ebook editions. Thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free of charge for review purposes only. Receipt of a book does not guarantee a review or endorsement. My reviews are my honest opinion and are not biased for the purpose of personal gain.