The story begins with a cranky old necromancer named Ayers, recently released from the Blackwing Institute for insane sorcerers, going back to his old ways. Ayers is grave robbing, against the orders of Marla Mason. When things don't work out the way that Ayers wants, he uses blackmail against one of Felport's leading sorcerers, to obtain a mummy. No former resident of Egypt, the body is purported to be the remains of Abraham Lincoln's assassin. Before too long, Ayers has accidentally attracted the attention of the Walking Death, a character who claims to be the new ruler of the underworld. Death is interested in retrieving his terrible sword, which was lost many years ago in a game of chance.

We soon discover that this weapon is now in the form of Marla Mason's dagger of office, reduced in size and potency, on account of mortals not being suited to wielding the weapons of gods. Something which is perhaps a veiled swipe at weapons of mass destruction. Naturally, Marla is not keen to give up her prize possession. Indeed, she cannot do so, unless it is to her successor as Chief Sorcerer of Felport. After a brief and bloody fight, the Walking Death realises that he cannot simply take the weapon. Death's solution is to cast Marla -- and by magical association, her new valet, Pelham -- out of Felport. This done, Death takes control of the city, and is determined to remain there until Marla wants to give up. This is where the book really takes off, with Marla unable to enter Felport, and the Walking Death coming to terms with necessary bureaucracy, plus the pain and pleasures of existence in a human body.

Meanwhile, Rondeau is doing his best to rally the resistance, and mount a hit and run campaign against the new ruler of the city. Death, of course, cannot be killed, but then, neither can Rondeau. Although, the latter isn't keen to lose his current body. While this is going on, Marla is unable even to communicate properly with her allies, and so seeks help elsewhere. True to character she quickly settles upon a bold plan. If Death is in control of her city, she will take advantage of his absence, and stage a one-woman, plus valet, invasion of the Underworld.

All of the above sounds good, and is, but not without a few negatives. There is a rather badly telegraphed scene in the role played by the animated corpse of Lincoln's assassin. It would've been so much more effective, if other characters had vaguely recognised him, and only found out his true identity at the critical moment. As for Marla's invasion of the Underworld, it works, but only because of a quirky end twist. Marla enters her personal Underworld, but even taking that into account, I felt the place seemed sparsely populated, and rather poorly defended the closer Marla came to where she was headed. Another fifty pages would've given the author the room to develop this plot element to its full potential. As with the previous novel in this series, there is a tremendous new character in the form of Marla's valet, Pelham. Rather disappointingly, he seems destined to be shuffled sideways. However, the good outweighs the bad by a considerable margin. Dark Reign is a lightning-paced tale, never less than entertaining, and includes satisfying chunks of character and world development. The Marlaverse continues to expand.