History Literature / TheHexslingerSeries

* UpToEleven: The visible, active level of magic and {{Magitek}} rises ''tremendously'' over the course of the series, though it's strongly implied that it will fall back somewhat afterwards.

** Yancey also changes significantly, going from mildly discontented lawman's fiancee to full-blown {{Seer}} and ActionGirl.

* BadassGay: Chess, a gunslinger with lightning speed and ImprobableAimingSkills.

* StraightGay: Both Rook and Chess qualify, although Rook turns out to be functionally [[BiTheWay bisexual]] as well.

* EvilAlbino: Songbird, although she is not so much "evil" as arrogant and antagonistic. Eventually she [[CharacterDevelopment develops]] into a more [[HeroicAlbino heroic]] figure.

* TheBechdelTest:
** Failed in ''Book'': there are several named female characters in the novel, but at no point do any of them interact directly with each other -- and the majority of them die at the end of the scene in which they appear.
** Passed near the end of ''Rope'': at least part of the conversation between Yancey and Grandma is about something other than one of the male characters.
** Passed in multiple scenes in ''Tree''.

* MommyIssues: Chess's relationship with his mother "English" Oona is... [[{{Understatement}} troubled]]; she was an opium addict and prostitute, and in addition to savagely abusing Chess herself, she pimped ''him'' out to customers once he was old enough. Chess eventually allows Rook to use his magic to [[spoiler:''kill'' Oona (though she is dying anyway at the time, making this possibly more of a MercyKill than a cold-blooded revenge)]] -- which makes it all the more difficult for Chess when [[spoiler:in TheUnderworld, he meets up with Oona's ghost, "kills" her only to find her reforming in a [[AbsurdlyYouthfulMother squickily hot]] youthful form, and then finds out from her that ''she'' was a hex too... except her power was permanently stolen by the hex who was Chess's ''father'', who had figured out that she would be vulnerable to such a theft during childbirth. Most of Oona's abuse is thus explained as a half-assed attempt to trigger Chess's manifestation as a hex without actually hurting him badly enough to kill him.]]

* UsefulNotes/AztecMythology: Strongly drawn on in the person of [[spoiler:Tezcatlipoca]], though a lot of Maya myths are mixed in as well.

Set in the 1860s in the wake of the AmericanCivilWar, the series takes place in an AlternateHistory Earth where occasionally, ordinary men or women will manifest as powerful magicians (called "hexes" most often by the main characters) after either near-fatal injury (for men) or their first menstrual period (for women). These hexes are capable of great feats of magic individually, but have been footnotes in history for one key reason: hexes cannot spend any significant time in proximity, or work together on magical acts, because they will be driven by instinctive hunger to feed off each other's power until one or the other is dead. (The CatchPhrase of this limitation is: "Mages don't meddle.") This fundamental stumbling block has kept hexes from ever cooperating to discover exactly how their powers work, or to establish any consistent group magical tradition beyond what is learned in short, dangerous and often fatal informal apprenticeships; as a result, every hex[[note]](in Western-descended cultures, at least)[[/note]] is basically a self-taught magical island unto himself or herself, using individual tricks and techniques to work their feats.

Enter Reverend Asher Rook, the BigBad[[note]](initially)[[/note]] of the series, a faith-lost preacher for the Confederates who survives his own hanging (for the murder of his commanding officer, a crime he didn't commit) by manifesting as one of the most powerful hexes ever seen, calling up a tornado to wipe out the Union soldiers who have captured him and his fellows. Considering himself thus damned, he yields to the seduction of [[{{TheGunslinger}} gunslinger]] Chess Pargeter, a nigh-psychopathic killer and unrepentantly openly gay man, and embarks on a career of banditry with his fellow soldiers, using the Literature/{{Bible}} to work black miracles and render his gang unstoppable. This career of hex-driven crime leads Allan Pinkerton of the Pinkerton Detective Agency to send one of his men, Agent Ed Morrow, in under cover to infiltrate Rook's gang; Morrow's task is to learn as much as he can about the gang, while using a new {{Magitek}} device to measure the objective strength of Rook's power.

Enter Reverend Asher Rook, the BigBad[[note]](initially)[[/note]] of the series, a faith-lost preacher for the Confederates who survives his own hanging (for the murder of his commanding officer, a crime he didn't commit) by manifesting as one of the most powerful hexes ever seen, calling up a tornado to wipe out the Union soldiers who have captured him and his fellows. Considering himself thus damned, he yields to the seduction of [[{{TheGunslinger}} gunslinger]] Chess Pargeter, a nigh-psychopathic killer and unrepentantly openly gay man, and embarks on a career of banditry with his fellow soldiers, using the {{Bible}} to work black miracles and render his gang unstoppable. This career of hex-driven crime leads Allan Pinkerton of the Pinkerton Detective Agency to send one of his men, Agent Ed Morrow, in under cover to infiltrate Rook's gang; Morrow's task is to learn as much as he can about the gang, while using a new {{Magitek}} device to measure the objective strength of Rook's power.