Lanore is done. Zulu is done. They have lost enough. They
have suffered enough. Too many people have died. Now people are going to burn.
Despite the rampaging warpath and Zulu’s insistence on
doing things “his way” (which involves a lot of bodies and Lanore is done
trying to stop him), politics still intrudes even as the corpses pile high.
Dante and his vampires, while very much deserving of being burned, have some
very tempting offers to make. If Lanore can resist burning him
Of course, she could find other allies – but there are so many factions, none of which trust each other and Lanore doesn’t know if she can rely on any of them.
Meanwhile MeShack is going through a stunning
transformation – and learning more about demons than ever he expected to.
I think the balance of this book with its world building
and multiple factions is really excellent. I have always loved the underlying
setting of this series because it is so original. The concept of the Habitats
with the captured supernaturals inside after losing their war against humanity
is unlike anything I’ve seen before. It creates a setting that is not just
unique but is always relevant to the story – we can’t forget the basic setting
because it defines the entire story
From little things like their home being inherently
enclosed and limited – therefore making running and hiding a difficult
proposition – to thematic elements like constantly living behind bars and how
destructive that is to the inhabitants
It also creates a setting with no humans at all which is definitely
an interesting twist as the different species exist with their own powers and
cultures and rivalries which are often complex and intersect a lot with some
brilliant class analysis and the depiction of the mix-breed supernaturals (often,
but not always, less magically powerful and always disenfranchised). Again, the
setting is always present in these depictions – like the various supernaturals
who hate the vampires because they refused to fight in the war against humans
(while the vampires insist it was pointless to fight a war they couldn’t win).
This also underpins a lot of the motivations of the
characters which really drives the story. The twisty politics of this story as
Lanore and Zulu have become major and renowned players is huge – we have
multiple factions all vying for their attention (or servitude) and pretty much
all of them are conniving and have their own agenda – all gazillion of them.
Lanore doesn’t trust any of them, not one tiny iota. So why does she work with
them – well politics is a main element but the underlying pressure is freedom
She hates Botelli vampire family and doesn’t particularly like vampires in general – but they’re working to free them from the Habitat. That’s worth it. Similarly others give her the chance to visit other Habitats – which, in itself, is presented as such a miraculous thing. The impact of this, the whole driving point of the storyline all works because of the foundation of their imprisonment. Even while so much of this story is characterised by Lanore finally snapping over how many of her friends have been lost and endangered and is quite willing to see Zulu pile bodies high – and add her own piles of ash – they still work with these forces because of that desperate wish for freedom. It’s this amazing metaforce behind everything else, behind all the personal stories and the revenge and the love, there’s always that pressure to be free that truly affects every decision
I also love how the different insular Habitats have been
handled – like they live in Santeria (since every Habitat is based on a religion)
which means the Santeria religion has a lot of influence and inclusion – but at
the same time the inhabitants know little about not just the other Habitats,
but also the religions they’re named after – like Meshack not having a clue
that Christianity is monotheistic. Equally how each Habitat operates is based
not just on the supernatural and religion, but also the politics and the laws
of the country it’s in – it’s these details that make the world so rich,
because each there is so much history and difference there
Graham and MeShack’s story also allows us a lot more
personal history with him and Lanore which I like as well as further expanding
the awesome world building and a lot of personal character backgrounds.
There’s a huge number of POC in this book, both from the
Santeria and the Shinto Habitats, with Lanore, Meshack, Graham and several
other major characters being POC as well. There’s also some really nice
considerations of how race affected Graham’s history and his demonic ways which
I appreciated; there’s a definite push to include plenty of cultural markers
and to fully depict the POC as more than just a one off description that really
shines though. And, of course, Santeria is full of depictions of Santeria (and
Yoruba-origin) religions which is very rarely seen in fiction
Lanore is an excellent character who balances a lot of
reason even when she’s in “kill all the things!” mode and I have a lot of
praise for the way she handles the romance which is something I’ll get to. But
she also has strong friends – Vee is awesome, powerful a good friend but also
willing to call out Lanore when she’s wrong. Angel, similarly, is willing to
check her friend as well as clearly laying the foundations for her own story.
The Vampires themselves are matriarchal and the head of the Shinto Habitat is a
woman.
There was some bizarre obsession with breast milk in this
book that I can’t even begin to understand. I also don’t think the whole sexual
nature of demon fire was necessary. Sadly, there were no LGBT characters in
this book (well non depicted- I think some of them may have been presented very
briefly as being possibly lesbian or bisexual in a past book but there’s
nothing here)
Unfortunately, I would kill the romance (both of them) in
this book with lots and lots of fire most of the time. Both Zulu and MeShack
are classic alpha-male love interests who express their love with a whole lot
of possessiveness and vast amounts of jealousy. This goes right up to not just
threatening anyone who encroaches on “their woman” – especially each other –
but even outright murder attempts. On top of that we have magical “marking” of
Lanore to make sure she is well and truly labelled and claimed and a whole lot
of orders, demands, expectation and general ownership bullshit. It’s tiresome
and I’d have singed both of them long ago if I were her.
The one saving grace to these romances which do nothing
for me is Lanore herself. She does put up with way way way way way more of
their bullshit than I ever would, but when she meets her limits she draws
lines. She dumped MeShack for cheating on her, even when she’s recovering from
believing he’s dead she refuses to let him press the boundaries of their relationship.
Every time Zulu gives her an order she is quick to mock him cruelly at the ridiculous
idea that she will actually do what he says. And when Zulu crosses a major
line, even with his excuses, Lanore puts her foot down and is most certainly
done. Maybe he can pull it back in later books – but not now. Lanore makes it
all much easier to swallow because she refuses to go along with it.
It’s an excellent continuation of this series, this
amazing world and these characters as their stories just gets larger and more
powerful and more epic.
