There’s a serial killer in town – their victims are
horrendously mutilated and increasing in frequency. Worse, all signs point to
something supernatural doing the killing – which makes it Cesar’s and Suzy’s job
to catch the killer. And Cesar does not do bodies
Almost as intimidating, the boss is in town. She has an
ultimatum – because Cesar accessed information he shouldn’t have in a crisis,
he needs to become Aspis to Fritz’s Kopis. Shield to his Sword. The fighter’s
witch guardian – and there’s a test involved. A complicated test that is rather
beyond Cesar’s skill level
And if he fails… well, being fired from the agency may have consequences
I do like how Cesar has grown in this book, including his
powers and abilities. This is somewhat odd for me because I can be quite
scathing when we have protagonists who constantly level up every book, finding
new depths of special powers. But with Cesar it worked because it was very
subtle. Also because he’s very much behind the curve of his colleagues. Suzy
has awesome power, his boss, Fritz, is a skilled Kopis who can clearly throw
down and Isobel has some very specialised magical skills – Cesar often feels
like the odd man. In some ways, it works because he’s the one who will think
about the mundane before the magical but other times it’s a hindrance because
he needs to be reminded of the magical.
It also fits really well with his past and development – Cesar is surrounded by major talents and has grown up around major talents. He has thoroughly absorbed the idea that he’s not very good simply because he’s been surrounded by people who are totally awesome and has internalised his own incapacity because of that. It’s really well done to see not his growing ability, but him being forced to look past his instinctive “I can’t do it” initial response to any challenge.
This fits really well with the ongoing theme of Cesar
finding his feet in the new department and having to learn quickly as well as
him stepping up to be Fritz’s Apis. Cesar has spent the whole series being
thrown into situations well beyond his experience and comfort zone and having
to rise to the challenge
I’m looking forward to seeing him and Fritz bounce off
each other as well – they really do work together
Beyond the characters, I really love this world. Especially
how it is connected with several other of the author’s series in the same world
– allowing us to see everything through different lens. So we can see Elise
viewing the Union as an imposing threat and demons as not-all-that-worrisome
unless they’re higher up in the Descent
Series and then here we have Cesar working for and closely with the Union
while fearing even the most minor demons as terrifying enemies. The different
series have also worked to make a really wide and rich world full of different
denizens with different views of them all. This is built on a magic system that
is both individual but also has a solid sense of rules and procedures that
speaks to deeper world building that I always appreciate
