After the events of the last book, the supernatural world
is devolving into chaos. Split along the lines of those who want to reveal the
supernatural and those who wish to remain concealed, there is a war fighting on
every plane of existence. Not just Earth, Angels are turning against Angels,
Lord Demons are mustering against each other. In the confusion, all rules are
being broken, demon beasts are manifesting in the real world, Angels are taking
flesh, demi-demons are possessing humans, even children, against all
established laws and treaties.
People are panicking, in one move against the reveal movement, a group of anti-revealers are taking extreme measures to convince people it’s a bad idea – unleashing drugged, frenzied werewolves, manifested demons and starving vampires among groups of humans to show how bad it could be – leaving a horrendous mess and piles of bodies in their wake.
And Giles, leader of the reveal movement, is getting
desperate. Harried by the Cabals, the anti-reveal movement, the interracial
council and with his laboratory destroyed in a explosion, he is losing control.
He tries to tighten his fist on defectors and to wave his carrot of immortality
– but his serum isn’t ready – and the people who take it are becoming savage
monsters. It doesn’t stop him trying to use it widely among the potentially
influential.
Then there’s the Lord Demons – who are quite willing to
possess without summoning, recruiting, looking for their offspring – and
setting Cabals into civil war.
Chaos.
That sums up this book – everything is falling apart and
all the rules are being broken – and it’s so excellently well done. Between the
Lord demons and the Cabal squabbling and random possession and demon beasts,
they run from event to event with each and every one of them being something
that SHOULD NOT BE. We get a really strong sense of both the desperation and
the sheer uniqueness of how completely wrong everything is.
