Barbara J. Webb

Miroc has been saved from drought but the underlying questions remain – where are the gods? Where did they go and why did they abandon the world and their children within?

The city also is still under threat- Ash, Syed, Iris – everyone is desperately preparing as much as they can for when the Shadows return; the nearly undetectable creatures who can possess people and are trying to bring about the end of the world.

But even this can be displaced when the Jansynians discover something impossible – and need Ash’s magic to try and decipher. The revelations there could shake everything they know about their society.

Ok, frustration moment in a sea of awesome… why did we go here?

No, seriously, I loved the world revealed to us in the first book. I loved that book. I still love that book. That book is awesome. The world is awesome. I love the idea of the 13 gods, an entire society built not just on the belief of those gods, but the tangible existence of those gods, their powers and their blessings. This is a society where praying for rain was literally a sensible form of irrigation. And then those gods disappear – causing both the horrifying impact of the complete devastation of having the entire world’s faith, their entire foundation of belief, identity and how things are be completely ripped from them. A life and reality that they not only believed, but had objective evidence that that belief is correct. On top of that the basic foundations of that society – the fuel and glue that makes their civilisation possible, has similarly being ripped away

This is an amazing world. This is perfect. I could spend 100 books (psst, Barbara, write! Write more!) reading this world. Especially since we have so much more because this excellent, amazing world has been delivered so sparingly – only the information we need to know to advance the plot. We have an awesome amount of information – but nothing excessive. Which means we have a vast amount of the world left to explore. I don’t even know the names of most of the 13 gods, let alone their roles or the creatures they sired. The hints we’ve seen point to these races not just being random humans that look different – but they have their own cultures, viewpoints, purposes that are crafted to be very different from human sensibilities. There’s some excellent world building there

So show me this – now this buried city and ancient past and mighty magic… it’s just nearly all very very very separate from the world that has already been revealed. But can’t we focus on what is here first? I want to see the gods and magic and trying to keep Miroc from imploding to seeing these different deity creatures. This story is excellent and I love it – but I’d love it more at book 5. Let’s revel in the world before shaking it down to its very foundations again, let’s see this world and what people believe before we decide to shake those assumptions.

Let me play in this aw
esome before running to different awesome. I haven’t finished this awesome, it’s not time for the next course of awesome. I know this from the awesome we see – just the expanded ideal of the shifters, the edict to keep changing and what it means to be a shifter who doesn’t change alone is such a deep and layered addition.

While we have a number of supernatural creatures with all kinds of beings (oh, aside, even these differing creatures have separate opinions and factions rather than being one unified faction which I really like. It is so common to have non-human beings be just one monolith. I appreciate that even as, ironically, the story, unlike so many others, actually makes an attempt to explain why they would be monoliths since ever species but the humans were designed to be avatars of their god’s purpose and values. On top of that I really love the whole exploration of what it means to humanity to be The First. How this leads to their – including Ash’s – arrogance their assumption of being right or being more important because they were first and not created expressly for purpose) we also have racial diversity. So many fantasy worlds have huge diversity of creatures while humans are very limited in their depiction – like we can only have so much variety so humans have to become homogenous.

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Joshua Drake lives in hiding… he manages to scrape up a desperate, sad existence on the fringes of society in a city – a world - that is slowly dying.

But when someone manages to present some hope – in these dying days – to actually save the city from its looming destruction, Joshua is called on to act.

Yet beyond simple decay he finds a threat looming far greater and more sinister than he imagined.

This is an extremely original world setting – a world where the gods are pretty much responsible for everything. A world where gods controlled and were part of everything, where they made everything, where they developed and where an aspect in everything – where everything people did, the cities they built, the homes they made all involved one god or more. Even entire peoples are created by the gods and their whole existence and abilities are defined by their patron god because of it.

That alone creates for an interesting world – where you have entire beings be archetypes with their own cultures and philosophies and values based on the gods. I think that so far that has been subtle because the book doesn’t turn the people into automatons – the Jaynsians with their dedication to work and company are still capable of loving deeply even if loyalty to their employer is a driving element of theirs. The shapeshifters can form committed relationships even if change and flux is inherent to them – I like how we both see they are alien but they are also, equally, people. It’s a very nicely struck balance to make alien creatures without making them shallow or hollow.

Then those gods disappear – and how does this society continue? Everything depending on the gods that are now gone – do people even know how to live without them? Just the basic logistics – if your city depends on rain from a beneficent sky goddess to make it rain in the desert then how to our work when she goes away?

But then there’s the equally fascinating hint of new opportunities. Said sky goddess, for example, equally refuses to allow flying things… so what other opportunities are available? It’s nice to throw in that as well to add to the potential of this world.

The underlying tone of this is that everything is ending – every thing the characters do has a sense of just delaying the inevitable

One interesting element that comes from this which will be something to see developed is the nature of faith. After all, this world setting pretty much has a priesthood without faith. They don’t need faith – they have tangible, real proof their gods are real. They communed with their gods. They spoke with their gods. They could invoke their gods’ powers. Their gods were proven aspects of reality. Faith was not a requirement

And now the gods are abandoned them, it is left for the priests, for the people, to decide what to do about that – after venting the rage and the anger, after blaming people, after making scapegoats – who still believes the gods are out there, the gods will return; who still turn to the gods in times of need. And is that an aspect of faith and loyalty or utter desperation?

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A vampire, a sensitive, a templar knight and a fae descendant, are all called to St. Petersburg. It sounds like the opening line of a joke doesn't it? Well, in this case it's a very serious matter. Something is desperately wrong with the city and Rose, the sensitive, can feel the blackness in every waking hour. They are offered a contract by an unnamed employer, to discover who is responsible for the murders. For Rose, this represents the opportunity of a lifetime, because not only will she finally be in the company of people who understand her, this deal represents more money than she ever thought possible. Unfortunately for Rose, none of her fellow teammates have any trust that she is up for the fight. Everyone seems to have secrets except for Rose, and no one is anxious to share.

Things escalate as Rose is attacked in her dreams. The tension between Mike the templar and Nazeem the vampire continue to stymie any possibility of trust between the group. As a servant of God, Mike sees Nazeem as unholy, and therefore beyond redemption. Nazeem, for his part, only wants the opportunity to help and despite himself, he is attracted to Rose. Ian, the fae descendant, only took the job to discover what happened to his long missing father and while he is excited to be there, this is clearly his priority.

The supernatural community is in an uproar because no one can tell for sure who is next to die. It could be a voider, or even a vampire, but what is certain, is that in just a few days, someone else is scheduled to die. Can the ragtag team get it together long enough to hunt down the evil, while negotiating the various politics at play?

First, let me say that it is refreshing to read an urban fantasy novel outside of a North American setting. One could almost feel the cold, and bleakness of St. Petersburg as Rose wraps herself in as many layers as possible. Web also used food, as a way to give the reader a sense of the setting. It felt authentic and that is something a lot of writers have problems with.

The only character of colour in the novel is Nazeem, but we don't really learn much about him from a cultural standpoint; however, we do learn about vampire culture through him. He is yet another in a long list of what I would call self loathing vampires. On the outside, he seems to accept himself for who and what he is and yet, he seems to be seeking redemption, which implies that he is not completely accepting of himself, or of other vampires for that matter. In a moment of passion, Nazeem kissed Rose and when she told him to stop, he did so immediately. I really liked that Webb included this scene as far too often, a woman in an urban fantasy novel is swept away by an otherworldly creature when there is much evidence that she should be running the other way. I liked that Nazeem did not force the issue, which helped to assert Rose's agency and her right to say no. Too often in these novels, no means yes and to see the opposite affirmed is really important.

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