From:
robertaw@drizzle.com
This is a direct sequel to _The Black Wolves of Boston_, starting on the
next day.
Joshua Tatterskein (newly created werewolf), who had barely survived the
plots of Wickers (witches who murder humans to power vegetation
constructs), wants to attend his new high school, graduate, and get on
with a normal life (well, a werewolf version of such). Instead, he is
back in the soup (and it¹s HOT). It starts with a dream of a
foul-mouthed Spanish speaking penguin who wants to hire Joshua (actually Decker) and goes downhill from there.
Elise Grigori (who had helped Joshua to survive) is told that Francis
Grigori, a Power, was missing (somewhat like the US Air Force losing
track of a cruise missile with a nuclear warhead). His vacant car was
found in a parking lot for the Boston subway system, but only Francis¹s
driver got out and was apparently kidnapped. Francis is eventually
located, but he doesn¹t know why he had been teleported to Boston.
Seth Tatterskein (the werewolf Prince of Boston) is not deeply involved
in combat in this book (unlike the previous); he has to watch from afar
and is limited to giving orders and advice (he does have his own
problems, unrelated to the rest).
Silas Decker, a centuries old vampire (a very ethical one, else the
Grigori would had destroyed him centuries ago), has noticed something
odd about himself, which becomes greater by the end of the book. Those centuries of experience gives him knowledge that had been forgotten by
the Grigori.
The gods of mythology do exist on their own planes, but those planes
lost contact with Earth millennia ago (fortunately for us, considering
their behaviors). One of those gods (a nasty one of a mythology that I
suspect Wen had invented) wants back in and has been manipulating a few
people for centuries. In fact, what with a university in a city north of Boston, an insane asylum (well, a former one, repurposed) in that city,
mad scientists, Antarctica explorations etc., there is a distinct
Lovecraft flavoring to the climax. Despite that flavoring and unlike the previous book, no children were killed in this book.
Some might claim that the ending involved a Deus ex Machina, but Joshua
had already done the important work. Francis (Chekhov¹s atomic cannon on
the wall) merely did the cleanup.
--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ‹-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward
robertaw@drizzle.com
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