Synopsis
Gods rule this planet. Demons stalk its canyons while Kings beg for mercy. Can three mere humans rewrite its destiny?
The otherworldly religious conflict of Dune, the cosmic strangeness of Gideon the Ninth, and the heart-pounding action of Red Rising converge in this horror-tinged epic science fantasy debut Ysira Naktis was a human sacrifice, marked for death. Unlike the thousands ‘harvested’ each year, though, she did the unthinkable. She survived—and what she brought back with her could change the fate of worlds.
When Ysira’s estranged son is chosen to become the vessel of a god-killing demon, she is faced with a choice: allow him to harness cosmic power at an unspeakable cost, or doom millions to save him. She finds an unlikely ally in Brother Jacen Kheris, once a gifted exorcist, now a guilt-ridden addict, desperate for purpose.
From a demon-haunted canyon to a starbound satellite, they must battle their way through cultists, aliens, and the gods themselves. The truths they unearth are deeper and more sinister than anything they could have imagined.
In this cinematic thrill ride, Jesse Aragon plunges us into a world as intricate and inventive as it is brutal.
Review
A rich and dark world full of lore and gods that walk the planet, demons and exorcisms, monsters and lost technology, and a story so tightly paced and gripping you won’t want to put it down.
To say loved this book would be an understatement. It really was quite something special: set on a different planet, Celes Lor, and interspersed with magic in the forms of a priesthood of telepaths that exorcise demons, their powers hailing from the Black Sun, and demons that impart strange gifts onto the people they forcibly posses. All of that just really gets the old intrigue going doesn’t it?
Jacen is a disillusioned Sixth Tier telepathic priest, once as high ranking as seventeenth overall, he has fallen into the eighties and is still reeling from the mystery of why his last novitiate was killed by a god, and now forced back into taking a new novitiate on, Nines. Though his heavy drinking might not allow him to be such a great teacher. I loved this character; his cynical world view makes him seem normal, given the world he lives in, among a priesthood who exorcise demons and submit citizens for Harvest like it means nothing.
Our other POV is Ysira and she was meant to be a knight but is now … In another situation that I won’t reveal for spoiler reasons. She shows us the other side of the story, those who fall outside of the church and must suffer its existence, those who get up to activities more nefarious than exorcisms and human sacrifice, grave robbing. And not just any grave, the boneyard that stretches from the canyon and across the wastes.
Which brings me to some of the most effective world-building I’ve read in a while. I’m immediately transported to a barren world of Adobe cities and vast graves, covered in dark of the eclipse, which is very much helped by the fantastic book cover. Think eldritch gods from the stars and demons that seep from the Source and possess people, only to be exorcised – unless they are too powerful. You have a post apocalytic setting with ancient, advanced technologies and wastes full of creatures that are pulled right out of a horror movie, but set against an epic story you’d find in a fantasy.
The plot sees Jacen and Ysira get wound up with Neri, who is sent with his siblings, young as they are, on a missions into the Scar to find the source of the mysterious voice that speaks to people there and bring it back, as a weapon. And then the plot shoots off to the stratosphere as one of the most gripping and inventive plots I’ve read to date. If you’re a fan of horror movies which focus on the paranormal, and include possessions and exorcisms, but are also a fan of epic fantasies that set off on a quest, where the main characters receive incredible power, and also love science fiction set on far flung planets, paired with apocalyptic settings and high tech, this book gives you it all. I won’t go into too much detail because I want everyone to experience this plot themselves.
I couldn’t find anything not to love about this book; it didn’t go the way I thought it would or even the way I wanted to, or would guessed it would go, but that’s the magical part about worlds and stories like these, they spin off in a life of their own.
In conclusion: if you don’t read this book, you’ll be missing out on one of the books of this year. I’d be incredibly happy if I found another new book/book I haven’t read before that came anywhere near to this. I’m almost sorry it’s a standalone, but I do like a somewhat resolved story.
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