TL;DR Version: Nuns with machine guns, a grim and gritty flavor, and a bizarre mystery I had to solve. An unforgettable reading experience!
Synopsis:
The Hallow serum was once sacred to the Auld Bloods. Used to gain access to their lost ancestral powers, now it is regulated and administered by the powerful Providence Company. Evolved from the echelons of the Auld Church, the company exists to maintain the balance between faith, science and politics.
But keeping the peace between humans and Auld Bloods isn’t easy. Taking Hallow comes at a price. Providence Company Assessor Cam must deal with backstreet bootleggers, burnt-out addicts and floating nuns that won’t stay on the ground.
When a string of Auld Blood deaths appear to have been caused by a corrupted batch of Hallow, Cam begins to suspect all may not be as it seems. Bodies are piling up. Someone is hiding something, and the consequences are becoming monstrous.
Full Version
I went into The Hallows by HL Tinsley blind, with no real idea of what to expect. All I knew was that when I read the first page—beginning with the line, “The Auld Gods love a trier”—I was in for a wild and unpredictable ride.
That proved true in every way conceivable, and I WAS THERE FOR IT!
The Hallows follow Camellia, a member of a crew of magic-users who work for and are controlled by the Church of the Auld God (religious order turned corporate entity, governed by a demon-looking Mother Superior. WTF?!). Camellia and his fellows are dosed with what is essentially a drug that gives them (and all those who possess the “Auld Blood”) access to their magical abilities.
The abilities vary: Camellia has heightened senses and instincts, Daffodil the bruiser grows exponentially stronger, Forget-Me-Not the dandy can sense and control the emotions of people around him, and the list goes on.
These abilities are only tapped into once dosed up, and the drugs are tightly controlled by his superior, Lavender, who also answers directly to the Church.
And this is where the story starts, with Camellia and co. investigating a magic-user who got his hands on the drug outside the Church’s control. Slowly, as the investigation continues, we’re drawn into an increasingly complex web of lies, half-truths, deceits, cover-ups, and conspiracies. Deeper and darker with every chapter until…well, let’s just say things get GRIMDARK in all my favorite ways.
Camellia was a cleverly-written character, one who was easy to immediately sink my teeth into. He’s a man running away from the expectedly dark past (a past that is tantalizingly unfolded before us one chapter at a time) and burdened by a great degree of guilt over his past actions. He is seeking redemption through his service and doing a poor job of finding it. He is complex, engaging, and utterly human from the beginning, and colorful enough to want to follow from start to finish.
This book immediately put me in mind of Priest of Bones by Peter McLean; it’s the same street-level POV, the same ugly side of humanity, the same scheming and manipulation. But where Priest of Bones expands outward and develops the world around the character more, this stays tightly focused on the one city and all that directly affects Camellia—from the mystery he’s solving to the burden of his past to the people in his immediate circle.
And the world…oh, there was so much to love about this world! From nuns with machine guns to Jekyll and Hyde-like transformations to the curious people in the Red Market to the eerie Lord of Spiders to the small, quiet places where people can just be themselves, it’s a beautifully rendered backdrop that keeps you spellbound on your journey along with Camellia and co.
This is my first HL Tinsley book, but it will certainly not be my last. One of the most unique and fascinating stories I’ve read in a long time.
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