With overtones of both Predator and Lord of the Flies, Reintgen\u2019s latest includes a power struggle and multiple secret agendas, which come into play after a storm-tossed disaster leads to a rapidly rising body count among the dwindling handful of survivors. The author\u2019s proven flair for concocting unusual sorts and strains of magic is on full display too. The largely white-presenting human cast includes Marken Burke, a wizard who\u2019s being transported in chains to be tried for mass murder, and Pearl Trask, a young pig keeper who proves to be nursing more secrets than just a sideline in trafficking deadly animals. Plus, in a terrifying embodiment of William Golding\u2019s imaginary beast, there\u2019s a cunning, murderous dragoness who escaped during the crash and whose ability to become virtually invisible by adopting anything she touches\u2014from rocks and water to flesh\u2014as a camouflaging \u201cskin\u201d leads to a thrillingly gruesome climactic battle. Whether Marken is a wronged character who\u2019s worthy of sympathy or a conceited and manipulative crumb, Pearl at least can see right through him to the good heart beneath. By the open-ended finish, the two have found enough common ground for tender, budding romance and mutual respect. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With overtones of both Predator and Lord of the Flies, Reintgen\u2019s latest includes a power struggle and multiple secret agendas, which come into play after a storm-tossed disaster leads to a rapidly rising body count among the dwindling handful of survivors. The author\u2019s proven flair for concocting unusual sorts and strains of magic is on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}