Not so long ago, on what we now call the supercontinent Pangaea, a cosmic danger looms. A plague ravages expectant mothers around the world, transforming their newborns into ashen husks. Mysterious black flowers invade gardens and forests, devouring the plants around them. Blissfully unaware of these horrors, a nearly invincible warrior named Amiria kidnaps a boy named Teverock, demanding he return to her homeland as her husband. Despite this rocky introduction, they fall in love, but their relationship is soon threatened by undead assassins, captive dragons, and primeval deities. Before long, they discover their love is not what it seems, and the only way to stop the world from falling into eternal torment, is to search for the truth.
Assessment:
Plot: This novel, which starts with a vivid description of Gaia ripping out her own bloody internal organs in an effort to stop her soul’s pain, is in its sometimes unrelenting horror akin to The Divine Comedy. Into this chaos, the shi-kai Amiria has come to find herself a husband and the boy Teverock, a human who has been adopted by a dragon-human father with the Sight, will complement her adventures well.
Prose/Style: The writing is stellar—not a superfluous word to be found, even though fairly sophisticated concepts are integrated into the story. The action moves at breakneck speed though the reader is never left trying to figure what happened—or why.
Originality: This work seems to be intended as a religious allegory and it is in some ways similar to the Chronicles of Narnia in the anthropomorphism of animals and the ongoing battle between good and evil. But it is far, far darker and not in a way that will be easily explained or put aside, because of the skill with which MacDaniel activates elements of the collective unconscious.
Character Development/Execution: There are many types of strange characters here—wizards, dragon and humans with paranormal powers, and completely mythic beings who represent concepts more than living entities. The characters that resemble humans are absolutely consistent in their actions and their voices, part of what makes reading this novel such an entertaining endeavor. A world and a sequence of events that might have been hopelessly confusing are clear and engaging.
Blurb: A superbly written allegory that taps into the collective unconscious to create a compelling story that adult readers will not be able to put down or soon forget.
Date Submitted: August 11, 2021
