Again, Hayes deftly blends the magical and the post-apocalyptic as Zee traverses a fallen Earth 500 years in our future, a world where fairies themselves, here called “orcles,” labor to usher in new life. Zee’s quest will take her to wonderous caves, to encounters with inventive creatures—like the moss-covered Armilandro with “a whole ecosystem upon its back” —and even into face-to-face meetings with forces beyond our understanding. Meanwhile, something blooms in lovely scenes between Zee and Ravaryn, who finds her scars beautiful.
Zee’s quest both illuminates how everything has changed in the aftermath of her heroism in the first book, while also plunging deeper into her world’s most unexpected elements, as Hayes springs on her compelling challenges touched with the fae and the mythic. The rest of the cast, though, is engaged in catch-up missions, trying to track down Zee, though those stories all eventually twist. This polished, often gripping fantasy builds to a tantalizing promise of conflicts to come.
Takeaway: Smart, intimate post-apocalyptic fantasy where heroism comes at the cost of a curse.
Comparable Titles: L D Houghton’s Mindfire, Aiden Thomas’s Lost in the Never Woods.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
