Sarah expects a lot of her readers here – plunging us straight into a bustling metropolis with lots of characters and a complex administrative structure based on a wide variety of creatures with a long history of alliances and animosities. And it never really lets up. We pick up the necessary backstory (over ten thousand years of it) as we go along but the head long rush never subsides.
We mainly follow one-time party girl but now mentally and physical scarred gallery assistant Bryce, but switch to other points of view when necessary. Bryce is half human, half Fae which complicates an already complicated inter-racial structure, especially once we find out who her father is.
She ends reluctantly partnered with Hunt, an actual fallen angel in servitude for trying to lead a rebellion a long time in the past. It’s a complex set up, but it works, and the mutual antagonism is gradually replaced by grudging respect as they are forced to investigate some gruesome murders that seem to link to a stolen artefact, and through that to the very foundations of the society itself.
There’s a real sense of place and depth to this very real city and the characters in it. Sarah clearly has put a lot of thought and effort into this and nowhere in its 800 does it flag, or even give the reader a bit of a break!
Well worth reading and I’m looking forward to the next volume.