Cesar and Suzume are on their first mission – an
investigation to discover what’s behind a sudden demonic power spike. But with
few resources in the Union, both of them are being thrown in the deep end,
forced to question and face off against demonic powers they barely understand
with so little experience
And then the werewolf shows up, and is further
complicated by a cult that may have infiltrated the highest levels. If that
weren’t dangerous enough, they all pale next to what happens when the Bosses
suspect there has been an information breach.
Facing angry werewolves, fanatical cultists and insidious
demons are bad enough – but your boss trying to take you down as well…
I like Cesar as a character – he is so perfectly
balanced. He is out of his depth – grossly out of his depth – he has no
experience with demons, he’s a middlingly powerful witch at best. He has no
experience with demons and is a long way from ever being comfortable around
them. He’s floundering, he’s more than a little lost and he’s desperately doing
his best which isn’t quite good enough.
But he’s also capable, competent, intelligent and with a
basic skill set and determination that means we can see his potential. After
all he has been chosen for this roles – and it would be ridiculous if he was
utterly incapable. He’s been thrown in early, he certainly needs more training
but he isn’t inept. That’s an important difference in making the character fit
the story; an out of his depth character works, but if he’s drowning then it
wouldn’t make sense for him to be there at all.
It also fits with this very broad and varied world – we have
a vast array of creatures in it and there’s rarely, if ever, a chance to just
charge in and kill it ‘cos they’re evil. Including a plethora of demons and halfdemons
– who don’t all need killing – and some angels who may certainly need avoiding.
There’s a lot to learn here.
It also helps deal with the story being inherently
reactive. Cesar, Suzume and Isobel are pretty lost in this book, reacting to
events, trying to catch up, losing the thread and constantly in salvage mode.
It says a lot that their original mission gets completely lost in the rush to
try and deal with events that rapidly spiral out of their control. And it works
– because they are new at this, because this mission their first and perhaps
the protagonist shouldn’t win every one.
This book was more about Cesar learning more about the
world he is in and the ultimate purpose of his unit – which is something that
was missing since there already appeared to be the Union doing the job he’s
been recruited for. The revelations in this book do a lot to justify what is
happening and introducing the first threads of a long term meta-plot which
hooks me into the story.
Another benefit of the development of this book is seeing
the world through a different lens from what I’ve seen before (the
ultra-competent and deadly Elise); which means you can see some of the
beings and see them as the deadly threat they are rather than “oh, these again?
Pfft, I shall kill them then have coffee. Then kill them again for delaying my
coffee.”
And yet another development is more analysis of the Union
and dispelling the whole good-guys myth that comes with them and bringing some
harsh reality to Cesar’s world (appropriate because this whole world setting is
kind of dark). This isn’t about fighting the good fight, it’s about keeping
things as orderly as possible, taking care of the worst and stopping things
getting out of hand; goodness, honour and saving the innocent take a very very
very very very distant back seat and “ends justify the means” is virtually a
company motto. Cesar’s illusions take a hit.
We have a number of POC in the book – in fact the three
main cast are which is more than a little surprising: Cesar is Latino and has
an interesting cultural conflict with both cultural ties, language and habit and
an awareness of how little has been passed on to him as a third generation
immigrant. Suzume is of Japanese descent and Isobel is Native American. They’re
all largely free from stereotypes (Isobel openly preying on people’s
gullibility in believing them) though Suzume is something of Dragon Lady.
There’s some complexity with the two women. In many ways
they’re more competent than Cesar, Isobel certainly. But they both snipe at
each other for very little reason which has a whiff of the “women are catty and
always hate each other” trope. They’re both attractive and Cesar makes that
very very very very very very clear. Really clear. Over and over he makes it
clear – though it’s not as bad as the first book. At the same time when Malcolm
the Union contact continually “flirts” with Suzume she snaps and tells Cesar
how very much she’s sick of the objectification and sexual harassment she gets
with an excellent line on how her tolerating it for the sake of a hostile work
place doesn’t mean she’s fine with it or happy with it. Isobel also has a good
point about Cesar refusing to date her because Fritz – his friend and boss –
dated her first; she’s annoyed at the idea that she now belongs to Fritz or he
has some nebulous claim on her.
There are no GBLT characters in this book – but someone
does use homophobic slurs to try and provoke Cesar. While Cesar isn’t provoked
it still annoys me – if you’re not going to bother including GBLT people in a
book, the least you can do is leave the homophobia at home as well. It annoys
me that there’s more representation of homophobia and homophobic slurs out
there than actual GBLT characters
The second book has built on the first and has helped
reel me in. I like the world, I’ve always loved the world – but I especially
love how these characters fit into the world. With a meta laid out, the
organisation underlined I want to see how this develops and grows, I want to
see Cesar’s story unfold, I want to learn more about these characters. These books
have put themselves on the short list of book series I will keep up with as
soon as they’re out not because I like to complete sets – but because I’m
genuinely eager to see what happens next
