Faith Hunter, Bloodring

Bloodring

Faith Hunter

Roc, Nov 2006, $14.00

ISBN: 0451461088

A hundred years ago the winged seraph arrived on earth, which to the faithful meant the end of days. However, instead of the apocalypse as predicted by the religious tomes, the war between the angelic seraph and the demons of hell continues with no end in sight. The earth is enthralled in an ice age like none before and plagues released by both sides have devastated the populace in an eerie pandemic collateral damage though mortal religious wars have flared up. New beings surfaced: entities with the ability to perform magic. These mages live in affluent prisons used and abused by their hosts.

One stone mage Thorn St. Croix has remained hidden amidst the humans after escaping from a maximum confinement facility that though luxurious drove her crazy. Thorn crafts jewelry for a living, but hides her magical prowesses knowing that if even her friends' find out she would be exposed and punished for her escape with death. However, she has little choice but to use her untrained power as the forces of the Dark have kidnapped her former spouse while police officer Thaddeus Bartholomew accuses her of the abduction and probable murder.

The cast is incredible as the audience believes in the existence of seraphs, mages, and humans barely surviving in a world dramatically changed (not sure how the web survives) by the seemingly eternal Apocalypse war. The storyline is filled with amateur sleuth action while the raging hostilities add to the excitement as much as mage-heat does. Fans of post apocalypse fantasies will appreciate this superb interpretation of the endless end of days (in human terms) as centuries and probably millenniums mean nothing to immortal combatants.

Harriet Klausner