Among the local hippies and squatters of Brattleboro, Vermont, Sally Wildfire is on the run, hiding from her cruel, relentless family. She finds unexpected love with Rob, a bristly young man freshly awoken to alien sensations and ancestral memories of a long-forgotten realm…setting them both on a collision course with a brutal rite of passage, as the Wildfire family leaves a trail of mangled corpses on the road to Brattleboro.
Great story introducing an alternative reality where the world is split between 4 different species: Earth-line, Crimbone, Spirelights, Schomite.
Rob is a Crimbone, but he was raised thinking he was an Earth-Line. He was actually raised with no knowledge that there was any other way to be.
Sally is a Spirelight. But she has run away from her family and the life that was set out for her.
The novel had a strange Romeo and Juliet type arch. I was very much confused in the beginning since it was obvious that all the characters knew more about the current world than I did. Although the reader did learn all the important information along with Rob, so I understand why this was done.
The writing was very good and I enjoyed the action packed circumstances. The tale was well written and kept me guessing at what would come next.
The relationship between Sally and Rob was realistic in a Romeo/Juliet standard. The troubles that they went through seemed very visceral and well managed.
I am looking forward to the continuation of this series.
Matt Spencer is the author of the novels The Night and the Land, Summer Reaping on the Fields of Nowhere, Cult of the Stars (illustrated by Deirdre Burke) and The Drifting Soul (illustrated by Stephen R. Bissette), as well as numerous novellas and short stories (including award-winners The Red Duke and Petticoat Lane), and the collection, Shadow Ballads.
Mr. Spencer has been a journalist, New Orleans restaurant cook, factory worker, radio DJ, and a no-good ramblin’ bum. He’s also a song lyricist, playwright, actor, and martial artist. As of this writing, he lives in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Check him out online at:
http://mattspencerauthor.wordpress.com
Twitter at @MattSpencerFSFH
Facebook at Books by Matt Spencer
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