Fifteen years ago, Sloan Andrews and four other teens helped to defeat “The Dark One”, a diabolical villain intent on destroying the world. Since then, they have been hailed as heroes and become celebrities. Sloan, living in Chicago, has PTSD and resents being dogged by the press, while Matthew Weeks, the group’s leader and Sloan’s boyfriend, attends many charitable events. Ines and Albie also live in Chicago, and Albie is struggling with substance abuse. Esther lives in California, taking care of her sick mother, and is a social influencer. All of them have had a hard time adjusting to a “normal” life.
On the tenth anniversary of The Dark One’s death, the five heroes attend the dedication of the Ten Years Monument and the Ten Years Peace Gala. Shortly afterward, one of the five commits suicide, and during his funeral, three of others are thrown into an alternate, parallel version of Chicago. It turns out that The Dark One is not actually dead; he has just been waiting. The three, now twenty-somethings, must learn new, magical powers to defeat him, once again.
Veronica Roth, well-known for her young adult novels, has taken the dive into adult fiction, with this first installment in a new series. The book is divided into three parts and is written in third person. Part One, which deals with the backstory, is extremely slow, and I struggled through it. However, when I got to Part Two, things began to pick up speed.
The author shows off her incredible world-building expertise, blending old and new architecture together to create a different but distinctive version of Chicago. There are lots of action scenes, unusual magic, and a twist at the end of the novel that I didn’t anticipate. The characters are highly developed and multi-layered.
Comprehensive interviews, government documents, literary works, and transcripts are included in the book to help the reader understand the backstory. To prepare for writing the novel, the author read many government documents on the CIA website, as well as on The Black Vault, which is the largest privately-run archive of declassified documents in the world. She also read many celebrity profiles in order to define Sloan’s character.
High school librarians might consider purchasing this book as an adult crossover novel. Hand it to fans of Veronica Roth and those who enjoy action and adventure stories. I recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it four out of five stars!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for allowing me to read and review this book!
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