(hb; 1999: third book in
Brooks’s Word & Void trilogy)
From the inside flap
“As a Knight of the Word, John
Ross has struggled against the tireless dark forces of the Void for twenty-five
years. A rootless wanderer scarred as deeply by the magic he wields as by the
unspeakable horrors he has witnessed in its service. Ross is driven by dreams
that show the world reduced to blood and ashes by the Void and its minions. The
grim futures he dreams each night will come true unless he can stop them now,
in the present. But for all his power, John ross is only one man, while the
demons he he hunts—and which hunt him in turn—are legion.
“Then Ross learns of the birth
of a gypsy morph, a rare and dangerous creature formed of wild magics
spontaneously knit together. If he can discover its secret, the morph will be
an invaluable weapon against the Void. But the Void, too, knows the value of
the morph, and will not rest until the creature has been corrupted—or
destroyed.
“Desperate, Ross returns to
the town of Hopewell, Illinois, home of Nest Freemark, a young woman with
magical abilities of her own. Twice before, with the fate of the world hanging
in the balance, the lives of Ross and Nest have intersected. Together, they
have prevailed. But now they face an ancient evil beyond anything they have
ever encountered, for a demon of ruthless intelligence and feral cunning awaits
them in Hopewell. As a firestorm of good and evil erupts, threatening to
consume lives and shatter dreams, Ross and Nest have but a single chance go
solve the mystery of the gypsy morph—and of their own profound connection.”
Review
John Ross’s and Nest Freemark’s
supernatural conflict with Void/demon forces reunites them in Nest’s hometown (Hopewell,
Illinois) where they, along with their friends, battle the most powerful evil force
they’ve confronted: the leather book-bearing Findo Gask, as well his demonic,
sabotage-minded hit team (the ink-flow ur’droch, the “giant albino” Twitch, and
the impatient, anarchic and sly Penny). All the qualities and characters that
endeared readers to the first two Word & Void novels are likely to charm
and deliciously vex them again, another worth-purchasing book from Brooks.
