Anarchy by James Treadwell

If there’s one thing Gavin Stokes knows, it’s that something unimaginably dangerous has returned to the world. A mad dog runs amok, a mermaid floats in the bay, and a wild beast stalks the countryside. He and others make the same strange claim: magic has returned. All signs point to it.

Now, Gavin’s aunt has disappeared. A young girl who’s been accused of murder vanishes from a locked cell. She is at large somewhere in a vast wilderness. Meanwhile, a desolate child leaves the home that has kept her safe all her life and strikes out into the unknown. And a mother, half mad with grief for her lost son, sets off to find him.

There is a place where all their journeys meet. But someone is watching the roads . . .

This is the second part of the fantasy story that began with Advent, and I was surprised to find, it was even better than the first book.

I love books that have different storylines than join at the end, and this book had a large group of them. The author paced the story-lines very well, never making us feel bored and never forcing us to ask why we were reading a particular scene. For a book that is relatively long, this is an impressive thing.

The writing has the same Gothic fantasy-feel as the first one, making it stand out from many of the books out there at the moment. The author has a way of writing particular moments and images that are truly frightening, something that had not been quite as clear in the first book as in this one. He has quite a way of creating terrifying scenes that are wholly original.

The only thing that I found frustrating was the end. I’m not going to reveal anything, but the last few pages felt rushed and pulled out of nowhere. Since I read the ARC version, I really hope that those pages are removed or edited in a way that makes them feel more organic to the rest of the story.

All in all, a good read, though you do have to have read the first book to be able to understand this one.