The author shows us a boy with a terrible curse—shadows that boil out of him like mist from a bog. The shadows come at night and only Arien’s sister Violeta, clinging tightly to him as he thrashes in black-eyed alien rage, can push them away from him.
Then we see that there’s worse to come as the woman who took in two orphan children resorts to cruel torture to burn the horror out of the boy. Mother is like a nightmare version of Margaret White, one who combines a queer religious fervor with pagan ritual. The whole village where they live worships a female deity, one who may not take kindly to the benighted swirls of cloud that bubble out of Arien.
The story builds swiftly as we are introduced to a mysterious Lord Sylvanan, one who stands accused of having murdered his entire family. Immediately questions arise. Is he truly guilty? Other than the fact that he is the sole survivor of his family’s demise, is there any evidence against him? If his guilt is so certain, why hasn’t he been arrested, convicted and suitably punished?
Instead of punishment, the lord is given tithes, a word that usually refers to religious offerings. When the lord appears before Arien and Violeta, he brims with storybook menace--tall, dark, scarred and cloaked. But a tenuous connection is drawn between him and Arien, even as Violeta attempts to shield her brother from the lord’s probing eyes.
These opening chapters hint of bright daylight and the horrible shadows that lurk there. After all, it’s only in the light that we glimpse darkness.
Then we see that there’s worse to come as the woman who took in two orphan children resorts to cruel torture to burn the horror out of the boy. Mother is like a nightmare version of Margaret White, one who combines a queer religious fervor with pagan ritual. The whole village where they live worships a female deity, one who may not take kindly to the benighted swirls of cloud that bubble out of Arien.
The story builds swiftly as we are introduced to a mysterious Lord Sylvanan, one who stands accused of having murdered his entire family. Immediately questions arise. Is he truly guilty? Other than the fact that he is the sole survivor of his family’s demise, is there any evidence against him? If his guilt is so certain, why hasn’t he been arrested, convicted and suitably punished?
Instead of punishment, the lord is given tithes, a word that usually refers to religious offerings. When the lord appears before Arien and Violeta, he brims with storybook menace--tall, dark, scarred and cloaked. But a tenuous connection is drawn between him and Arien, even as Violeta attempts to shield her brother from the lord’s probing eyes.
These opening chapters hint of bright daylight and the horrible shadows that lurk there. After all, it’s only in the light that we glimpse darkness.