Hammer and Bone
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- 9,99 лв.
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- 9,99 лв.
Publisher Description
Carnival mystics. Zombie tribes. Bad magic in the Bayou. Mage-princes, alien cities, and soul-stealing priests. The grim monsters in the worlds of these dark, speculative tales are true horrors, but it's the people you should fear the most.
People like Michel, a boy pining for his best friend, Ray. But a presence in the swamp calls Michel to avenge another lost love, and he must decide which summons to answer. Or Angelo, a prescient cop who denies his visions until they endanger the man he loves. Or Bellew, an overseer in a shantytown of criminals sheltering a revenant and feeding it from their ranks.
From ruined lands of steam and iron, to haunted Southern forests, to brutal city streets where hope and damnation flow from the same spring, only a few stubborn souls possess the heart to challenge evil on its own terms. Some wield magic, some turn to rage or even love, but the ones left standing will survive only if they find the courage to carve their own paths to freedom.
Even if it means carving through flesh.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Crow (Prisoner of the Raven) includes eight dark fantasy stories, ranging from unsatisfyingly short to longer and stronger, in this passable debut collection. The shorter pieces, such as the steampunk "Crank," suffer severely from being told instead of shown. The titular postapocalyptic zombie tale crams information about its world into the space where the plot should be, and the priest-gone-bad story "No Gods and No Tomorrows" is almost entirely atmosphere. The best piece, "Knights of the Risen God," pleasantly evokes pulp magazines in its cynically revealing depiction of two men whose government sends them to investigate a mysterious deity or monster in a city made of pearl. "Crowheart" and "Sundog" are also fairly effective tales about smalltown xenophobia, homophobia, magic, and vengeance. Unfortunately, bland prose and a lack of originality prevent even the best pieces from being more than a moment's diversion.
