Phoenix Falling
A Wildlands Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Laura Bickle, the critically acclaimed author of Nine of Stars and Witch Creek, returns with a fiery new chapter in her celebrated Wildlands series.
In the Yellowstone backcountry, a merciless source of evil carries a torch for the past…
Petra Dee and her immortal husband, Gabe, have been trying to gain a toehold in what passes for ordinary life in Temperance, Wyoming—
a wickedly enchanted land founded generations ago by the alchemist, Lascaris. Petra may be adept when it comes to the uncanny, but as a reasoned geologist, Petra still can’t fathom the wildfires suddenly engulfing Yellowstone National Park, or why Gabe claims to have seen the sky explode in flames. The answers could lie in the past.
It was a dreadful night in 1862 when Lascaris went harvesting for souls, only to be set upon by townsfolk determined to eliminate the root of all evil in a trial by fire. Petra can’t help fearing that Lascaris has crawled out of the ashes of history to wreak vengeance—and to complete his mission by claiming every vulnerable soul in Temperance.
With the help of Gabe and her coyote sidekick, Sig, Petra must now venture into Lascaris’s shadow before he turns her world into an inferno burning out of control.
“Bickle is well on her way to establishing her work as a cornerstone of her genre.”
—Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Geologist Petra Dee Manget has a lot on her plate in Bickle's fifth novel (after 2016's Nine of Stars) set in the supernaturally saturated town of Temperance, Wyo. Particularly vicious wildfires are sweeping through Yellowstone National Park, and evidence indicates that a phoenix might be behind them. Petra's husband, Gabe, is no longer human and must frequently regenerate under the Lunaria, the Tree of Life; Petra is free of leukemia, but her new body, born of magic, has her doubting her own humanity. As these individual challenges strain their relationship, Gabe and Petra also fear that evil alchemist Aldus Lascaris might still be alive and seeking to obtain immortality at any cost. Petra and her unusual friends and allies must confront an all-encompassing evil that threatens the fate of everything they hold dear. Bickle has a firm hold on her wonderfully weird world and her characters, who each have an important part to play in Petra's most harrowing and high-stakes adventure yet. Gabe and Petra's romance is complex and bittersweet, and her beloved Sig, who is no ordinary coyote, steals scene after scene. This emotionally resonant installment is a standout in a consistently superb series.
