This is the second book of Storm Constantine’s Grigori trilogy. I read the first book, ‘Stalking Tender Prey’, about ten years ago and had forgotten a lot of the story. Fortunately, Constantine provides a recap (which is spread out over the course of the first quarter of the book, so it doesn’t feel too intrusive) and I found it really easy to pick things up again.I’ve long been a fan of Constantine’s work: her prose is enjoyable to read and she uses a lot of very evocative imagery. The last quarter of this book seemed a little rushed to me however, especially in parts of chapter 26. In spite of a good beginning, I found it hard to really get involved in the story once it had passed the halfway mark. Mostly this is because the heroes do not seem to have much control over the course of events. Shemyaza in particular is a much less interesting character in this instalment of the series, as he spends much of the story moping about indecisively. In the end, the story’s conclusion is brought about more by the timely appearance of the powers-that-be than by any action or decision made by the heroes.
