cover image Blood Rules

Blood Rules

Christine Cody. Ace, $7.99 mass market (320p) ISBN 978-0-441-02076-8

A reluctant monster's dangerous quest for redemption in water-starved postapocalyptic America shapes the gripping sequel to August 2011's Bloodlands. Mariah Lysander's werewolf side is increasingly uncontrollable and her blood-bonded vampire companion is still angry that she killed his former lover. Mariah leaves behind a hidden were-creatures' sanctuary in a desperate search for self-control that leads her from desert tent camps to a necropolis filled with still-living disease victims. Meanwhile, her fellow were-creatures are hunted obsessively by an ex-government Shredder. Cody proficiently deploys moments of horror: gory slaughters by bloodthirsty monsters, the more subtle terrors of disease, and government-run lunatic asylums rumored to contain a cure for lycanthropy. Developing a well-extrapolated dystopian future of urban hubs surrounded by chaos and a wildly creative collection of preternatural creatures, Cody offers a compelling glimpse into the varying aspirations and potential future of monsters and monstrous people. (Sept.)