The Bones of the Past

In this ambitious yet underwhelming epic fantasy debut, massive armies clash while demons and killers stalk the streets of beleaguered cities, and everyday people struggle to survive amid the chaos. On the surface, this sprawling story has it all: a mysterious city returned after 1,000 years of self-imposed exile, a sailor who joins an elite group sworn to defend humankind against evil, a young girl who merges with a succubus, and so on. Obligatory fantasy elements include warfare on a monumental scale, magically crafted monsters, and mystic weapons that can do great damage in the wrong hands. And yet, for all of the myriad plot threads and story lines in motion, there’s no sense of cohesion or core narrative, no big picture. Despite some intriguing concepts and compelling protagonists, the story is bogged down by clumsy writing, stiff dialogue, and an unclear passage of time as events unfold. This laudable but inconsistent debut regrettably ends on a cliffhanger, resolving very few of the primary concerns. (June)