cover image The Lost Ones

The Lost Ones

Christopher Golden. Bantam Books, $12 (427pp) ISBN 978-0-553-38328-7

Stoker-winner Golden concludes his Veil series (following 2007's The Borderkind) with a battle of mythic proportions between King Hunyadi of Euphrasia and the twisted Atlanteans, who have deliberately destroyed the ancient truce between Euphrasia and Yucatazca. After Oliver Bascombe is tricked into killing the king of Yucatazca with King Hunyadi's sword, he must free himself, his sister, Collette, and his fiancée, Julianna Whitney, from the royal dungeon. Collette and the myth-creature Frost head to Euphrasia, while Oliver and Julianna persuade legendary beings to fight for King Hunyadi. Before the final confrontation, however, Oliver realizes that he must make a daring and dangerous raid on Atlantis itself. The run-of-the-mill epic plot, fueled by Oliver and Collette's seemingly unlimited and mostly unexplained magical powers, leaves little doubt as to the outcome of their undertakings. (Apr.)