The Godless

Fifteen thousand years ago, the true gods turned on each other for reasons beyond mortal ken. The outcome of their struggles is a landscape dominated by the corpses of dead and dying divinities. When fire fails to consume shop clerk Ayae, she discovers that she is one of the “cursed,” imbued with power by a divine spark. Her newfound abilities set her apart from the rest of the denizens in her beloved city of Mireea. The cursed are not the only legacies of the gods; as an army mysterious in purpose and savage in method advances on Mireea, determined to recover a treasure the Mireeans have forgotten, Ayae joins steadfast mercenaries and would-be deities in defense of her adopted homeland. Peek (Black Sheep) weaves multiple threads of the plot together with considerable skill. Ayae and the story’s other protagonists—reformed megalomaniac Zaifyr, baron turned professional saboteur Bueralan—are well developed, in contrast to the scenery-chewing monsters they oppose. Although this volume serves mainly to introduce the Children series, readers fond of open-ended epic fantasies set in vivid, and occasionally lurid, worlds will find it right up their alley. (Aug.)