The Memory in the Blood

The satisfying conclusion to Van Loan’s Fall of the Gods trilogy (after The Justice in Revenge) sends its protagonists into a hopeless battle against impossible odds without ever losing sight of the more human elements. Months after street rat turned adventurer Sambuciña “Buc” Alhurra fell out with her partner, Eld, she continues her quest to free humanity from its invisible chains of servitude to the Gods. Having sparked an open war between the Sin Eaters of the goddess Ciris and the mages of the Dead Gods, and armed with the fragment of Sin lurking in her own mind, Buc’s plans march toward fruition. Then she discovers the Dead Gods’ scheme to unleash a plague upon the world, which will tip the scales in the Dead Gods’ favor and devastate society. Now Buc must rally a ragtag band of unlikely allies and former foes to save the world by destroying the Gods once and for all. The worldbuilding is as expansive as ever, but Van Loan grounds the epic adventure in Buc’s emotional growth as she gathers her friends and found family around her. Messy, bloody, and complex, this offers some serious payoff for both the characters and the reader. Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Literary. (July)