In the post-apocalyptic world left after the war between the human realm and Faerie, it's been winter for very long time. Since 15-year-old Liza called the magical quia tree to life at the end of Bones of Faerie (2010), even the evergreens have dropped their needles in a cold season that seems likely to be unending. Like the rest of the children born in After—since the war—Liza has magical powers. Her visions and abilities to command the living will certainly come in handy when she follows her erstwhile boyfriend (who can shift to wolf form) on a quest to bring a healer to her beleaguered village. It seems unlikely that her powers will be sufficient to protect herself and the Afters accompanying her from the enemy at the gates, however, especially when she sees how powerful that enemy is. The discovery of old secrets helps set up for the next volume in this series. Oddly, Liza's tale works despite the jumble of crowd-pleasing elements (post-apocalyptic dystopia, multigenerational faerie love stories, werewolf heartthrob). Graphic descriptions of murdered children push the story older than the reading level of its prose, but that just leaves it as an entertaining if quick adventure for those impatiently awaiting the next, heftier entry by Cassandra Clare or Julie Kagawa. (Fantasy. 12-16)
