THE IRIN WARS

An English teen learns of an ancient war between supernatural sects in Davey’s debut YA fantasy, the first in a series.

Over 5,000 years ago in Anatolia, a village was visited by a group of tall, perfectly symmetrical warriors. They soon won the trust of the villagers by helping them drive off their enemies and sharing their remarkable crafting skills. The local shaman, however, was suspicious of these Irin, as the warriors called themselves. With the help of his apprentice, he proved that the strangers were not what they seemed. A conflict soon erupted between the villagers and their new enemy. The villagers won a Pyrrhic victory, but not before the Irin left a lasting legacy gestating in the wombs of many of the village’s women. In 2012 London, high school student Jake O’Callan is enjoying hanging out with his nerdy best friend, Donovan, and popular cousin Maddie as well as new friends (and troublemakers) Jason and Rhys. Even so, Jake’s nights are marred by strange dreams involving battles with angels. Meanwhile, across town, the wealthy Lord Calvin conducts dangerous experiments, attempting to communicate with powerful beings in another dimension known as the Void. Calvin aspires to someday join the ranks of “the Master Race”: the Irin. When a hit-and-run driver kills Jason in a way that doesn’t seem accidental, Jake finds himself pulled into a secret war that has apparently been going on since the days of the Irin and the shamans—one that has shaped human history. Jake, it turns out, shares blood ties with both sides of the conflict, which ensures he faces dangers everywhere. With the help of his surviving friends and an ancient Egyptian priest, a 6-year-old witch, and a neural implant, will Jake be able to save the world—and himself?

The universe Davey creates is vast in both space and time, weaving together multiple mythological traditions. The writing navigates various registers—from solemn to campy to cheeky—with aplomb. Here, Jake’s mother, Taine, explains the bestselling figurines in her occult shop: “Cute fairies for the kids, gothic or romantic ones for the adults….All sorts, really. We reckon it’s a hangover from The Lord of the Rings. I think people are buying them because they don’t buy religious figurines anymore.” The book is at its best when dealing with Jake and his friends, who, unlike their counterparts in many YA fantasies, actually come across as real teenagers. Some of the other elements tread a bit more into the stereotypical: Lord Calvin’s villainy is fully cartoonish at times. The basic premise is familiar, but the intricate in-world mythology, with its shades of H.P. Lovecraft and Philip Pullman, is compelling enough that the reader wants to see the knot untangled. This book seems mostly a setup for future volumes, but Davey will likely recruit some eager fans with it.

A sometimes-familiar, sometimes-inventive start to an electric new fantasy series.