BLACK CORROSION

A devastated kingdom prepares to battle a brutal approaching army in this third installment of Gurgu’s dystopian SF series.

Geo Woodman is the reigning prince of the Silkers kingdom, part of a world that the Black Rains have ravaged. (The Rains turned water into a gel that corroded the flesh of people now called Corrosives.) Geo hopes to bring the city of Torono, which is a veritable “carcass,” back to the flourishing place it once was. But a more pressing issue is the threat of Han the Great, who leads a massive army aimed at Torono. Among his many soldiers are powerful shape-shifting beings—Dreams and the much more vicious Nightmares, which far outnumber the ones in the Silkers kingdom. Geo and others get a taste of the coming battle when invaders raid the city. Meanwhile, Princess Bree, a scientist, looks into the children who’ve been “journeying,” flying (both mentally and, more dangerously, physically) into the pink-clouded sky and well beyond. Gurgu’s series has taken an intriguing route; it began as apocalyptic SF and has gradually incorporated dark fantasy elements. This installment shuffles engaging characters and subplots, from a young man leaving his village and getting caught up with drug dealers to a mysterious sickness showing no signs of slowing down. The narrative threads all intersect in some capacity by the end, with Han’s army remaining an ever-present menace. The author, who excels at crafting gleefully bizarre images, doesn’t disappoint here: there is a colossal stag beetle, Dreams and Nightmares cocoon themselves, and even the general landscape makes an impression (“Morning crept over the ruins’ walls and glass with smudges of pink. It stretched like blood creeping into the night’s darkness”). The gratifying final act offers a worthy resolution with just a hint as to the direction a sequel might take.

Engaging characters spearhead a vastly entertaining cross-genre tale.