WORMWOOD

Excruciatingly violent, this sequel to the popular Shadowmancer (p. 230) takes its visual images into full-tilt nightmare mode. Not only does violent death abound, but the threat of “worse than death” begins to carry a whole new meaning as grotesque piles on grotesque while demons rise up from the grave and evil creatures stalk their prey. Deeply hidden is the message that an angel’s fall from grace has caused this horror. The arrival of an enormous comet foretold by an ancient book, “The Nemorensis” simultaneously coincides with havoc and madness all around. Not closely tied to the first book, the action moves from the coast to London and the characters are almost entirely new. The heroine is Agetta, a young serving maid who steals from her master and cringes or shrieks in the corner as often as she tries to stand up for herself. Plot is not important, but revolves around a mysterious angel shackled by Agetta’s father who wants to sell the feathers plucked from his wings and the power of the mysterious book. Relentlessly horrific. (Fiction. YA)