CRUEL IS THE LIGHT

In the long-standing war between humans and demons, a soldier and an exorcist come together—with unexpected consequences.

Seventeen-year-old Selene Alleva, a captain and Exorcist Second Class known as “the Butcher of Rome,” is a powerful destroyer of demons. Cesare Alleva, Selene’s exorcist uncle and the Imperium Bellum commanding the Vatican’s military, sends her on a mission to investigate the destruction of a village near Nice, believed to be the work of a high-level demon. Selene is horrified to discover that the responsible party is Baliel, the “first and greatest” among the demons of his level. Nineteen-year-old French soldier Jules Lacroix has been battling demons in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, for four years. A formidable foe, Jules tracks his kills by cutting his forearms, leaving rows of scars. But following an attack by a demon horde, Jules has an unsettling encounter with their leader, half-demon Anastasia Alexandrova Romanov, tsarina of the Caspian Federation; he flees, becoming a deserter. Selene and Jules cross paths, initially clashing with and irritating one another but eventually agreeing to work together to achieve their personal goals. Clark’s gritty, intricately developed world may seem bleak yet love and determination shine through. The evolving relationship between Selene and Jules is enticing, combining barbed exchanges with angst, before their emotional and physical surrender. The somewhat open-ended conclusion sets up for the next entry in this duology. Most characters are cued white.

Surreal and beautiful.