Wonderblood

November 13, 2017
Strange people encounter stranger adventures while traversing a postapocalyptic America in this unsatisfying debut. In the Eon of Pain, a diseased wasteland is cleansed by the doctrine of Wonderblood, which orders the faithful to sanctify the landscape through beheadings in monstrous carnivals. Aurora, a teenage girl, is captured by Capulatio, an executioner with ambitions of becoming king. Aided by his wife, Orchid, an executionatrix and the scribe of his holy visions, Capulatio makes his way toward Cape Canaveral, Fla., seat of the king, determined to bring a new age. He also decides, despite Orchid’s objections, that Aurora will be his queen. As Capulatio begins challenging the throne, two lights appear in the sky, as if to confirm the ending of one age and the beginning of another. Told in rich, dense prose, Whicker’s fantasy feels like a blood-steeped dream: there are mummified heads and a religion based on astronauts. The story’s voice is vibrant and warm as the Florida heat; but the pacing drags under the weight of the description, and the plot meanders sluggishly, with detours that make the journey feel far longer than it should.

January 1, 2018

DEBUT In a future America where magic reigns and science is illegal, marauding carnivals use blood sacrifices and shrunken heads as protection against Bent Head, a mad cow-like disease that has plagued the country for hundreds of years. In Kansas and Cape Canaveral, prophets work to prove that their kingdom is the home of the True King, the one who will be on the throne when their ancestors' space shuttles return to save them from this broken world. After her camp is destroyed by a madman claiming to be the True King, young Aurora has no choice but to join him on his journey to Florida where he will fight to take the throne. Meanwhile, courtiers and spies are scheming within both kingdoms and strange lights in the sky might signal the return of the shuttles or the end of everything. VERDICT This is an original and well-formed entry into the crowded field of dystopian fiction. While not entirely satisfying as a stand-alone, Whicker's debut sets the stage for a possible series full of bloodlust, court intrigue, and unforgettable characters. For fans of Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, N.K. Jemisin's "Broken Earth" series, and George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" books.--Portia Kapraun, Delphi P.L., IN

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