A Song with Teeth

November 2, 2020
Frohock delivers her signature blend of magic, music, and WWII history in the vivid, complex finale to her Los Nefilim series (after Carved from Stone and Dream). Los Nefilim, a group of immortals who monitor demonic activity in the mortal plane, hope to aid the resistance in Vichy, France. To get a sense of what they’re up against, they send the half-angelic, half-demonic Diago Alvarez to infiltrate his demon father’s Scorpion Court. There, Diago quickly learns that the court’s quest to control the mortal realm may spell the end for humanity. Meanwhile, nefil Ysabel Ramirez searches for a magical psalm that will give the Allies a sure win at Normandy. But before she can find it, she’s captured by her conniving uncle. Frohock’s character work is on point: Ysabel is confident and clever, and Diago is delightfully conflicted between the two sides of his heritage. Though the horrors of war and the Holocaust are on display, Frohock’s usually adept mixture of fantasy and history occasionally feels trivializing here, as in the saccharine scene in which Diago conjures up the despair of concentration camp prisoners to feed his music. Still, Frohock’s urgent prose keeps the pages turning. Series fans will find plenty to enjoy.

January 8, 2021
The third book in the Los Nefilim series (after Carved from Stone and Dream, 2020) finds the group in France during World War II, having fled Franco's government in Spain to lead the resistance against the German invaders. The nephilim are descended from daimons and angels, and have what appear to mortals to be magical abilities: heightened speed and strength, accelerated healing, and the ability to cast spells using glyphs or through music. Los Nefilim are composing a special song, "the Key," which, if successful, will open the realms. Their leader, Guillermo, is opposed by his brother, Jordi, a German sympathizer promoting the concept that the nephilim are gods compared to mortals. While Los Nefilim work to protect themselves and France, they search for the fragments of the Key they hid years before, as well as counter the glyphs cast by Jordi's nephilim to prevent the Allied forces from reaching France's shores. This stellar read is profoundly human, capturing the emotions of each character and the difficulties they face in Nazi Germany.

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