Written in the Blood

March 16, 2015
British author Jones’s ponderous sequel to 2014’s The String Diaries focuses on heroic Leah Wilde, a hybrid member of a wealthy and powerful dynasty of shape-shifters, the hosszú életek. Since their birth rate is low, Leah must persuade her paranoid line that a new way has been found for hosszú életek to reproduce. While doing so, Leah is pursued by a deranged hosszú életek, as well as by the tolvaj, an evil creature that feeds on the souls of shape-shifters. In a flashback, orphan Izsák Balázs faces the tolvaj during a pogrom of the hosszú életek in Hungary of 1880 that seems to mark the end of the hosszú életek. The story moves forward at a turgid pace as the author hops from subplot to subplot and holds back information that his characters are aware of but the reader is not. Pointillist sensory descriptions nicely evoke the setting, however, and characters are well-drawn gothic types. A rousing finale belies this fantasy thriller’s frustrating middle portion. Agent: Sam Copeland, Rogers, Coleridge & White (U.K.).

March 1, 2015
Leah Wilde, one of the last descendants of the hosszu eletek, a mythic Hungarian clan with shape-shifting abilities, risks her life against dark forces in an attempt to save her widely scattered people from extinction. In The String Diaries (2014), the first book in this series, Leah and her mother, Hannah, were stalked in America by the monstrous Jakab, a rogue member of the clan. Only then did Hannah discover she had illegitimate blood ties to him. Fifteen years later, she heads up dangerous efforts to produce hosszu eletek babies through blood infusions. Meanwhile, Leah confronts ruthless criminals who were banished from the sect to seek their help in the fertility program. The sequel moves between the present, in a variety of European locations-where an evil strain of body snatchers thirsts for fresh blood-and 1870s Hungary. There, an orphaned boy, Izsak, is forever scarred after his family is subjected to horrific punishment rites. He meets a girl, Etienne, who, like him, will leave a mark on the future. Few living writers of supernatural thrillers equal Jones' powers of imagination and overall vision. His first book spent so much energy setting up its premise that it ran out of plot and ideas. The far superior sequel is a complete success, both in narrative terms-it's a page-turner-and in evoking horrific movements in modern European history. There are a few too many cliffhanger-type chapter endings, but Jones delivers on their promise in dramatic, violent fashion. A superior sequel, Jones' tale of a people struggling for survival is as emotionally compelling as it is frightening.

Starred review from April 1, 2015
In The String Diaries (2014), the author introduced us to a hidden element of society: a group of people, called the Long Lives, who can change their shapes. There aren't many of these shape-shifters, and if an ancient evil beast has its way, there soon will be none of them. In this fast-paced sequel, Leah Wilde races against time, and against a creature of almost unimaginable power and deceptiveness, to save the few remaining Long Lives (including her own mother). Even though the book carries over characters and story threads from the previous novel, readers can approach it as a stand-alone; the author provides enough background to keep us from feeling disoriented. And the pace is so fast that readers are essentially propelled through the book, carried from one character to another, bouncing around from one place in the world to another, completely caught up in the story. A novel that's just as good as the one that came beforeand, in this case, that means essential reading for devotees of high-end sf.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)