Swarm and Steel

Starred review from June 12, 2017
Fletcher’s third novel set in his Manifest Delusions universe (after Beyond Redemption), a world where anything a person truly believes will become reality, is a tour de force of dark fantasy shot through with wonder and black humor. Zerfall, the charismatic leader of a religious sect, awakens with partial amnesia in an alley to learn that she has attempted to murder her sister and coleader, Hölle. Hölle survives, but neither of them has any idea why Zerfall made the attempt. As children, the two of them received what they believed to be a message from the divine creator and as a result they created Swarm, a hell in which souls of dead people are locked away with only one another for company forever; the sisters’ church, which preaches eternal salvation on its surface, is a funnel to direct souls into Swarm. But Zerfall finds out that she has begun to doubt whether Swarm was divinely inspired and whether Hölle has been working with Zerfall’s best interests at heart, and even whether her sister is really her sister after all. Fletcher’s twisty and continuously surprising plot piles spectacle upon spectacle in an amazingly ambitious structure, while his consistently three-dimensional characters lend depth and heart to the narrative. Some clumsiness at the beginning in explaining the world and its concepts gives way to a smoother style, without unduly marring the overall effect. Agent: Cameron McClure, Donald Maass Literary.

July 1, 2017
A recovering sociopath struggles to destroy an evil religion she herself created in the third novel set in Fletcher's (The Mirror's Truth, 2016, etc.) Manifest Delusions universe.After an injury, Zerfall wakes with no memory and a score of people trying to kill her. They're sent by someone named Holle as punishment for Zerfall's betrayal; figuring out who Holle is--and who Zerfall herself is--comprises Zerfall's first challenge. After Holle sends Zerfall's sometime lover Aas, a disturbed and masochistic shape-shifter, to kill her, Zerfall begins to remember herself...and to remember that the person she is isn't a good one. Can a sociopath change? Especially in a world where mental illness is literal power--where a pyromaniac may spontaneously create flames with the power of his or her delusions, where a schizophrenic's alternate personalities may manifest as physical entities, and where a sociopath is the ultimate manipulator? Zerfall wrestles with her newfound sense of guilt as well as her desire for revenge. Her sociopathic powers have deserted her (instead, she's becoming gruesomely undead, having developed a new mental illness based on Cotard's syndrome), but that doesn't stop Jateko, a headstrong but immature would-be warrior, from loyally aiding her quest to destroy the soul-consuming religion called "Swarm" that Zerfall created with Holle centuries ago. Ultimately, all the characters find themselves at risk of becoming consumed by their own personal stripe of insanity--Jateko in his quest for greatness and respect, Aas in his self-loathing, Holle and her self-deception, and of course, Zerfall and her manipulative tendencies. Can anyone save themselves...or each other? It's not for the squeamish, but unique worldbuilding and a plot full of twisted reveals elevate the story somewhat from the typical grimdark offering.

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July 1, 2017
Imagine waking in an alley with no recollection of how you got thereor even who you are. That is how Zerfall's day starts. Left to die by assassins, she awakens wounded and unable to remember how she got to where she is, let alone where her precious sword has gone. She recalls being chased by the assassins, who cut off her hand and left her in this damaged state. With Zerfall's scabbard empty, she seeks revenge on those that brought her to this end. She must bring the false Church of Geisteskranken down to its foundations. Meanwhile, the young Basamortuan barbarian Jateko has been kicked out of his tribe for an accidental murder committed out of fear. He comes across Zerfall in the desert and is intent on saving her from demise. Can Jateko grow enough as a warrior to help Zerfall in her revenge? Can Zerfall's faith that she can bring down the false Geisteskranken keep Jateko from being the All Consuming god that his tribe has prophesied? Fletcher's latest grim-dark novel will leave readers wanting the story to continue.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)