Review by Booklist Review
As a child, Orpen fled to Phoenix City to find safety. She knew that within those walls were squads of banshees, fierce women warriors who could fight the flesh-hungry skrake that have overtaken the rest of Ireland. But now older and a banshee herself, Orpen is no longer so sure that she wants to fight for what turns out to be a patriarchal, rigid society reinforced by oppression and violence. Until her squad's mission goes rogue, she isn't sure that her friends and mentors feel the same way--and once they've begun, she realizes that some of them think that everything should be burned to the ground. Davis-Goff's novel is a dark, visceral dystopia about a few young women who decide to take a risk and strike out for a better world. While the book suffers from some awkward syntax and passive voice, it has a convincing emotional center in the uncertain, quiet Orpen and her longing loyalty for secretive fellow Banshee, Agata. The cinematic gore and fight scenes mix with heart-sinking twists and a small hint of hope.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Davis-Goff's eloquent sequel to 2019's Last Ones Left Alive revisits her innovative take on the zombie trope. In a postapocalyptic Ireland, 14-year-old Orpen is rescued from the skrakes--creatures whose humanity has been "flayed away till there's nothing left but mouth and teeth and slug-proboscis-tongue"--by the banshees, a league of black-clad female warriors whose superior combat skills enable them to fend off skrake attacks. Flash-forward six years, and Orpen is now a banshee herself, living in Phoenix City, a stronghold of survivors with high walls to keep out the skrakes. She's proud of her warrior status, but as a series of attacks sweep the city, she begins to question the morality of the regime she serves. Davis-Goff elevates a familiar plot with vivid prose (the abandoned city of Dublin is described as resembling "a crust on the green skin of Ireland, a scab flaking slowly away") and emotionally resonant characterization. Horror fans looking for more than jump-scares will find it here. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Post-apocalyptic Ireland is a chilling setting for this dystopian novel. When something called the Emergency strikes Ireland, turning most of its human population into terrifying zombie-like creatures called skrake, 14-year-old Orpen is on her own after her two mothers die. She's captured by a band of banshees, women who serve as warriors and guards for the few thousand humans left living in Phoenix City, a walled city adjacent to Dublin. Judged fit by Ash, the formidable banshee leader, Orpen becomes part of A-Troop, the squad that captured her, and is trained to fight and kill. The banshees are structured on the Spartan model, with bonded pairs of women who live and fight together. Orpen soon becomes attached emotionally to her partner, Agata, despite her mysterious absences. Orpen also learns about the strict social hierarchy of the city, with management (mostly male) at the top; farmers, breeders, and wallers, who work constantly to build and repair the thick, high walls that keep out the ravening skrake, next; and, at the bottom, the shunned dwellers in what's called the shanties, formerly the Dublin Zoo. Banshees hold special status as enforcers, but most of the city's scant resources are controlled by the leaders, who reinforce their power by holding occasional human sacrifices of rule-breakers. The novel's worldbuilding is crisply efficient, with enough detail to create a sense of dread, especially in set pieces like a banshee foray into a long-abandoned airport to hunt for supplies. Orpen's candid first-person narration lets the reader learn about her new world as she does, an isolated place without electricity or cars, factories or guns, and dwindling levels of literacy. The plot is fast-paced and suspenseful, and the banshees satisfyingly heroic. A girl comes of age as a warrior in a ruined world in this headlong thriller. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
