Maggi Lopez, a mother, and a witch looks back on her life, crossing magic-laden, ghost-infested, post-apocalyptic America in a riveting journey of redemption, sacrifice, and ancient gods.
Evie had heard “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” about as often as she’d heard her own name in the two and half decades she’d been alive. She hated the phrase, not because it felt like an empty platitude, but because it was true. That horrid earned-strength, she felt, had twisted and malformed her, stripping her body of supple fragility and replaced it with knotted muscle that felt too bulky for her form. It rested like chainmail over her skeleton, protective, but heavy. Iron had grown up like a weed around her spine, fusing her vertebrae together, allowing her to stand tall through any storm, but leaving her unable to relax into a peaceful moment or form into another’s arms.
Evie had heard “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” about as often as she’d heard her own name in the two and half decades she’d been alive. She hated the phrase, not because it felt like an empty platitude, but because it was true. That horrid earned-strength, she felt, had twisted and malformed her, stripping her body of supple fragility and replaced it with knotted muscle that felt too bulky for her form. It rested like chainmail over her skeleton, protective, but heavy. Iron had grown up like a weed around her spine, fusing her vertebrae together, allowing her to stand tall through any storm, but leaving her unable to relax into a peaceful moment or form into another’s arms.
In a space-faring future, an alien war criminal seeks vengeance on humanity, and a celebrated-but-bumbling hero is forced back into action... whether he likes it or not.
