No storm bows to reason.
Quentin's trip to the desert with his chosen family is supposed to be two days of testing the limits of their powers. Instead, a violent storm looms on the horizon, and nothing will alter its course.
The storm has a Nate Anderson. Demigod, supremacist, leader of a neo-Nazi Übermensch cabal... and father to Quentin's latest ward, Mel. He means to take her home, and won't let a ragtag group of "inferior" psychics get in his way.
Besieged and outgunned, Quentin is trapped in a no-win scenario. No matter which way he turns, one fateful night will change him forever.
CONTRIBUTOR(S): R.J. Bayley (Narrator)
PUBLISHER: Ravensword Press
YEAR: 2023
LENGTH: 392 pages (11 hours 42 minutes)
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy
RECOMMENDED: Highly
*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s), Gay/Achillean Main Character(s), Bi/Pan Main Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Secondary Character(s), Trans Secondary Character(s), Ace/Aro Main Character(s).
RUNES OF FALL finally takes Quentin, Laurence, and the teens on the promised trip with Neil Storm and his sister, Ames. They head out on a helicopter into the desert to blow off steam and let Quentin practice his powers where he can’t hurt anyone. Unfortunately, a group of demigod Nazis track them down, led by Mel’s father. Mel is the most recent addition to their ever-growing found family. She ran away to live on the street rather than be under the same roof as her Nazi shithead dad. Several story threads are continued from previous books, including (but not limited to) Mel's origins, Freddy’s past treatment of Laurence, and the teens’ various backstories. The specific danger is new, but Quentin's handling of it in particular is both a catalyst for, and a solidification of, a change in his thinking as far as how to handle threats. He has to face how to deal with an enemy who won’t stop as long as there’s breath in their body, someone like Jack, Kane Wilson, or worse.
The issue of Mel’s father and his squad of superpowered, white supremacists is both introduced and resolved here. This is not the last book in the series, but as we approach the end of season two, it seems as though a confrontation with the warlock from the epilogues of the last several books is on the horizon. The threat of that warlock still looms, and this is left for later books to handle (specifically, the next book, as the seasons are five books each). Emphasizing how much this series is not (and never wholly was) just about Quentin and Laurence, they are joined as narrators by Soraya and Mel. The audiobook narrator is great, as always, but I especially love the portrayal of Nate, the Nazi asshole. He sucks, and the way he’s voiced is such a perfect combination of bass and bluster that enhances the textual description and brings him to life.
This would work as an okay place to jump into the series midway, but it would be much better to go back at least as far as the start of this season with RITES OF WINTER. This is the culmination of many interpersonal changes for Quentin and Laurence, but it’s also a book where they talk through things that have happened to them in other books which they hadn’t discussed with each other before now. This could allow those scenes to serve as necessary background information for someone who tried to get into the series this late without reading further back. To those for whom these summaries are not new information, they instead are much-needed and long-delayed catharsis and communication between two people who are newly able to shoulder each other's burdens without worrying that the other will break. Quentin comes to some important realizations about himself and his relative privilege, and Laurence starts to actually accept that Quentin’s commitment to him is durable and sincere.
RUNES OF FALL is a fantastic penultimate entry in the season, and I'm very eager for the next book!
Graphic/Explicit CW for grief, sexual content, homophobia, transphobia, racism, kidnapping, blood, violence, murder, parental death, death.
Moderate CW for cursing, panic attacks, sexism, misogyny, stalking, excrement, vomit, drug use, drug abuse, medical content, torture, child death.
Minor CW for ableist language, child abuse, rape, sexual abuse, sexual assault.
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