The Arrivals: A Novel
Marr, creator of the best-selling, young adult Wicked Lovely fantasy series, ventures into dystopian fiction for grown-ups in this lassoing tale of survival and passion set in a desert beneath two moons. This is the Wasteland, where humans mysteriously appear. Each of the Arrivals is a killer. They do not age, they rarely die, and together they form a motley, moody band of frontier vigilantes. We meet a trigger-happy 1950s housewife, a gallant Prohibition bootlegger, and a hippie. They’re kept in line by smart and focused Jack and his spell-casting sister, Kitty, who arrived from America’s Wild West long ago. The heavily armed Arrivals fight off demons and dragonish beasts; break hearts; track their enigmatic enemy, the wealthy Ajani; and learn the ways of a twiggy, telepathic bloodsucker named Garuda. Then everything shifts when sexy Chloe arrives, fresh from a bar in 2010 Washington, D.C. Marr’s sociopaths, romantics, and heroes are flinty and endearing; the spooky creatures, gunfights, mind-melds, lust, and love are diverting; and every facet of this clever, fun tale is stoked by peppery social commentary. --Donna Seaman