PURE DEAD FROZEN

Hell and Scotland both freeze over for the sixth (and, possibly, final) entry in this pure dead delightful series. This time the tumultuous Strega-Borgia clan faces three thoroughly evil adversaries from previous outings, including the demon Isagoth—hot to make up for his previous failure to secure the outrageously important Chronostone—and His S’tainless S’teeliness, mighty S’tan himself, popular television chef and First Minister of the Hadean Executive. Along with an array of mythological and magical allies, the Strega-Borgias become even more extended than usual for the climactic face-off with the arrival of a baby brother—snatched by Isagoth, who gets a thorough and hilarious tutorial in just how many body fluids a newborn emits—for siblings Titus, Pandora and little Damp. Once again, Gliori chucks in loads of slimes, stinks, cliffhangers and satiric tweaks, all delivered with split-second comic timing. Though she also tries to fill in the background, so tangled have the ongoing plot threads become that readers would be best advised just to start at the beginning. Despite being billed as the finish, there are enough of those threads left dangling to keep on—and that wouldn’t be a bad thing. (Fantasy. 11-13)