THE BONE MAGICIAN

Loosely linked by references and cameos to The Black Book of Secrets (2007), this “paraquel” spins its wheels through the muck-encrusted streets of Urbs Umida, dropping both corpses and more Dickensian-style characters into the mix. Hired by an undertaker for eerie nighttime vigils, young Pin is amazed to see a cadaver supposedly reanimated by magician Benedict Pantagus and his herbalist assistant, Juno. When heavily contrived circumstances throw Pin and Juno together, Pin becomes as determined to discover her secrets as he is to clear the name of his vanished father, who is accused of murder. Meanwhile, journalist (and freak-show escapee) Deodonatus Snoad gleefully chronicles the crimes of the “Silver Apple Killer,” who casts electrocuted victims into the evocatively named River Foedus, and the hideous Gluttonous Beast terrifies paying crowds at the bustling Nimble Finger tavern. Higgins introduces a large cast, proceeds to kill part of it off, then closes by freeing the Gluttonous Beast and setting Pin and Juno on the road out of town. Further episodes may bring some plot resolution—but don’t bet on it. (Fantasy. 11-13)