THE SHADOW WAITING ON ITS THRONE

The third installment of Hincker’s History of Light series takes its urban fantasy saga, featuring unstable former artist Asher Gale, in a much darker—and more apocalyptic—direction.

The story is set in Skysill Beach, an art colony on the Southern California coast that’s part tourist trap and part haven for “sighted” artists who use special ultraviolet paint to compel people to buy paintings. Gale is a possibly mentally ill alcoholic who, as the novel opens, has had visions of his own death on top of a terrifying “ghost mountain.” As tensions rise between the Five Families—the factions that have kept the strained peace among supernaturally gifted people for generations—a critical Conclave is scheduled in Skysill. Meanwhile, Gale is seeing more and more ghosts and is suddenly able to see the circumstances of people’s future deaths when he touches them. He must figure out his place in a complicated world—one in which he’s trying to avoid a 500-year-old power-hungry painter, among other enemies who seek to murder him, and stay away from his psychic girlfriend, Caroline, as he believes that almost certain death will ensue. In addition, he must figure out how to defeat an “eternal ghost.” Hincker’s novel suffers a bit from middle-book syndrome, as it lacks the excitement of an all-new storyline with fresh characters, as well as a satisfying conclusion. It also would have been improved by tighter editing. However, it still manages to deliver the goods, due to the storyline’s rapidly expanding scope, the relentless pacing, and the masterful use of multilayered tension. Gale’s premonitory visions, for instance, will give readers a grim feeling of looming disaster: “everything ends in three months.” However, it’s Gale’s self-deprecating humor that keeps the pages turning; in one high-intensity scene in which Gale is told he should embrace his heroic side and become a “seeker,” he responds: “I have bruises on my bruises…I seek vodka and acetaminophen.”

Not the saga’s strongest volume, but an entertaining bridge book to what will hopefully be epic concluding installments.