GOOL

A generation after the events of Salt (2009), Hari and Pearl have raised their children (both biological and adopted) in freedom far from the nightmarish city of their own birth. Xantee, Pearl and Hari's oldest child, is the strongest mind-to-mind speaker of them all. Xantee needs all her strength when Hari is mortally wounded fighting an unnatural monster in the jungle. The beast—a gool, in the language of the mysterious "people with no name"—holds Hari at the brink of death. While Pearl keeps him barely alive, Xantee and her siblings begin a dangerous quest to the city of Hari's birth, in search of clues to the gools' weakness. Their journey takes them through injury, violence and death as these young people from an idyllic rural childhood must confront the wretched hatred of the city. Xantee's developing romance carries little emotional resonance, and most of the secondary characters lack depth. Nonetheless, the unexpected twists of this original fantasy adventure keep the pages turning. The fascinating buildup leads to a thrilling climax, followed by a bizarrely flat conclusion—perhaps preparing readers for the next volume. (Fantasy. 13-15)