SOVEREIGN

This third volume in the Books of Mortals series, a collaboration between Christian writer Dekker and his partner, Lee, continues the tale of an alternative universe with an allegorical flavor.

This tale began as the world had a brush with extinction that left it populated by nothing but the dead, who were rendered bereft of all qualities that made them human. Soon, war broke out between various factions. From the Immortals, the Dark Bloods and the Corpses, to the Sovereigns, those who populate the Earth fight the others for supremacy. Now, the Sovereigns have been all but wiped out by their enemies, which have hunted their numbers down to a mere 37. Of this number, Jordin has emerged as one of their leaders. Filled with the blood of the boy Jonathan, who died and whose blood has turned the remaining Sovereigns into his followers, Jordin and the others live in the ruined and abandoned mazes in the city, hunted by Saric and the evil Feyn. Now, one of their number, an alchemist, has devised a virus that will destroy them all, but their leader, Rom, is convinced that to kill Feyn would go against Jonathan’s teachings. Rom slips away to try to bring Feyn to her senses, and Jordin hatches a plan of her own. She also leaves the questionable safety of the maze in order to find both Saric and Feyn, but she plans a different outcome: She promises the alchemist that she will bring their heads back with her, and in return, he will not release the virus immediately. This follows Jordin’s journey and that of the young girl Kaya who sneaks off to accompany her and the terrible sacrifice the two make in order to gain an advantage over their enemy in a desperate attempt for survival. An installment enhanced by Lee's smooth, competent writing.