The Nine
-
- $16.99
-
- $16.99
Publisher Description
In the dark streets of Corma exists a book that writes itself, a book that some would kill for... Black market courier Rowena Downshire is just trying to pay her mother’s freedom from debtor's prison when an urgent and unexpected delivery leads her face to face with a creature out of nightmares. Rowena escapes with her life, but the strange book she was ordered to deliver is stolen. The Alchemist knows things few men have lived to tell about, and when Rowena shows up on his doorstep, frightened and empty-handed, he knows better than to turn her away. What he discovers leads him to ask for help from the last man he wants to see—the former mercenary, Anselm Meteron. Across town, Reverend Phillip Chalmers awakes in a cell, bloodied and bruised, facing a creature twice his size. Translating the stolen book may be his only hope for survival; however, he soon realizes the book may be a fabled text written by the Creator Himself, tracking the nine human subjects of His Grand Experiment. In the wrong hands, it could mean the end of humanity. Rowena and her companions become the target of conspirators who seek to use the book for their own ends. But how can this unlikely team be sure who the enemy is when they can barely trust each other? And what will happen when the book reveals a secret no human was meant to know?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Townsend's intriguing debut of nearly flawless writing follows an extremely flawed creation. In this alternate universe, science has become a religion that views God as a great experimenter. A magical book, which lists the nine people God is watching to decide whether to destroy the world, is desired by many factions with different goals. Anyone who learns about the book is likely to be targeted by the minions of the evil Nasrahiel, a nonhuman who wants humankind to fail God's trial. Thirteen-year-old underworld courier Rowena Downshire is something of a passive protagonist who's pushed around by the story. She doesn't know the package she's delivering is the book. When it's stolen, she reports the theft to its intended recipient, the mysterious and dreaded Alchemist, who pulls her into a world of battles against Nasrahiel and other villains that's far more dangerous than the poverty-stricken life she'd endured. The portrayal of God as the ultimate scientific experimenter and a civilization in which rationality does little to fend off brutality and corruption make for a gritty series opener. The most appealing characters are those who willingly travel to the scariest places, and all hopes are nerve-rackingly pinned on them.
