Wasteland, Book 2: Shades of God

WASTELAND, BOOK 2: SHADES OF GOD

Collects WASTELAND #s 8-13

Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten continue and deepen their exploration of America 100 years after the Big Wet, digging deeper into the city of Newbegin and its hidden connections to both the past and the future.

After the loss of Providence and journey to what once seemed like salvation, Abi has been left with mortal wounds, locked in a cage and waiting to be processed.  Her adopted son Skot and mentor Doc are struggling, too, Doc being too old and Skot separated against his will from his only friends.  And where is Michael, the mysterious Ruin-Runner who inadvertently led them to this fate?  That’s something Sultan Ameer, who led the caravan that got them to Newbegin, would also like to know, since he plans to betray Michael to Marcus, the Lord Founder with secrets of his own.  Both Michael and Marcus, and Abi, too, possess strange abilities that link them to the world as it once was.

At Newbegin, there are those caught up in the politics of life in this wasteland, too.  After Heddor was ejected from his post as Primate on the city’s council, no one counted on the intrigue that would follow in the search for his successor.  While Marcus delays, ambitious watchman Dexus seeks to manipulate Heddor’s apprentice, Skot, into the position, blackmailing him to seek the position so that Dexus himself can wield the power behind the scenes, despite it not being officially available to him.

What Dexus doesn’t know is that Skot is subversive in more ways than he realizes.  Marcus holds himself to be the center of religious observance in Newbegin, but there is a Sunner underground, and Skot become a secret adherent.  The Sunners, condemned to be slaves and the lowest caste of society, have their own secrets, a connection and awareness of things as they really are, which may be the very reason Marcus seeks to suppress them.  For instance, they have also liberated Golden Voice, a Sun-Singer who was among the refugees of Providence.

Their interest in him rests in the fact that he is the grandson of Fire Walker, who is among the few people to have seen fabled A-Ree-Yass-I, which may hold to key to salvation.  It is a place that soon draws the attention of Michael and Abi, once they escape the clutches of Marcus, who struggles to deny the truth even to himself.

The second book of WASTELAND expands on the mythology of the story by revealing new clues and exploring in greater depth things and people we have already met.  SHADES OF GOD ought to make it impossible for anyone who reads it to deny that WASTELAND is a seminal experience, or resist the urge to continue reading.