VOWS TO THE DEAD
SHANNON ELLISON
VOWS TO THE DEAD is the start of a powerful new series that plays with themes of grief, guilt and grace. It draws on the shared vocabulary of spiritual, psychotic and psychedelic experiences to create a claustrophobic literary horror combined with the pace of an action thriller – think The Last of Us reimagined by Margaret Atwood.
“The inner city was all crystal and glass in the cool dusk, jackets flapping as wind picked up over the water. Green-tinged lanterns lined the canals, their reflections floating on the black water like oil. The sky was still colored, half grey and half pink, low-opacity stars at the edge of the horizon. The sunsets at such high latitudes in the summer could stretch hours, investing new meaning into the words evening, dusk, and twilight.
Amsterdam at days end was a revelation; proof, somehow, of all the magical shit Henrikh had ever read about. It shouldn’t have been able to exist, a fantasy theme park in a snow globe without monsters, without any evidence of the desolation outside beyond the packed streets. In Amsterdam, it was easy to start believing Mær were someone else’s problem. The bubble was reality.
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2049. Renée wanders alone through the wilderness of a Europe left shattered by a devastating attack on civilization. With no memory of how she survived the brutal killing of the man who raised her, she’s headed to the last city-state, Amsterdam. Though overcrowded, militarized and on the verge of starvation, it is a haven for those not left dead or insane by what lies beyond the city walls.
Inside the city is Henrikh, an ambitious Ukrainian smuggler, who is struggling to claw his way up through a society increasingly stratified between aristocracy and refugees. When he crosses paths with Renée, he recognises her as a sane survivor; one rare enough to fetch a bounty that might save his mother’s life. His plan to collect it will drag them into danger.
Meanwhile, back in 2029, an American veteran named Anton is attending a trade fair at a German conference center when news breaks about deadly attacks all around the globe. Desperate to find his wife amid the rising tide of panic, they find themselves trapped as society violently unravels around them.
The horror of what is set in motion that day echoes forward, as Renée and Henrikh try to make sense of what is real, what is hallucination and what - or who - the monsters really are.