BOW DOWN TO YOUR DEMON OVERLORDS
After the great war of heaven and hell, the Gods moved on,
abandoning a decimated Earth behind.
But a pocket of life survived. And thrived.
A new civilization has emerged.
New nations. New species. And an old evil.
This new earth lies unprotected,
and something has slunk out of the depths to claim it.
To rule.
Arlex wakes up in the center of an impact crater that leveled a third of the Palace District—without a scratch on him.
He will discover that he is the most wanted sapien in all of New Tartarus. And Lord Malus has dispatched his pack of monstrous Nephilim to hunt him down.
Joined by a devious cleric and a dangerous pair of escapees from Downshade Asylum, Arlex must come to terms with the truth: that somehow he caused the devastating explosion.
Arlex embarks on a journey to clear his name and uncover the secret of his newfound powers.
He will need to learn if he is meant to be this world’s savior or the one destined to destroy it all – and usher in true hell on earth.
BOW DOWN TO YOUR DEMON OVERLORDS
After the great war of heaven and hell, the Gods moved on,
abandoning a decimated Earth behind.
But a pocket of life survived. And thrived.
A new civilization has emerged.
New nations. New species. And an old evil.
This new earth lies unprotected,
and something has slunk out of the depths to claim it.
To rule.
Arlex wakes up in the center of an impact crater that leveled a third of the Palace District—without a scratch on him.
He will discover that he is the most wanted sapien in all of New Tartarus. And Lord Malus has dispatched his pack of monstrous Nephilim to hunt him down.
Joined by a devious cleric and a dangerous pair of escapees from Downshade Asylum, Arlex must come to terms with the truth: that somehow he caused the devastating explosion.
Arlex embarks on a journey to clear his name and uncover the secret of his newfound powers.
He will need to learn if he is meant to be this world’s savior or the one destined to destroy it all – and usher in true hell on earth.
Arlex’s eyes were burning.Â
At first, it had only been an itch that had started that morning. He rubbed at them as he left his underground dorm on his usual journey through the narrow, dimly lit tunnels, but that only seemed to make them worse.Â
Arlex squinted as he passed the canteen, seeing it as if through a foggy haze, and avoided going all the way inside, instead reaching in between two distracted miners in the queue and snatching a cup of thick caff and half a piece of cold toast. He dodged back out through the assembling breakfast crowd and made his way to his assigned dig station. As he walked and ate, he rubbed his eyelids with the back of his hand, doubting how he would make it through the day if this went on. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, it stopped.Â
Great. Now back to my wonderfully craptastic life.
Things could be worse, he figured. So he had gone about his usual uneventful shift, thinking not much of it.
Now his eyes were on fire. The taste of metal filled his mouth, and his hands tingled and trembled. He dropped his pick. All he could see was a bright burning light. Nothing was ever bright down here. His head pounded, and he could hear voices calling out, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying—they sounded muffled and far away.Â
He lost all sense of balance and position—the ground rose to meet him, its cold stone hitting his cheek. He struggled up, and an incredible force threw him back down again. A high-pitched whine pierced his ears. He floated off the floor, his eyes and mouth stretched open, his back arched and all four limbs shot out, and a dazzling whiteness engulfed him.Â
Then he fell back to the ground. All stopped. Suddenly silent.
Arlex lay on his back. His eyes still ached, but he could open them. He could see. And although he was in agony, he laughed.
Isn’t that where the ceiling should be?
Above him, what was previously occupied by half a mile of solid earth between him and the surface, was now nothing but gray sky. High above, tendrils of dark smoke snaked across his view.
He tried to get up, fell back to the ground, and everything went black.
One of the things I loved about the book was the fact that the chapters are broken up into sections - then again, I'm a big fan of knowing the structure of the book I'm reading and being able to track my progress! I also loved the fact that the first several chapters were identified according to their relationship to the "Event". For example, one of the chapters had the subheading "Event plus 2 minutes."
This was especially helpful in the early part of the story as my brain was still establishing the names of characters, their relationship to one another, etc. Especially because the story jumped from one perspective to another as the chapters changed. For someone who had never read any type of apocalyptic literature, this could have been confusing. I've read plenty in the genre and had to slow down my reading and annotate just to keep things straight until I got further into the story. The payoff is a very intricate plot that lends itself well to an entire series. I definitely enjoyed the book and will look into continuing the series as the books become available. But I will do so knowing that this series is likely to be a slightly slower read for me so that I don't get lost!