Five years after the Great Language Outage, lang-laws have been repealed, but world affairs have only gotten worse. The new automation agenda has resulted in a social caste system based on IQ. Manual employment is a thing of the past, and the lowest soc-ed class, the Unskills, are forced into permanent unemployment.
In a world on the brink of civil war, a deadly insomnia pandemic threatens to kill billions. Lilith King, Interpolâs most celebrated detective, is assigned to the case.
Together with a sleep specialist, Dr. Kace Westwood, Lilith must figure out who or what is behind this new threat. Could the pandemic be the result of the upskilling vagus chips being offered to the lowest soc-ed class? Or are language chips being hacked? And what of the viral conspiracy theories by the mysterious Dark Court, sweeping the globe? Lilith must work every possible angle, and quickly: she is running out of time!
While attempting to stop a vast conspiracy on an intergalactic scale, Lilith also faces shocking revelations about her origin, coming to terms with her own destiny.
Five years after the Great Language Outage, lang-laws have been repealed, but world affairs have only gotten worse. The new automation agenda has resulted in a social caste system based on IQ. Manual employment is a thing of the past, and the lowest soc-ed class, the Unskills, are forced into permanent unemployment.
In a world on the brink of civil war, a deadly insomnia pandemic threatens to kill billions. Lilith King, Interpolâs most celebrated detective, is assigned to the case.
Together with a sleep specialist, Dr. Kace Westwood, Lilith must figure out who or what is behind this new threat. Could the pandemic be the result of the upskilling vagus chips being offered to the lowest soc-ed class? Or are language chips being hacked? And what of the viral conspiracy theories by the mysterious Dark Court, sweeping the globe? Lilith must work every possible angle, and quickly: she is running out of time!
While attempting to stop a vast conspiracy on an intergalactic scale, Lilith also faces shocking revelations about her origin, coming to terms with her own destiny.
Lilith Kingâs transformation occurred on her seventh birthday. That was the day of her awakening, in the parlance of the Sempiternals. It was a day cut out of mysteryâa beginning and an ending.
Lilith rose early, excitedâshe knew her father would have a gift for her, something unexpected and perfect; he always did. Her father loved her beyond measure, and she knew it. But as she dressed hurriedly, foreboding also nagged at the back of her mind. The woman who was supposed to be her mother, Plamena, was to be removed, finally. To an asylum in Moesia, near her surviving family in Sofia.
âFamily descendants,â her father explained.
Lilith had the impression her mother was very old, although this was belied by her youthful mienâespecially in the warmth of late-afternoon sun filtering into her chamber. In the rich yellow-orange light, Plamenaâs bedridden features were softenedâher shadowed crowâs feet disguised. The madness in her eyes was almost erased.
Lilithâs father insisted it was for the bestâmore for his own benefit; the girl didnât need convincing. For the final few months, Lilithâs mother was restrained to her bed rails, cloistered in the farthest chamber on the upper floor of their vast house. The doctor had ordered it, and her father had reluctantly consented, lest she attempted to harm Lilith again.
Lilith would sometimes spy on her father as he tended to her mother, through the open door, from the safe distance of the landing. She observed the softness in his eyes as he sat at her bedside.
âMy Plamena,â he would whisper, wiping the brow of the woman with the crazed expressionâthe eyes that sometimes rolled back and forth frenetically in their sockets, as if yanked to and fro by invisible steel wires.
For Lilithâs part, her mother always scared her. Throughout her childhood, Lilithâs mother had gradually deteriorated into a dribbling, catatonic mess. At least, until the crazy took hold of her. Thatâs when her mother heard the voices, or so she claimed. Thatâs when she became dangerousâwhen Lilithâs very life was in danger.
Lilith feared it must be her faultâthat she wasnât good enough, not deserving of a motherâs love. Shouldnât a mother love their child? Shouldnât a daughter love their mother, rather than being terrified of her?
Once, Lilith ventured in, unobserved, while the nurse was away and her father was on a facecall in his grand study downstairs. She crept forward, hoping her mother might open her eyes and smile at her, tell her that she was loved. But her mother never did. And at each subsequent failed attempt to engage her mother, a little more of Lilith became broken inside, until she stopped trying.
As she entered the large drawing room downstairs, her father was already seated at the breakfast table that overlooked the ornamental garden at the rear of the house.
âMy little seraph, my birthday girl,â he called out, with a broad smile, as Lilith entered. She smiled too and ran toward him, arms outstretched, laughing. And as he held her, she leaned into his shoulder, taking in his distinctive smell. He squeezed her tight, longer than usual, as if he didnât wish to let her go. And as Lilith savored his warm embrace, she contentedly gazed out through the windows at the large garden beyond him, where strange shadows dwelled in the afternoon.
Lilith, her father, and her invalid-mother inhabited a very large villa in central Cambridge. Lilith vaguely understood her father was wealthy. But she also somehow knew, even at the age of seven, that he couldnât care less about material things. She was aware he wasnât the same as other men, different from other fathers. And he was famous, that she understood too, something to do with his medical research. Lilith adored himâhe made her feel safe. She was his Lily, and always would be.
As a child, Lilith liked the sound of her fatherâs pet name for herâseraph. She imagined it was an allusion to her temper, the flames of her outbursts that got her into trouble at school; Lilith had a prickly disposition even then, announced in advance to all and sundry by her shock of orange-red hair and startling green eyesâânuclear green,â as one teacher had once described them.Â
But as the years went by, the image that her pet name conjured, of wings on fire and the intimation of the angelic, made Lilith think of both rage and innocence. And later, at the age of twenty-three, after the Monster, any vestige she once had of innocence was gone. Afterward, all that remained was the rage.
In the drawing room on that day, Lilith was just a newly minted seven-year-old, excited and not in the least bit hungry. Once the serving unit had delivered breakfast, Lilith made a hurried, token effort at eating. Her father sighed as he glanced at her plate. So she fixed him with a defiant look, with her emerald-green eyes, and crossed her arms. It was her birthday after all. And as he chuckled in response, she knew he had relented. Lilith hurriedly unwrapped the box, throwing open the lid. Inside was a pair of shiny, red leather brogues. She shook off her slippers and put them on, lacing up, chuckling with glee, despite the lack of socks. She hadnât expected this, but immediately decided she had longed for exactly these all along.
âShall we go for a walk?â her father asked, while still studying the uneaten food on her plate.
âTo test them?â Lilith asked, excitedly.
âTo make sure they work,â her father replied with a wink. But as he spoke, a shadow feathered his face. âNo need for you to be here âŚâ Lilith studied his haunted expression. She knew what he meant. The medical daemons would arrive soon, accompanied by her fatherâs personal lawyer, to remove her mother in a medical transport. Lilith nodded, glancing down at her feet. She was ready.
âDo you want to say goodbye first?â he asked.
Lilith frowned and looked away. She examined the ornamental fountain in the middle of the small pond outside without responding, watching the blur of refracted morning light through droplets of water. Her father smiled at her faintly. âGet your jacket, Iâll go up, say farewell for both of us âŚâ
Outside, they walked through the streets of Cambridge, toward Grantchester Meadows. It was still early, but already warm. Once they reached the banks of the Cam, Lilith began skipping, holding her fatherâs hand. Her shoes started to rub against one heel. She ignored the discomfort, glancing up at him. He smiled at her; she was happy.
âTheyâll be at the house now ⌠Sheâs going home at last, back to where sheâs from.â
âWhere are you from?â Lilith asked abruptly, seeking to shift his sadness away from a subject she didnât fully understand.Â
âIâm not from anywhere,â he replied. âToo many places.â
Lilith screwed up her eyes. Her fatherâs answer made no sense. âBut where were you born?â
âA cave,â came his strange reply. Lilith closed her eyes for a moment, imagining somewhere dank and uncomfortable.
âWas it dark?â
âNot anymore,â he replied. âNow itâs a grotto full of candles, incense, and light.â Lilith was confused. She glanced up at her father.
âWhatâs a grotto?â
Her father stopped walking and gazed down at her. âA grotto is a sacred place.â
âDid you live there with your mummy and daddy?â Lilith asked, using the Old Standardâs lexicon and grammarâit was still years before Unilanguageâs North American standard became the default variety of English in the Old Kingdom. Back then, Lilith was an unchipped nate, part of the transitional generation; she wouldnât have Universal Grammar tech implanted in her head until her eighteenth birthday.
âJust my mother,â replied her father. Lilith knew all her grandparents were long deadâshe was different from her classmates, whose elderly relatives sometimes collected them after school. The mention of a grandmother caused Lilith to suddenly feel longing for something she had never hadâa nostalgic pang for a newly revealed hypothetical absence.Â
âWhat was her name?â Lilithâs unexpected question made her father jump slightly. Then there was a distant, wistful look as he glanced down againânot quite at her, more through her.
âMary,â came his soft reply.
âMary,â Lilith repeated, tasting the name. Testing it. âWhat happened to her?â she asked.
âSheâs buried in a basilica.â Another strange word for a small child.
âBas-lika,â Lilith repeated, mispronouncing the word. âWhatâs that?â
âA kind of church,â her father replied, solemnly. Lilith shuddered. Churches scared her.
By the time they arrived back home, Lilith could tell her mother was no longer there. The low-level growls that usually reverberated around the oak-walled panels of the upstairs landing were no more. Now silence reigned.
After theyâd removed their outdoor garments, her father led her into the drawing room. His lawyer was awaiting their return. Upon seeing him, her father became visibly nervous. There was a woman sitting beside the lawyer. She smiled at the child.
âYou must be Lilith,â the woman announced, standing. She was well-proportioned and friendly-looking.
Lilith instinctively moved behind her father. He held her hand, and pulled her back around in front of him, kneeling beside her. Lilith looked into his face, confused.
âThis is Ms. Wilbur, sheâs going to look after you,â he explained softly, before smiling back at the woman.
âLilith can call me Kaye,â Ms. Wilbur said kindly.
Her father then turned back to Lilith, gazing at her with the kindness she loved. âI have to go away.â He gulped. âYou must be very brave, Lily. Because what Iâm doing is for you. Youâre very special. I believe you will change everything. Not just here, but everywhere.â With that he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small bracelet from inside his breast pocket. He handed it to Lilith.
âAnother gift?â she asked, with cautious excitement. Lilith turned it over in her hand. It was silver, with a small, strange-looking screen on the outer side. The screen was narrow and black, and numbers were spinning in iridescent green, fleetingly across the screen.
âI guess it is. This is a SwissSecure bracelet. It will live with you, expanding as you grow.â
âIs it alive?â Lilith asked.
Her father chuckled. âIn a way, I suppose it is. When youâre older, after youâre chipped, the numbers will stop spinning. And then youâll receive a message from meâtwo, in fact.â
âMemoclips?â Lilith asked, confused. She knew that was what the chipped adults called them.
Her father dipped his head. âActually, faceclips. They will explain things ⌠when the time is right. For one thing, where the music comes from, the Nunciature Evangelionâthe Tower of Songs.â
âMusic?â
âIt will come to you, later today. This music will help you become your potential, but it will also be your one Achilles heel âŚâ Lilith scrunched up her eyes in incomprehension. âThat means it will make you vulnerable. You must never trust the music. When the time is right, the bracelet will settle, reveal the code, and play the faceclip. And after that, when youâre ready, you must also seek out your mother. Youâll know when. She is far more than you think ⌠I know itâs not been easy for you. But she will have moments of lucidity, she can help you, explain.â
Lilith grimaced and shook her head. âWhat kind of music?â she asked, avoiding the mention of her mother. She imagined the tinkling piano of her music teacher.
Her father nodded faintly. âThat will become clear, in time.â He paused, smiling at Lilith, taking in her face. âI love you, remember that. Always.â
With those final words, Lilithâs father clipped the bracelet onto the childâs right wrist. It snapped into place with a small metallic sound. He gave Lilith a long, gentle hug, before standing and nodding toward the two adults. Then he turned and left the room. Lilith couldnât have imagined then, as she watched him walk out, his back straight and proud as always, that she would never see him again.
The Dark Court is the second book in Vyvyan Evansâs spectacular mystery and suspense-filled science fiction series, Songs of the Sage. I was once again immersed in his imaginative near-future dystopian Earth, where language is no longer learned but streamed into the brain through implants, and an individualâs future is determined by their IQ score revealed when tested at age 18. This book takes place five years after the events of the debut novel, The Babel Apocalypse, and features characters that played quick but pivotal roles then.
The main character is Lilith Errapel King, a woman in her early 40s who carries the emotional and physical scars of a traumatic childhood and young adult life. However, Lilith is more than she appears to be, with an unusual, mysterious, and shocking bloodline that is gradually revealed as the story progresses and supra-human abilities she is only now beginning to explore and understand. The author does an amazing job unveiling her past and giving an authentic voice to this womanâs thoughts and feelings and the impact of what happened to her. Although Lilith struggled her entire life, she attained success and celebrity for her ability to solve cases. However, she maintained and nurtured her compassion for the less fortunate, such as the Unskills.
The plot reveals the aftermath of The Great Language Outage and the world governmentsâ responses to the crisis. The whereabouts of Ebba Black and Emyr Morgan from book one are unknown to the current characters, but their ties to each other are established. The relevance of âthe sageâ and âthe songsâ in the seriesâ name is introduced and foreshadows their coming importance. The author deftly keeps several intriguing storylines in play: Lilithâs family origins, her special abilities, and her history with the head of Interpol, all while Lilith and Dr. Kace Westwood track the source of the mysterious Fatal Insomnia-like pandemic.
The characters travel in minutes to unique and interesting locations in pursuit of the cause of the baffling medical crisis. The authorâs descriptions of the settings are vivid and detailed, putting the reader on location alongside Lilith and Kace, especially as they descend into the catacombs of Paris or run for their lives through the rainforest of French Guiana. I also enjoyed the exciting technology Evans imagined for this future Earth and how he meshed so naturally into the story.
The author seamlessly incorporates enough backstory into the current novel so readers new to the series can easily step into and enjoy this latest tale, but, honestly, the first book is not to be missed either! With splendidly sympathetic main characters, atmospheric settings, and a well-paced plot full of twists and surprises, I recommend THE DARK COURT to science fiction readers who enjoy stories of action, mystery, suspense, and alien interaction and interference in the affairs of humanity.