Author: Patrick O’Connor
Dawn City is on the brink of collapse and one wrong move will bring the entire world down with it.
Ten years ago, just beyond the borders of Dawn City, an old-growth forest broke across a multiversal barrier. Monsters spewed forth from within the forest, plaguing the land for hundreds of miles all around. Dawn City was the only human settlement in the region that survived, and they did so only through the military’s heavy fortifications and weapons installments.
The federal government deemed Dawn City the gateway to the forest. Despite the apparent danger this title implied, most of the residents of Dawn City stayed and went about their lives. Although there was some initial panic, ultimately, this fundamental change to the fabric of the world didn’t change anything in the people’s day-to-day lives, and they quickly grew complacent. No one altered their habits because they weren’t forced to do so.
The official statement was that the military was posted there to keep the monsters at bay, but really, the government’s only hope was that they would survive long enough to warn the rest of humanity if something truly heinous left the borders of the forest.
Sofia Ryder is a software engineer for Dawn City’s largest defense contractor, Greater Vector Industries (GV), and she’s been stealing from them since day one.
GV maintains its market supremacy through the capture and enslavement of naturally occurring AIs, and Sofia’s out to put a stop to it. But when she takes an AI from the wrong system, she discovers there is more than just jail time on the line.
Meanwhile, in the dark and lawless areas of Dawn City, an uprising is building, and the streets are under siege from demon monsters created within the city’s walls.
Alexis, Sofia’s roommate, and her robot Jaguar partner Andromeda struggle to free a group of refugees from the Wraith Runners, a rising drug cartel that controls the monsters, and have been experimenting on people they steal off the streets while flooding the market with a supernatural drug.
With the police, monsters, and criminals hunting them both, Sofia and Alexis must race across Dawn City to maintain their freedom, save all the people they’ve rescued, and bring Sofia’s former employer to justice.
If you enjoy books by Ilona Andrews, Kevin Hearne, and Jim Butcher, then you’ll love this dark urban cityscape where monsters hide behind every corner and the worst of them are human.