Quietly haunting, constantly building—a paranormal worldbuilding delight
Sarah is a Keeper: the only one of her kind alive. Some think Keepers don’t exist; that they only exist in fairy tales. But this world of Deathless Creatures, conjured up by the formidable Katie Wilson, is full of vampires and ghosts, and the only one who can kill them is Sarah, or as her adored vampire companion Alex calls her, “Sarahpocalypse.”
But after killing a senior vampire, voices start to haunt Sarah. She recognizes them as siblings in her head—other supernatural beings who thrash at her brain with deadly influence. Should she put the hurt rat out of its misery, or should she kill all of the rats? The siblings want her to kill, kill, kill, but she and Alex know she’s strong enough in her convictions to ignore them. Right?
Haunted Creatures is a lyrically-woven, slowly building paranormal adventure that takes readers across the world—from Seattle to the underground tunnels in Paris—for an eventual meeting with Alex’s maker, Helen. The first half of the story is about deciphering these voices, standing tall to them, trying to understand herself and what she can offer Alex, and preparing for the inevitable showdown with Helen.
When she finally shows up, Helen is one hell of a character. She’s powerful and brazen; she cares about Alex but is no stranger to pointing out his faults. And as Sarah is about to find out, she’s stronger than she could have realized. The introduction of Helen throws a complicated wrench in the murky situation that is the Deathless Creatures series.
Like the previous book in the series, Deathless Creatures, Wilson’s prose shines. She takes delicate care to paint scene after scene, introspection after introspection. The emotions snake through the veins of both Sarah and Alex, however cold he might seem, and the love shared between the two is written with a fine pen. With slow-burns like this, it’s all the more important that the prose keeps us going—and it does it effectively in this one.
“Their smiles are snakes that stalk me across the floor, and I back away. I reach a shaking hand to Alex and slip beyond their reach, buffered again by the cave’s translucent shield. I quickly turn away, but their eerie smiles cling and itch.”
However, this slow-burn might feel like too slow of a burn for some. We meander for a good first half of the story, trying to figure out small mysteries, but we keep clinging to the question of why they haven’t seen Helen already—a presence who felt like she’d provide the inciting incident. But we don’t get to see her until around the 60% mark. This makes it feel like we’ve paused—with beautiful prose as a consolation—but at times, this makes it feel too much like this narrative is more of a bridge between books one and three. When the action arrives, it’s thoroughly satisfying and comes with real complications to the plot, so it is worth the trip in the end, but readers will have to sit tight and engage with the sentences and descriptions awhile before they get there.
Still, it’s a rewarding read for those readers who fell in love with Wilson’s prose and world in book one. The mythology behind vampires, ghosts, realms, and the Keeper is undeniably strong and Wilson is geared up to pull big punches in the follow-ups. If you, like Sarah, already consider these characters beloved, you’ll be glad to spend this slow-burn with them.
What did you think?