The Urban Fantasy subgenre is quite expansive, wizards in the phone book, private investigators who work in the court of Fae, vampires and were-creatures hidden in plain sight. It takes a lot for a new novel in this subgenre to standout. Forging a Nightmare, the debut novel from Patricia Jackson has a conceit that helps to propel itself beyond the creatures of the night in plain sight. The backdrop of her “mythology” and magic is the Bible itself which is fairly atypical for the genre. Certainly, some Urban Fantasies have used Christian mythology as part of their milieu and supernatural backdrop, but Jackson utilizes Christian mythology as THE source of everything magical and supernatural in her world.
Unknown to Humanity, the descendants of fallen angels live among us, but a serial killer has discovered their secret…
FBI Agent Michael Childs is investigating a series of grisly murders in New York City, where the only link between the victims is that they were all born with twelve fingers and twelve toes. In occult circles, they are known as the Nephilim. When Michael gets too close to the truth, he uncovers his own unique heritage and finds himself at the top of the killer’s list.
A break in the case leads to Anaba Raines, a Marine Corps sniper listed as killed-in-action, however Michael finds the soldier alive and well, but no longer human. She’s a Nightmare, a warhorse forged from a damned soul and trained to infernal purpose. As the boundaries of mythology and biblical lore collide with his reality, Michael is forced to confront an apocalyptic calling, or die trying.
Michael Childs is an FBI Agent who is investigating a series of gruesome, distinct murders committed in New York City. Each victim was born with twelve fingers and twelve toes, which is the only common element connecting the victims. Michael has some knowledge of ancient myths and the occult from his college days and knows that 12 fingers mark an individual as Nephilim, forsaken individuals because they are the offspring of angels and humans. The serial killer case leads Michael to meet Anaba Raines, a Marine Sniper who seemingly disappeared from the world a few years back, according to all the records he researches. The reason for her disappearance: she’s been made into a Nightmare, a being who can shift her shape into a powerful, blazing horse. Michael soon discovers how connected he is to these murders and the supernatural world he soon uncovers.
The Christian mythology is fertile ground for building a foundation and Jackson mines it quite nicely. Of course it is a straight-forward retelling because the Angels aren’t exactly the nice and comforting creatures we think them to be. These angels have some of that Milton-esque Angelic quality as soldiers in the War between Heaven and Hell. I also appreciate who Christian mythology in Jackson’s world inform many of the mythologies (particularly Greek and Norse mythology) of the world at large, even if those mythologies may seem to have a tenuous connection at best.
The action scenes are quite visceral as the characters traverse the landscape of our world and find themselves in Hell. Here Jackson has another interesting take on what Hell is and how the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Angels in this milieu) fit into the larger picture. This was perhaps the most fascinating world-building element to me.
Another strong and enjoyable aspect of the novel was the relationship between Michael Childs and his mother. It felt so believable, real, and genuine. I also thought that the diversity of the cast set it apart, primarily black characters, with a black man as the main character and an LGBT woman as a secondary protagonist. What I appreciated most is that these characters, like the relationship between Michael and his mother, felt extremely real. The characters being black, or Asian, or LGBT weren’t called out with a bright spotlight, it was simply who they were and that makes the diversity of the cast feel so much more real.
Jackson throws a lot at the reader in Forging a Nightmare. I’d like to consider myself a very seasoned fantasy reader, and particularly Epic Fantasy where writers throw a lot of world-building at the readers in their works especially in the first novels of their series. To wit, I was a bit overwhelmed. There’s a significant amount of lore and world-building that is relatively dense. That dense world-building slowed the pace of the novel at times, too. Or rather, the pace was a little unbalanced across the novel as a whole. I almost feel like this novel could have been split into two novels or maybe even trimmed down a bit.
All that said, Forging a Nightmare has a lot of interesting elements that make it worth the read and rewards readers’ patience through some of the more dense elements of the novel. There are some extremely engaging portions of the novel that show Jackson’s ability as a storyteller and fortunately for my reading sensibilities, those engaging portions outweigh the overwhelming/dense portions The unique take on Christian mythology and a diverse cast of characters set the novel apart from its peers.
© 2021 Rob H. Bedford
Published by Angry Rob Books | November 2021
Author Website: http://www.bybirthright.com/
Excerpt: https://issuu.com/angryrobot/docs/forging_a_nightmare_excerpt
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
