Reborn descendants of the Trojans return in this sequel to Douglass’ Hades Daughter (Issue 25), determined to hopefully control the labyrinth that is now the foundation of London. Their success or defeat will either unite or destroy the entire world. The opposing forces in the contest have returned as Harold Godwinsson and William, Duke of Normandy. Both spend most of the novel waiting to rule England along with their allies, each focused on shaping the destiny of the Game and its formidable magic.
King Edward the Confessor’s wife, Caella, is the former goddess Genevissa, initially portrayed as a naïve, scorned woman in Edward’s court, who awakens to her true identity and envisions a devastating future for London in the twentieth century. Douglass portrays King Edward as a fanatical, powerless ruler who remains totally ignorant of the plots and counterplots being shaped in his spy-ridden court. Harold’s wife, Swanne, awaits her reunion with William, her godlike mate in the original Troy plot, and devastates both the court with her sexual allure and evil nature. Alternatively frightening and pathetic, she exemplifies the hubris of history’s power-grasping political figures.
Minor but no less powerful figures appear in the person of Mother Ecuba, the Druid worshipper of the sleeping Standing Stones who come alive as Sidlesaghes. Saewald, the Druid herbalist, tends to King Edward’s failing health and assists Brutus’s father, Silvius, in finding the magical bracelets that hold the power to the Game.
An overabundance of characters, presented within the former and present plot, will enchant the lover of riddles but antagonize those who prefer a straight, clear storyline. Although the historical facts of this time tend to be general, Douglass succeeds at creating the authentic atmosphere of both mythology and English history’s changing political climate.