Titanshade had almost always generally been a place of little enough consequence and less attention. True, the city produced a good bit of the ever-important oil, which made it a popular place for the downtrodden looking to change their luck during the oil boom, but it's not the sort of place that dignitaries, religious leaders, or rock stars would flock to. But, that was before the new mana boom...
Although it's still under investigation and not yet being made available for use, the discovery of bountiful mana deposits underground stands to change everything. Not the least of which is the fact that Titanshade is now getting attention that it never would have received before. Dinah McIntire, the current queen of pop, has announced that she is bringing her two-week-long "Ice on Her Fingers" music festival to Titanshade, not just as a randomly selected location, but as the centerpiece of the event, crowned with the release of her new single, "Titan's Song" named for the town.
In addition to a rock star coming to town, the Barekusu, a race of large, long-lived, hairy creatures that are regarded to be spiritually enlightened, are heading for town, as well. A long caravan of Barekusu pilgrims is making its way on foot through the harsh, icy conditions and the people of Titanshade are anxious to catch a glimpse of the enigmatic travelers and to see why they are coming to Titanshade.
Now, one would think that the arrival of Dinah McIntire and the Barekusu would be enough excitement for one week, and they'd be right, but Titanshade also gets the added excitement of an inexplicable rash of violent murders, after which the killers are remorseful, compliant and don't even know why they attacked the victim, who is often a co-worker, close friend or loved one. And, while that is enough to keep a homicide cop in Titanshade extra busy, the fact that a few of these victims come quite unnaturally back to "life," mutating into absolute abominations of their original forms and attacking the living violently and with unnaturally enhanced strength is enough to give a homicide cop nightmares. It's going to be a long couple of weeks.
In addition to dealing with the extra media attention that comes with the recent visitors to Titanshade and the rash of very odd homicides and even odder supernatural reanimations of the victims, Carter has to try to investigate these homicides while concealing the fact that he's recently gained some strange connection to magic, while fearing that it might be his connection to magic that is causing the reanimations. If this magical talent is discovered, he's likely to be detained for observation. Permanently. Or worse. Further, it may be even more difficult to hide, as it seems that the only victims coming angrily back to life are doing so when Carter's at the crime scene... and a Divination Officer is starting to notice just how big a coincidence that is. Yeah. It's going to be a really long couple of weeks.
There's a lot going on in Titan's Song and it's up to Carter and Ajax to get to the bottom of it, once again. I enjoyed this latest installment in the Carter Archives series immensely, not only the story, which is great, but also Dan Stout's writing style. Just in looking back at certain parts of the book in the process of verifying some details for this review, I found myself getting swept up in Stout's descriptions and just reading for a while. He has quite a way with words, with a Film Noir sort of style, but with great pacing and delivery that keeps you engaged.
If you've been keeping up with The Carter Archives, then you'll definitely want to pick up Titan Song to follow Carter and Jax's latest adventure. If you're new to the series, I noticed that Dan did a pretty good job of covering the necessary bits to prevent the reader from being completely lost, while avoiding the awkwardness of a series recap summary. So, technically, if you haven't read any of the other books, you could read this one and enjoy it without reading the other books first: if, for example, you receive Titan Song as a gift. However, I would still recommend reading the series starting with the first book, if you're fairly sure you will be interested in the series. Every book in the series so far has been a joy, so you've nothing to lose. Personally, I'm anxiously awaiting the next installment in The Carter Archives.
