I’ve been beside myself with excitement for months because I NEED more Nate! Glad to say I’m not at all disappointed, if anything it was better than I thought it would be!

I worried that having Nate without powers for a large portion of the book would make for a boring story but it was anything but. (Spoiler alert, he regains them at around 64%, along with his father’s identity) It proves how good of a writer McHugh is because it’s still gripping and a beautifully woven story, with a protagonist who could be rather flat in the hands of a different author. Despite being human Nate is still utterly kick ass and it was still believable that he could take down those who actually had powers whilst he was mortal and sans power. It also shows that he’s the same good, kind, loyal man without magic, the magic doesn’t make Nate a hero, NATE makes Nate a hero.

The basic premise is that 2 years on from Nate’s ‘death’ at Mordred’s (still one of my favourite characters! Not enough of him and his game tunes though!) hand, Nate is living in Clockwork (great town name), Oregon (although I do keep calling it A Clockwork Orange in my head, but that says more about my intriguing brain than anything else) awaiting the return of his powers so he can help save the world. There’s a slight worry about his powers being a few months late, but he’s created a relatively nice, quiet life and managed to stay out of trouble....until some Nazis turn up - dontcha just hate that?! - and start harassing a family he is friends with. In fact two members of the family are some of the few who knows Nate’s backstory, so there is a definite worry that Avalon are about to stumble onto the man they were so relieved was dead. Sucks to be Avalon!

Robert, the cockwomble in charge of the Nazis, is the ex of one of the granddaughters of Nate’s friends, and he has the exact type of fragile masculinity that makes you just want to him kick in the area his balls should be, if he wasn’t such a little bitch. He disliked the fact that his ex Jessica, left him for another man due to his aforementioned cockwombling fragile masculinity. He’s trying his level best to destroy Jessica’s life by claiming her son as his, despite the impossibility of dates (and his lack of man parts, hence his over compensation - ok the lack of male genitalia isn’t actually IN the book, but having known a few like him, that’s what’s happening in my head) and generally making a nuisance of himself. Having his Nazi buddies harass her and her boss means Nate has to get involved, cos, well it’s Nate, and shit truly hitteth the fan. Turns out they’re working with Baldr. Who really does not like Nate, and has a mummy complex.

Nate defends the family and gets them to supposed safety in Portland, to Medusa (yes the snake lady, who in true McHugh style, is actually a goodie and the myths surrounding her were created by her enemies. Nice comment on history being recorded by the winners) and Isis who are protecting Baldr’s mum Frigg. Unfortunately, Jessica and her grandfather end up kidnapped by Bob and his merry band of bellends, leaving a swathe of unexplained bodies behind. Nate and Brooke, a deputy of Clockwork, set off to find them but are captured (and at this point the fate of the Aston Martin becomes uncertain, but if it’s destroyed I’ll be miffed) and taken back to Clockwork to hear Bob’s master plan. They’ve been using the blood of an intelligent creature called a grendel to power up humans, and are planning on releasing it at a mass protest against Avalon. The humans would then go beserk and Avalon would have leverage to force through legislation to ‘protect’ the world from these ‘terrorists’. Luckily, Nate’s friend/handler Chris (who is not Chris, but is actually another supposed mythological being - who picked his name of ‘Chris Hopkins for a VERY fun reason!) turns up to get him out, but it’s sadly too late for Brooke who is killed by her estranged grendel-fuelled twin sister Addison, who was pally with one of the Nazi boys. Nate and ‘Chris’ free the grendel but as they’re escaping Nate is shot - and he’s still human