The Scarlet Thread – D. S. Murphy

I get a couple different book newsletters for cheap or free ebook deals. I’ve learned to be really leery of the free ones. So I was really pleasantly surprised by this book. It’s definitely more in the YA realm, so has a fair amount of teenage angst, but not anymore than any typical book in the genre. What is also has is a really interesting take on the how the ancient Greek pantheon transitioned into the monotheistic tradition we live in today. (This sounds dry – I swear it’s not.)

Kaidance has been at a sort of juvenile/mental facility for a number of years – because everyone, including her parents, believes she killed her younger brother. She’d actually seen a vision of him dying, and had tried everything she could to prevent it, but everyone believed that her telling people that he would be hit by a red truck had gone on for so long, she had to make it happen. Since then, she’s been careful to never touch anyone, because she never knows when she’ll get a vision of a person’s death.

After a party where she sees a mysterious stranger, Kai’s busted out of the facility and brought to an estate in the middle of nowhere populated by an interesting cast of characters. They know about her power, and while they are offering to help her train it, they also clearly want to use it for their own ends, and it takes Kai a while to uncover why.

It turns out these people are refugees in a war between the gods. Zeus has decided to go it alone – and has been killing as many of his relatives as he can, using an army he created that are basically angels. If a member of that army falters at a command for just a moment, even if it’s an unconscious pause, they’re cast out. These fallen angels have thrown in their lot with the refugees. Have I mentioned those refuges are led by Hades?

This book is very much the set up to this story – it would appear that Kai has been chosen by the Fates to end this war. I’m interested to see how that will happen.