Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago. When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.
This is a hybrid fantasy-dystopia-paranormal (at least for me) set in a post-war America. The enemy of this war was not man, however, it was demons, and after many battles, the church emerges as the new government. Nina is a 17 year old girl, trying to keep her mother's issues under wraps until she turns 18 and can care for her younger sister on her own. Her future is bleak, but she perseveres in order to provide for her family. Then, in a series of unfortunate events, her purpose is revealed, and chaos abounds.
I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced with some real interesting components. I enjoyed Nina's squad, as odd as they were, and they all grew on me a lot. I am really itching to find out what comes next, as the ending was not really a cliffy. That part of the story ended, but the seed for the next evil baddie was planted. The romantic interest was sort of odd, but fit conceptually with this world that they lived in. I feel like "he" will play an important role in the grand scheme of things later.
Overall: Great writing, lots of action, and an interesting story, which had me hooked immediately.
