Toothless

An ancient evil leads a rampaging army of demons and undead warriors across the countryside. Martin, a failed Templar, is slain on the field of battle only to be reanimated in service to the very evil he hoped to destroy. The Black Yew, the dark force that controls the undead army, considers him a gifted minion. But life is not done with him yet.

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the title, this gritty supernatural historical has plenty of bite. In 12th-century France, corpses are being animated by a force called the Black Yew. Resurrected Templar Martin, now called Toothless, breaks free of the Yew's domination to fight against its depredations. Compelling and well told with only occasional lapses into cliché, this is an unusual mapping of familiar fantasy territory. Moore explores the troubled unlife of a reformed zombie in detail, both from Toothless's perspective and through the eyes of the skeptical living ("Sympathy from one of the Yew's dead. Tenderness. Something about it turned her stomach"). Toothless himself is an introspective, complex protagonist, and his quest to recover what he can of his past is by turns moving, intriguing, and highly entertaining. (Nov.) (c) Copyright © PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

About the Author

J. P. Moore writes in New Jersey, which is a long way from the settings of his novels and stories. His fiction examines worlds on the brink of ruin, in which only unlikely heroes are left standing.

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