This sequel to The Fire Sermon (2015) extends and deepens its story of a post-apocalyptic world riven by war. Cass lives in a world divided in two by the nuclear blast that destroyed the old, technological world and created the twinning phenomenon that makes every pregnancy result in a twin birth: one child is always an Alpha, perfect and whole, and one an infertile, mutated Omega. Despite their differences, twins are bound together for life—when one dies, the other dies, too. In the first book, Cass, whose mutation is that she can see the future, escaped her twin, Zach, a powerful player on the ruling Alpha Council. She rescued a boy called Kip from a kind of living death, floating unconscious in a tank built by the Alphas to imprison their Omega twins to keep them away from harm. But even her visions couldn't keep the council from slaughtering hundreds of Omegas on the island that had been their only refuge —or stop Kip from sacrificing his life to end that of his twin, who was working with the council. Now, along with Piper, a resistance leader, and his sympathetic Alpha twin, Zoe, Cass must prevent Zach and the rest of the council from trapping all Omegas in these horrifying tanks. Haig isn't afraid to take readers into dark places, letting her characters struggle with grief and tough moral choices. Suspense comes as much from uncovering the secrets of the past as from moving inexorably toward the uncertain future. A powerful post-apocalyptic story with unusual emotional depth and clear, often beautiful language, this is one genre fans won't want to miss.

Haig-s second Fire Sermon novel continues the postapocalyptic saga in which humanity has survived in the form of pairs of genetically -perfect- Alphas and sterile, -deformed- Omegas. Each Alpha-Omega pair is psychically connected so that if one twin dies, so does the other. The Alphas have systematically oppressed their siblings and are moving ahead on an aggressive plan to place them in suspended animation using taboo technology. Omega and seer Cass is determined to thwart this, especially since her own twin, Zach, is its mastermind. But to save Omegas everywhere, she has to rekindle an all-but-destroyed rebellion and locate the fabled Ark, a last-ditch storehouse of information and technology predating the nuclear war that destroyed civilization. Haig fleshes out her radiation-scarred dystopian setting and its intrigues, as well as touching upon the last survivors of the old world. It-s a grim, atmospheric tale featuring unpleasant decisions and morally compromised characters, with very little brightness to balance it out, but Haig does interject the occasional positive note. Much is left unresolved, of course, setting up the final installment. Agent: Juliet Mushens, United Talent Agency. (May)

This sequel to The Fire Sermon (2015) extends and deepens its story of a post-apocalyptic world riven by war. Cass lives in a world divided in two by the nuclear blast that destroyed the old, technological world and created the twinning phenomenon that makes every pregnancy result in a twin birth: one child is always an Alpha, perfect and whole, and one an infertile, mutated Omega. Despite their differences, twins are bound together for life—when one dies, the other dies, too. In the first book, Cass, whose mutation is that she can see the future, escaped her twin, Zach, a powerful player on the ruling Alpha Council. She rescued a boy called Kip from a kind of living death, floating unconscious in a tank built by the Alphas to imprison their Omega twins to keep them away from harm. But even her visions couldn't keep the council from slaughtering hundreds of Omegas on the island that had been their only refuge —or stop Kip from sacrificing his life to end that of his twin, who was working with the council. Now, along with Piper, a resistance leader, and his sympathetic Alpha twin, Zoe, Cass must prevent Zach and the rest of the council from trapping all Omegas in these horrifying tanks. Haig isn't afraid to take readers into dark places, letting her characters struggle with grief and tough moral choices. Suspense comes as much from uncovering the secrets of the past as from moving inexorably toward the uncertain future. A powerful post-apocalyptic story with unusual emotional depth and clear, often beautiful language, this is one genre fans won't want to miss.