Wicked City: the Scarlet Clan-Hideyuki Kikuchi

Wicked City: the Scarlet Clan
Hideyuki Kikuchi
Seven Seas (Tor), Nov 9 2010, $10.99
ISBN: 9780765323323

The Black Guard diligently watch the barrier between the mortal world and the demonic realm for breeches from the dark other side. In Roppongi, a Black Guard unit intervenes to end a summoning ritual at Torizaky Church. That night agent demon Makie informs her human lover agent Taki at his home in Hamadayama that she had a vision of the assault due to the hybrid child she carries. She also says their unborn told her that the summoning worked.

Apparently the summoning is to bring back the Shu demonic mob locked away in 978. This deadly clan prefers war between the two species and within each species. Over one millennium, they have waited for the mixed race baby to be born so that they can kill it and prevent the peace that many in both races see the infant represents. Starting with a psy phone call to possess and kill Taki, the Shus begin their direct attack on the pregnant demoness as they send snake handlers and fire demons to assassinate the female they consider traitor. Taki and the Black Guard struggle to protect his unborn and defeat an invincible demon mob that never loses.

The third Wicked City urban fantasy (see Black Guard and The Other Side) is a fabulous thriller that reads like a comic book novella with no images except those in the reader’s mind. Fast-paced from the onset, the focus of everyone is on the unborn hybrid. Although the key characters are severely underdeveloped, fans will enjoy the latest entry that stands alone, but obtain a better understanding of Hideyuki Kikuchi’s fantasy-horror Japan by reading the previous thrillers.

Harriet Klausner