And the downside to maintaining appropriate scale is that the story can seem incidental or meaningless. These are hardly concerns unique to this novel all tie-in media has the potential to be too big and momentous when compared to the "canon" surrounding it. (Not only that, but in the wake of the Aurora, Colorado incident, this could be a very uncomfortable few chapters for some readers. One incident involving a pedestrian bridge would be national news, and then there's the capstone that initiates the titular rite of passage that would, quite possibly, reach international proportion. Later set pieces further strain the willing suspension of disbelief on this point. Especially since "Laurel Hill" is more or less adjacent to some of the more affluent areas of South Jersey! I'm fairly positive that outbreaks of deadly MRSA and flu strains, overwhelming hospital staff, would be extremely noteworthy for that part of the state. By the time I got several chapters into the book, I was wondering how the death toll wouldn't be cause for massive state response. Right from the start, Tora (the main antagonist) is killing folks left and right. While Sam's struggle with Lucifer is actually enhanced by its relevance in the novel, cropping up at all the wrong moments, the references to the Leviathans only serve to highlight how disproportionate the novel's events seem in comparison.Īnd these events are huge. The author tries to place this novel in context with those long-running plot arcs, but is only partially successful.
One of the biggest problems with the seventh season of "Supernatural" was the inability to communicate the full scale of the threat of the Leviathans as voracious as they were, they could hardly be engaging in mass killings on a budget! Meanwhile, Sam's struggle with his inner Lucifer was hobbled by the limited availability of Mark Pellegrino. In a way, that mandate is both a blessing and a curse. Set firmly in the first half of the seventh season, the novel fulfills the editorial mandate of depicting events that could never happen on-screen, given the legendary budget constraints that have come with being one of the longest running series on the struggling CW network.
Making it even more tantalizing was the thought of a "Supernatural" novel taking place a stone's throw from where I grew up in southern New Jersey! While various place names and location details have been modified to protect the relatively innocent, it's not hard for a former native to read between the lines.
John Passarella's first "Supernatural" novel was easily one of the best, and so the notion of a follow-up was a welcome one.
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