Horn Book Review
Nessa and Anto survived their Call (The Call), both escaping the horror-filled realm of the Smdhe (wicked fae) both physically altered. The young lovers look forward to a peaceful future, but their romance is stalled by a more terrifying prospect: the Smdhe invading real-world Ireland. Book two of the series continues the page-turning terror and visceral trauma as a desperate nation faces supernatural war. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
After surviving the Call to the Grey Land and the attempted fairy invasion (The Call, 2016), Anto and Nessa hope to escape the limelight and live a quiet life together in the countryside, but the Irish government has other ideas.Fourteen-year-old Anto is drafted into a military unit known only as the infestation squad, while Nessa is labeled a traitor to the nation and imprisoned. Cut off from the rest of the world, Ireland has been struggling with a crumbling infrastructure and limited provisions. But for the citizens, the worst is the certainty that at some point during adolescence, all will be called to try and survive for a day in the land of the Sdhe. But the brutal fairies have found a way to travel to Ireland and finally retake it for themselves. Nessa, disabled by polio but blessed by her fireproof skin, is forced to fight again. Anto must face his own demons as he struggles to master his Sdhe-given arm. The action is blood-soaked and brutal, but the angst-filled love story of teens torn apart by war is life-affirming. While the cast is all Irish, it is ethnically, spiritually, and sexually diverse. Students and faculty are South Asian and French. Soldiers are black and Asian. Characters profess to be Christians, atheists, and Celts. One character, Aoife, is openly gay.Nonstop action, horrific magic, and teen love. (Fantasy/horror. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
For 25 years, the revenge-seeking Sídhe have summoned Irish teens to their nightmarish world, the Grey Land. Nine out of 10 teens never return. Nessa Doherty and the boy she loves, Anto Lawlor, however, are another story. They survived, and now they want nothing more than to settle down together. There's just one hitch: the Irish Nation believes Nessa committed treason during her time in the Grey Land and her sentence could be death. To make matters worse, the Irish Nation's ambushed Anto, too, consigning him for now to an elusive troop known simply as the infestation squad. All the while, the Sídhe and their fey realm loom ever closer. Although its predecessor, The Call (2016), simmered with suspense, here O'Guilin brings thrills to a full-on boil. As the third-person narrative whirls between the colorless Grey Land and the war-torn Irish countryside, hair-raising fight sequences, fantastically gruesome monsters, and fascinating character arcs abound. As much a horror-tinged fairy tale as it is a glittering love story, this eerie sequel is sure to invade many readers' imaginations.--Shemroske, Briana Copyright 2018 Booklist
