Tense action grips the reader from the first page of Jacob Emrey’s THE MANGLERS OF CARRAIG, and it refuses to relent as teen Conell strives to collect gems to protect his family and close-knit group of friends. The mysterious gems are the only known kryptonite for manglers, as their green glow wards the creatures off. The ferocious large-cat-like beasts don’t just eat their prey—they tear them to pieces. Conell and his friends make their scrappy living stealing and trading gems in the city slums. When Conell steals from a ruthless gangster and falls into his debt, he takes a job hunting manglers to rescue his sister from the gangster’s grasp. The novel’s stakes heighten as Conell traverses deeper into the dark forest outside the city and the threats against him and his friends grow. Man-monster fight scenes and gambling scenes alike are pulse-pounding, not only because of the fierceness of the manglers and the desperate people in the slums but because the book’s precise diction amps suspense and keeps the pace moving at a breakneck pace.

Emrey’s robust worldbuilding is striking in its innovation and eeriness. Spooky imagery evokes an intimidating atmosphere, as when Conell first enters the forest: “Massive branches thicker than a man snaked away from their enormous trunks and tangled with the limbs of neighboring trees, creating a canopy that blocked out nearly all sunlight. From the damp ground, root systems rose and fell like mossy fountains.” The filth and desperation of the slums—partnered with its sense of community reliability—stands in juxtaposition to the wealthy North Hill that rises above the city, where Victorian-minded elites trade gems like they’re nothing. Their capitalist, eugenicist attitudes toward people in the slums breed insulting philosophical discussions about morality and wealth that round out the worldbuilding while developing the personalities of the few wealthy minor characters—whose power over Conell and his friends feels petty and poignant. The book is marked by succinct, memorable lines that ring with truth, including “Conell caught a glimpse of a type of evil the gems did not ward off. In fact, it was a type of evil the gems cultivated: greed.”

Favoring action over exposition, the novel reveals character through purposeful conversations and decisions that people make. When Conell’s friend Clock loses a finger in a bet but commands his opponent to roll the dice again, his determined risk-taking shows the extent of his willingness to help his friends (as well as to seize some approximation of vengeance). Finding gems is important to the likeable Conell—it’s life and death—thus, it is also important to the readers, who will find themselves on the edge of their seats and rooting for the lad all the way to the book’s devastating, powerful conclusion.

Jacob Emrey’s short but powerful novel THE MANGLERS OF CARRAIG keeps the stakes high and the action pummeling forward as whip-smart teens hustle in a ruthless, vivid fantasy setting.

~Aimee Jodoin for IndieReader