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Other titles in the Mortal Coils series:

All That Lives Must Die: Book Two of the Mortal Coils Series

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All That Lives Must Die: Book Two of the Mortal Coils Series Cover

ISBN13: 9780765323040
ISBN10: 0765323044
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Eliot and Fiona Post are twins caught up in an epic custody battle between their mother's and father's families.  Their mother is the immortal goddess Atropos, the eldest Fate, and their father is Lucifer, Lord of the infernals, a diabolical fallen angel.  The families have put them through rigorous, life-threatening challenges, and together they've risen to combat them in amazing ways.  But now they are facing the greatest trial of all—high school.

Paxington Unviersity is no normal high school—it's a place where gods and goddesses, warriors and socerers learn to harness their power, where a debate in class can end in a duel, and your classmates aren't simply friends or enemies, but allies in battle or threats to your life.  To flunk is to die--only the toughest graduate.  As Fiona and Eliot struggle to keep up their grades by surviving the rigorous training, both families are watching. 

High school is bad enough, but imagine being caught in the midst of an immortal/infernal war...

Review:

"Following the events of 2009's Mortal Coils, 15-year-old twins Fiona and Eliot Post--children of Lucifer and the goddess Atropos--come into their powers at the onset of a vast battle between supernatural entities. Forced to enroll in an ultra-competitive magical school called Paxington, where even gym class can prove lethal, the twins encounter such mysterious, dangerous, and intriguing characters as headmistress Miss Weston and gym teacher Mister Ma, while learning more about familiar characters like slick Uncle Henry and Lucifer himself. Nylund masterfully blends the mundane details of studying with an epic war in Hell, and with similar skill portrays Fiona and Eliot's sibling bond even as their political and romantic interests diverge. Nylund has hit his stride, piling on the plot developments, but never losing sight of the standout characterizations that made the first book memorable. (July)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)

Synopsis:

Twins Eliot and Fiona Post--the offspring of goddess Atropos and Lucifer--face their greatest trial of all: high school. Classmates are either allies in battle or threats, and only the toughest survive the rigorous training and graduate.

Synopsis:

Eliot and Fiona Post are twins caught up in an epic custody battle between their mother's and father's families. Their mother is the immortal goddess Atropos, the eldest Fate, and their father is Lucifer, Lord of the infernals, a diabolical fallen angel. The families have put them through rigorous, life-threatening challenges, and together they've risen to combat them in amazing ways. But now they are facing the greatest trial of all—high school.

Paxington Unviersity is no normal high school—it's a place where gods and goddesses, warriors and socerers learn to harness their power, where a debate in class can end in a duel, and your classmates aren't simply friends or enemies, but allies in battle or threats to your life. To flunk is to die—only the toughest graduate. As Fiona and Eliot struggle to keep up their grades by surviving the rigorous training, both families are watching. 

High school is bad enough, but imagine being caught in the midst of an immortal/infernal war....

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About the Author

ERIC NYLUND's novels include: A Signal Shattered and Signal To Noise, Pawn's Dream, Dry Water (nominated for the World Fantasy Award), A Game of Universe, as well as three novels based in the Halo video game universe: Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: First Strike, and the New York Times bestseller Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.  He lives near Seattle on a rain-drenched mountain with his wife, Syne Mitchell.
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Jvstin, December 24, 2010 (view all comments by Jvstin)
In Mortal Coils, the first book in sequence, we are introduced to the teenaged twins Eliot and Fiona Post. Children of scions of opposing factions, the Immortal Audrey Post(aka Atropos) and the Infernal Louis Piper (aka Lucifer), they have an uneventful, if odd, homeschooled and shut in life, until both factions notice their existence and try to lure the twins to one side or the other. The first novel ended with an Infernal attempt to suborn the children defeated on the one hand, and the twins passing a deadly test set by the Immortals on the other.

Now, the twins have an even greater test: High School.

All That Lives Must Die is the story of Fiona and Eliot, as they grow into their newly discovered, and still developing abilities, in the context of a magical High School, Paxington Institute, that makes Hogwarts seem tame by comparison. The twins discover that there are many of their age with magical abilities, and the reader gets a sense that the Immortal/Infernal split explicated in the first book is really only the beginning of the story. The twins also fracture, as the pressures of school, and their social relations pull at Eliot and Fiona from completely different directions.

And, of course, both the Immortals and Infernals have their own ideas on the education and development of the children. In addition, both sides have become convinced that the children's existence herald that the long standing truce between the two camps is about to be over, and start to arm accordingly.

While the book has teenaged protagonists and even has a reader's guide at the end, the book does not feel like dumbed down YA fiction. Rather, it is in the vein of the better Potter novels, and the newer crop of fantasy and science fiction novels with teenagers in mind. The prose is intelligent, never talks down, and has additional layers that adult readers will enjoy. For example, the hinted identities of Eliot's "band" in Hell are clearly "credit cookies" meant for readers beyond teenagers. In other words, the book feels very much like the best of Pixar movies in that respect.

In addition, the novel continues Nylund's tradition of putting in footnotes as a way to expand the playground of the imagination. Careful reading of the footnotes, with their tone of having been written after the events in the books, provide hints and clues as to where this is all going, and at their best are as witty and urbane as the footnotes in the works of Jack Vance. He even manages to tie in his long-ago first novel in one particular entry.

Nylund is one of those authors who is not stingy on the creativity. From all of the mythological personae given new life and identities, to the vistas of the Paxington Institute, Hell and beyond, and the swirling, complexity of the factions gearing up for the inevitable conflict, Nylund enjoys spooling out his imagination for the reader. As said before, the text is well written but not dumbed down. I devoured this book.

Urban fantasy with a mythological bent. Who would ask for anything more? You won't want to start here--start with Mortal Coils. You'll thank me later.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780765323040
Author:
Nylund, Eric
Publisher:
Tor Books
Author:
Nylund, Eric S.
Subject:
Fantasy - Contemporary
Subject:
Fantasy fiction
Subject:
Teenagers
Subject:
Science Fiction and Fantasy-Fantasy-Contemporary
Edition Description:
Mass market paperback
Series:
Mortal Coils
Series Volume:
02
Publication Date:
20100731
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
896
Dimensions:
6.8 x 4.2 x 1.375 in
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Fiction and Poetry » Science Fiction and Fantasy » A to Z
Fiction and Poetry » Science Fiction and Fantasy » Fantasy » Contemporary

All That Lives Must Die: Book Two of the Mortal Coils Series Used Trade Paper
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$6.95 In Stock
Product details 896 pages Tor Books - English 9780765323040 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Following the events of 2009's Mortal Coils, 15-year-old twins Fiona and Eliot Post--children of Lucifer and the goddess Atropos--come into their powers at the onset of a vast battle between supernatural entities. Forced to enroll in an ultra-competitive magical school called Paxington, where even gym class can prove lethal, the twins encounter such mysterious, dangerous, and intriguing characters as headmistress Miss Weston and gym teacher Mister Ma, while learning more about familiar characters like slick Uncle Henry and Lucifer himself. Nylund masterfully blends the mundane details of studying with an epic war in Hell, and with similar skill portrays Fiona and Eliot's sibling bond even as their political and romantic interests diverge. Nylund has hit his stride, piling on the plot developments, but never losing sight of the standout characterizations that made the first book memorable. (July)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)
"Synopsis" by , Twins Eliot and Fiona Post--the offspring of goddess Atropos and Lucifer--face their greatest trial of all: high school. Classmates are either allies in battle or threats, and only the toughest survive the rigorous training and graduate.
"Synopsis" by ,

Eliot and Fiona Post are twins caught up in an epic custody battle between their mother's and father's families. Their mother is the immortal goddess Atropos, the eldest Fate, and their father is Lucifer, Lord of the infernals, a diabolical fallen angel. The families have put them through rigorous, life-threatening challenges, and together they've risen to combat them in amazing ways. But now they are facing the greatest trial of all—high school.

Paxington Unviersity is no normal high school—it's a place where gods and goddesses, warriors and socerers learn to harness their power, where a debate in class can end in a duel, and your classmates aren't simply friends or enemies, but allies in battle or threats to your life. To flunk is to die—only the toughest graduate. As Fiona and Eliot struggle to keep up their grades by surviving the rigorous training, both families are watching. 

High school is bad enough, but imagine being caught in the midst of an immortal/infernal war....
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