Book Review: Apocalypse to Go by Katharine Kerr

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Apocalypse to Go by Katharine Kerr


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this quirky contemporary fantasy from Katharine Kerr, the sequel to License to Ensorcell and Water to Burn. Psychic Agent Nola O’Grady works for a very special agency, one of those ones even the CIA doesn’t know exists. Born into a large Irish-American Catholic family of eccentrics, Nola came into her power in her mid-teens, and discovered that nothing would ever be the same again. Now she works for the preservation of Harmony – balance in the Universe. It’s not working for Good – it’s recognizing that things can go seriously wrong in the universe when there is not a balance.

Nola has managed to keep her distance from her crazy, enthusiastic family for years, but her agency has now based her in San Francisco, her hometown. They’ve been referring to her tiny outpost as the Apocalypse Squad, but the joke has seeds of truth. Chaos sightings have increased on the Pacific coast, doors into another world have been confirmed, and people are starting to cross in from multiple dimensions with distressing frequency. In fact, Nola helped her brother bring back one young woman from a horrendous alternate San Francisco. Now the friendships her brother made over on the other side have led to his disappearance.

The action quickly becomes complicated as a multiverse agency approaches Ari as a potential employee, Nola discovers that there’s a very good reason her family has such strange powers, and low and behold, there's news about her missing father. The needs and demands of keeping things steady in a dangerous universe have now firmly dovetailed into the massive secrets of the O’Grady family.

Kerr has chosen two galloping individuals as her protagonists. Nola is a deep introvert, both entangled and feuding with her family, anorexic in her desire to control her relationship with food, while Ari is hyper focused on his calling, has serious control issues, and has managed to alienate the majority of his working associates with his blunt micro-managing. They weave their way through a San Francisco that is both familiar and strange even to folk who know the city. The alternate San Francisco is eerie and believable, a place that has not yet descended into the chaos of Kate Daniels’ Atlanta. We’re talking definitely contemporary fantasy/noir here.

But let me stress a few things. This is not a romance. This is not a paranormal romance. In fact, if you’re looking for a heavy romantic subtext, which a lot of urban fantasy readers suddenly seem to want, this is not your book. This is fantasy noir with humor and touches of romance. Looking forward to the next one!


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