The city is split by the Seam: humans on one side, monsters on the other, and the peace between them hanging by a thread. Kate, raised in fear, decides to become as ruthless as the father who commands the monsters. August is a monster who feeds on human souls through song and dreams of atonement. When both have to run, they find that cruelty and compassion are decided by choice rather than by nature.

Key highlights:

• Urban fantasy with moral ambiguity instead of a clean good-and-evil divide
• Two narrative threads, one human and one monstrous
• On what makes a person human