Synopsis: When Brilliant Shine the Stars

In a world where the demons really are out to get you, and the halfbreeds are actually on your side, one freak of nature may be the key to making life livable.

Ooze, a biological contagion spread by the Hierarchy, has devastated the western US between the Rockies and the Cascade Range, forming the Outlands. Ooze infects everything it touches, poisoning the earth and turning living creatures into mindless killing machines. For thirty years, Witches and Others have allied with resilient ordinary humans to fight a standstill battle against the infection.

Things are about to change.

Cade is an Other, amnesiac beings uniquely capable of dealing with the stinking, $%*!ing, ooze. When Cade meets a young woman after accidentally breaking her arm, he doesn't think much of her claims to invulnerablity, or her obvious interest in him. But Hunter, an eight year veteran of the war with the ooze, isn't used to being ignored. Her stubbornness and lust for life in spite of the terrible state of things draws people to her, even as her lack of faith in anyone makes them wary. Their investigation into the disappearance of a research team sparks a mystery that will change everything Outlanders have come to believe about Ooze and themselves.