Literature / Deadlands

No one ever leaves the Dead Lands

The sequel to Lost Time, Dead Lands follows the adventures of Blake Azarel and Excelsior following their successful routing of the Feast and liberation of Corpus Christi, Texas from the Sanguine Collective.

However, after refugees from a mysterious realm known as the Dead Lands appear and an army of undead monstrosities follows after them, a member of Excelsior is taken captive, forcing Blake to head into enemy territory to retrieve them. But to do so, he must face Morior Invictus, a group of ancient necromancers who now control the western side of North America from British Columbia to Baja California.

Dead Lands provides examples of:

• Achievements in Ignorance: Blake once successfully traversed Lake-Like-Glass, a lake made of liquid glass in Alfheim that continually would shift from solid to liquid without rhyme or reason, during a test in his youth. What he didn't know at the time was that the lake was effected primarily by Your Mind Makes It Real, so his belief that he could swim through it meant that he could, which was not the purpose of the training exercise he was undergoing wanted him to do. He nearly died, but gained a commendation for "out of the box thinking" and an apprenticeship from Puck as a result of his unorthodox methods.
• Affably Evil: Valefar is most definitely this, even pointing out ways Blake can improve during their fights. He even takes the time to explain the techniques he uses, as he wishes to have a fight with someone one day who could possibly match him. He never threatens to kill anyone directly and merely wishes to do the job he was paid for. He even pulls an Exit Stage Left rather than continue fighting Blake and Zea once they kill the dracolich, because he hasn't had such fun in a very long time. He even claims to not be mad at God for casting him out of Heaven, as even he believes rebellion deserves to be punished.
  • Faux Affably Evil: at the same time, Valefar doesn't care about the body count of civilians left behind in his raid on Corpus Christi, so long as he gets what he came there for.
    • Zoe Slinden is revealed posthumously to have been this too, as Cinderella tells Blake of how Zoe used to read her fairy tales at night in order to feed on her naive hope for a prince to rescue her from Zoe's clutches.
• Amnesiac Lover: Blake does his best to get over the previous book's revelation that he was once married, but he's still haunted by a woman he doesn't remember. This worsens when The Bone Ring is revealed to be his wedding ring, which makes him worried he married a rogue Christener against his ideals in a moment of sinful passion. Thankfully, this doesn't seem to be the case and he's able to strike Namine from the suspect list, as she claims Blake isn't her intended husband.
• Animate Dead: Each member of Morior Invictus is capable of doing this. Exosso specializes in crafting skeletons, En-dor tames the spirits of the dead, and Abraxas controls souls and zombies.
• The Apprentice: Once her identity is revealed to Blake, Tamayo reveals herself to have been an illegal student he'd taught during the seven years he has little memory of, but that she was also taught by his best friend Atanasio Mortis. She is the Sole Survivor of that group, so far as she is aware.
• Artistic License – Medicine: Blake calls out En-dor's use of this when she knocks him unconscious with a Tap on the Head, as she assumes it just knocks someone out. He correctly points out that if he wasn't a Christener, it could've killed him on the spot and ruined their plans with one move.
• "Ass" in Ambassador: The reader is led to believe that Niseweynu would be this for the Free-Zone, but in reality he's one of the most affable men Blake's met and even offers him pointers on how to discuss politics and negotiations better when they will next meet, as he understands the Free-Zone needs them more than they want to admit and will do anything to make that happen.
• Badass Preacher: Aiden Delacroix leads a small remnant of survivors who escaped the Dead Lands and proves his mettle by offering fire support for Excelsior several times, while also displaying immense knowledge of scripture and philosophy when conversing with Blake and Mara.
• Beyond the Impossible: To help invigorate Cinderella's spirits, Blake regales her with the story of how he survived swimming in Lake-Like-Glass in Alfheim, which is composed of liquid glass and therefore impossible to swim in without cutting yourself to death. However, as part of his natural Leeroy Jenkins tendencies, Blake jumped in and managed to survive because he knew it was important than he didn't fail, which allowed low level reality warping in Alfheim that shouldn't have worked, but he made it do so in his favor. He even quotes the original line the trope comes from.
• Big Damn Heroes: Happens several times throughout the novel.
  • In the backstory, Blake was this to Tamayo and her group of trafficked Christeners, allowing her to escape The Horde and become his students. She later repays the favor in the present by saving Blake from Exosso with the invocations he taught her in the past.
  • Blake and Mara are overwhelmed by Valefar's undead horde, but Cinderella arrives in time with Sedecla in tow to save them with her fire invocation.
  • Just when Blake and Zea almost get killed by empowered zombies, Cinderella and Mara appear to save them.
• Brutal Honesty: During his meeting with Ambassador Niseweynu, Blake engages in this, as he's unused to politicking and prefers a straightforward approach. This actually earns him the ambassador's approval and he joins Blake in being forward as well, stating that he's used to dealing with tricksters and liars all the time, so it's refreshing to be so upfront about his intentions.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Valefar calls Blake and Zea out on this when the Dracolich attacks them, but he's engaging in Hypocritical Humor, as he's been doing it every single time he'd fought them before.
• Chekhov's Gun: Nathan-Prime invokes the idea of this by presenting his resolve, Storm the Gates of Hell, to Blake, all so he can at least understand the idea of their existence when he fights Valefar's resolve, Phantom Thief. It is also heavily implied that Blake either possesses one of his own or will gain one in the future, but, Nathan-Prime being who he is, it's difficult to figure out thanks to his cryptic nature.
• Clingy McGuffin: No matter how Blake has tried to get rid of the Bone Ring, it remains on his finger. at least until Valefar is able to steal it from him thanks to his resolve. However, it soon returns to Blake once he proves his mastery over it.
• Combination Attack: Blake and Zea use one to destroy many of En-dor's enslaved shades and break her concentration over them.
• Danger Sense: All Christened have this regardless of training. It is, however, more effective to those who've spent time honing it.
• Does Not Like Magic: Boone Barrett, the leader of the Free-Zone, was once a slave of the Sanguine Collective, which makes him wary of the supernatural. However, he also has the foresight to realize a potential ally in Excelsior, so he sends Niseweynu to represent him.
• Dracolich: Blake and Zea end up fighting one in Alcatraz summoned by Valefar to attack them, even though it was Abraxas and Exosso who initially raised it back to undeath. It is noted as a weak and young dragon that had died, so it pales in comparison to one that had grown older and stronger.
• Embarrassing First Name: It's hard for Blake to take Morior Invictus seriously once he discovers their real names are Spencer (Abraxas), Velma (En-dor), and Mervin (Exosso).
• Endearingly Dorky: Cinderella tries to be a competent teacher to Blake, but doesn't understand the full extent of her fire invocations and grows frustrated when it doesn't work. Then, when she calls him out on his foolishness, she apologizes for raising her voice, which, for her, was barely different in tone, which makes Blake laugh. However, constantly being seen as cute and dorky has made her angry, as she wants to be taken seriously. Blake realizes he's been babying her because of her tragic past and vows to treat her like an adult, which makes her gush, repeating the process without meaning to.
• Emotion Control: Blake's inability to keep his emotions focused are a major reason he can't control his fire invocations under Cinderella's tutelage. However, he realizes that in this specific circumstance, he doesn't need to control the flames, as he's fighting necromancers and their undead minions. Thus, it pays to be emotionally-compromised, as it means the flames will grow larger and kill far more enemies than if he tried to contain them.
• Fantastic Slur: Ambassador Niseweynu calls Blake out on his casual use of the word "mundane" to describe people without the Christening or supernatural-affinities. He, being Native American, is more than used to being called disparaging names, but he almost finds the word quaint compared to others he's heard before.
• Gemstone Assault: Tamayo's Psionic abilities are revealed to be this. Blake explains that she is able to locate gems of various types and teleport them to her so that she can use them in various ways, which is a very rare and invaluable power little understood in his day. She claims he helped train her, but with his amnesia, he doesn't remember. It was through this power that she was able to lead her fellow survivors out of the Dead Lands, as her gem invocations can mess with barriers and allow a small group of people through them.
• Genius Bonus:
  • In some biblical traditions, Sedecla is the name given for the Witch of En-dor, so eagle-eyed readers will have figured her coming betrayal far faster than others.
  • Exosso's tenuous use and understanding of Latin is also subtle foreshadowing that he's not who he says he is and is in fact much younger.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: When confronting Exosso, who can controls bones with his evocation powers, Blake calls him a flaccidos mentula^note flaccid penis, which Exosso doesn't understand. Yet another subtle bit of foreshadowing at Morior Invictus not being who they say they are.
• Girl Friday: Following her liberation from Sanguine Collective slavery, Alexis has become this for Blake, keeping him on his toes when he would rather be doing anything else than paperwork.
• Hates Being Called Cute: Cinderella isn't opposed to being called cute and kiddo, but despises it when it makes her appear childish to the others as Everyone's Baby Sister, because she is an adult, albeit one who has No Social Skills from being brainwashed for most of her life. Blake actually apologizes for infantilizing her and tells her that sometimes it's hard to see her as an adult, because of what happened to her and says he'll be better. She then calls him cute for his being flustered at her outburst and inability to properly defend his actions.
• Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Blake has a realization based on this when Nathan-Prime causes him to realize that even though this is case, Christeners are told not to do the same in elements they are weaker in. Thus forcing him to say that his former teachers were training them to be specialized and not a Jack of All Trades.
• Hidden Depths: Blake's so knowledgeable about Alcatraz, its prisoners, and the Prohibition Era because his father and he used to watch a lot of gangster films and Lucien would always correct any historical inaccuracies, as he himself fought on the front lines to protect mundanes from people within the bootlegging industry who were abusing Christeners to get a leg up on the competition.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: In a dream he crafts for Blake, Nathan-Prime serves as this, killing him four ways in less than five seconds each time to drive in the point that Blake is worthless without someone looking out for him. Also as a not so subtle way of showing him just why Blake wouldn't want Nathan-Prime to directly intervene, as he is perhaps one of the most overpowered people Blake can imagine, and, to make it worse, Nathan-Prime was holding back.
• Incompletely Trained:
  • Blake soon realizes that most Gray Forum members were this when he receives training from Cinderella to learn how to wield fire invocations. He surmises that it became a way to limit themselves, because it is possible for most Christeners to learn more than they're naturally able to, but the High Court wanted specialized warriors and not well-rounded fighters.
  • He also wonders if he isn't an incompetent trainer himself, as he never thought himself suited to teaching and is winging every lesson he's ever taught Cinderella, Nathan, and Clooney. However, in part of his past he can't remember, Tamayo proclaims him as an excellent teacher whose lessons allowed her to survive the destruction of the Gray Forum and the dangers of the Dead Lands for over a hundred years. The problem is that Blake can't remember how he taught her so well, which just furthers his doubts at his leadership skills.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Valefar makes one after Zea is able to slash off his arm, saying that they disarmed him.
• Jacob Marley Apparel: Most of En-dor's ghosts under her thrall showcase this appearance as the person they were when they died. However, in one of the funniest moments in the story, the ghost she says is Al Capone's spirit is revealed as a faker who changed his appearance to seem more useful, something Blake calls out, as Capone didn't die in Alcatraz like En-dor mistakenly believed.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Blake has long suspected that Nathan-Prime was behind his amnesia, but he discovers that this is really only half-true, as Nathan-Prime had his ally, Namine, do it for Blake's benefit, as the memories didn't need to be remembered yet in their fullness.
• Loophole Abuse: When Christened people look into anyone's eyes, they see snippets of their past and get a sense of whether or not they're being lied to. However, no one ever thought to think that maybe a necromancer who specializes in controlling ghosts and souls could plant one in their body and use their spiritual eyes to fool a Christener who looks into them. Sedecla gloats at how easy it was to fool Blake in this regard, although he reveals he was always suspicious of her, he just couldn't prove it until she betrayed him.
• McGuffin: The ring Blake wears on his left hand is the target of Valefar and Morior Invictus, as they know of its true origin as The Bone Ring, crafted by a powerful necromancer named Cnamh, who Blake killed in one of the years he no longer remembers. Tamayo also reveals to him that he called it his wedding ring, but the identity of Blake's past wife is still unknown.
• The Man Behind the Man: The entity known as Death was responsible for empowering Morior Invictus and causing the destruction of most of the west coast of North America to fall under their control. When Abraxas summons it there, there's nothing anyone can do to stop it from empowering the necromancer, but it leaves them behind without fighting for reasons unknown, although it's suspected it wasn't supposed to fight Excelsior yet.
• Manly Tears: Blake cries when he's reunited with Zea after her kidnapping, finally able to express how worried he was without growing angry now that he knows she's safe. Well, as safe as one can be in a prison filled with necromancers, undead beasts, and a member of The Thirteen.
• Motive Rant: En-dor gives one while pretending to be Sedecla, saying that Morior Invictus brings order to a world that had none before, claiming that Might Makes Right. Blake counters by pointing out a Logical Fallacy in her attempt to Appeal to Authority, because it's absurd to believe that simply because someone makes the rules this also means they are flawless in doing so.
• The Necrocracy: The Dead Lands are an inhospitable place where undead roam wildly and kill anyone living on the surface. The few surviving humans were forced underground, but Morior Invictus has tracked most of them down, including the soul of the girl Sedecla is using the fool the Christener's sight by placing it within her body. Aiden, Tamayo and the Phoenix Force also came from such settlements, but managed to escape the Dead Lands thanks to Tamayo's abilities. Morior Invictus, meanwhile, rules over the dead in the hopes of one day breaching the barrier and making the world become their slaves, whether they need to raise them back from the dead or not.
• Necromancy: As mentioned in the previous book, it is forbidden by the Laws of the Gray Forum, because it mocks the resurrection of Jesus and raises humans created in the image of God in a fashion that allows humans to enforce their will upon reality, rather than accept God's will.
• Never Mess with Granny: When Zea is kidnapped, Mara takes up arms instantly and joins Blake as his only support, so that she can protect her surrogate daughter. She provides both physical and mental support with her firearms training and her Archive knowledge proves invaluable along the way.
• No-Sell: Blake is able to prevent Exosso, En-dor, and Abraxas from using their abilities on his body and soul, but not because of anything he's actively doing. Instead, it is revealed that the seal Zea and Mara discovered on his body in the first book was placed there by Nathan-Prime to prevent this exact scenario from happening, so that Blake would never be controlled by an outside force he didn't trust, as was the case with Zea.
• Not So Above It All:
  • After Blake uses a pun in Latin to refer to Exosso as flaccid, Mara laughs despite her normally stoic exterior, something that pleases Blake immensely.
  • When Blake reveals to Zea the truth behind Morior Invictus' origins, she also can't help but laugh at the situation.
• The Quiet One: In stark contrast to his son, Lucien Azarel was noted as this. Blake remarks that he would choose to speak as little as possible in order to not be seen as viewing himself too seriously, but had shades of Not So Above It All when he praised Blake's handling of the training mission in Alfheim.
• Playing with Fire: Blake's tendency to suck at invoking fire comes back to bite him hard, as it's one of a very few set of abilities that reliably kill the undead. Thankfully, he learns how to do it from Cinderella, even though it's difficult for him. Learning that he doesn't actually need to control the flames, at least for now, aids him immensely in his ability to actually invoke fire.
• Pre-Violence Laughter: Blake engages in this once he discovers Morior Invictus' dark secret, because it means millions of lives were lost because a bunch of outcast college students were angry at the world and rather than do anything to improve their situation they made deals with forces outside their control and are now seen as a world-ending threat when they don't even understand how they did it the first time. In contrast to his genuinely finding it funny that the Sanguine Collective fears them for the wrong reasons, it also breaks Blake to see the cost of their stupidity that caused over a century of suffering, which is when he starts fighting them for real.
• Proxy War: Blake swiftly realizes this is the cause of the undead army entering Corpus Christi. The Sanguine Collective had erected a magical barrier to prevent the undead horde from attacking them, but if they allow a few to slip through and overwhelm Excelsior, than they wouldn't have to lift a finger to kill the more dangerous foe. The undead can always be contained again, but active Christeners can embolden rebellion and train more to act against the Collective.
• Rage Breaking Point: Morior Invictus' true motivations and origins are this for Blake, who's disgusted by the reality of the situation they caused and the lives that were lost as a result of it.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Once he discovers Morior Invictus' true origins, Blake delivers a scathing one to all of them, calling them out for their shortsightedness and pettiness when it came to discovering their powers, as millions of people died because they didn't know what they were doing. In Blake's mind, Nathan-Prime does the same to them, explaining that they were worthless fools and their being imprisoned within the Bone Ring was exactly what they deserved before the Final Judgment of God comes.
• Riddle for the Ages: How exactly did Dionysus' Thyrsus end up on the west coast of America? Blake doesn't have the time or opportunity to figure it out.
• Ring of Power: The Bone Ring's necromantic qualities are finally explained as being made from the necromancer who now inhabits it, who was killed by Blake in the seven year gap of his memory. It is sought after by Morior Invictus as an artifact of power for them to wield, but ultimately becomes their prison.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Zea has been training not to be this and has studied up (thanks to a book Blake gifted her) on how to understand Blake's references, but her monotone delivery sometimes makes her look like this instead. Cinderella is a big victim of this too, as she has No Social Skills and both Blake and Clooney troll her in their own ways.
• Servile Snarker: Alexis has become a master of this after having to have dealt with Blake's childishness and lack of proper decorum for over a year as his secretary. He enjoys it, even when he loses some of their verbal sparring matches, because at least it's challenging.
• Ship Tease: Blake receives some with both Zea and Cinderella, the latter of whom he sees as more of a sister, but it's unknown if she feels the same way or desires a Relationship Upgrade. Zea, on the other hand, can't help but blush when he praises her and his strong desire to save her after being kidnapped makes him wonder if he has fallen for her. He brushes this off as part of his Chronic Hero Syndrome making him invent a romance just to make him work harder, but whether or not he's just fooling himself isn't concrete yet.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Valefar is grateful that Excelsior killed Beleth, as he viewed the latter as more trouble than he was worth, despite the fact that they're supposed to be allies.
• Shout-Out:
  • During his smackdown of Blake within his dream, Nathan-Prime uses Frei, Fire Invocation: Salamander's Embrace^note this one is more difficult to parse, as it's more of a pseudo shout out, since the series in question uses phrases like Fire Magic, but, as magic is seen as destructive, Nathan-Prime replaces "Magic" for "Invocation", and a System Call as part of his relentless onslaught.
  • When confronted with Nathan-Prime's resolve, Blake is quick to make the easy reference to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
  • Blake refers to the freedom fighters of Phoenix as the Phoenix Force.
  • Blake almost references Spider-Man to Cinderella when discussing how their Danger Sense works, but stops himself, as he knows she won't understand the reference.
  • When speaking of necromancers he's fought in the past, Blake refers to them as particularly hammy in the same way as Emperor Palpatine and Mashymre Cello.
  • As he realizes he's strapped down on a stone table, Blake mockingly calls Sedecla Jadis and then quotes Star Wars, saying that if she kills him, he'll become more powerful than she could possibly imagine. He then wonders if she got her medical license from the Acme Corporation.
  • While being interrogated by Morior Invictus, Blake considers them all to be cartoonish villains in the vein of Dr. Evil, Cobra Commander, and Kio Asuno^note Blake (and the author) both consider Kio to be the real villain of the series, despite being the final protagonist for his childish naivety in the midst of an interplanetary war.
  • Blake then wounds Morior Invictus' member's pride by calling them neckbeards with unclean body pillows of Rei Ayanami and Lacus Clyne.
  • When Morior Invictus and Blake both get trapped by Nathan-Prime inside Blake's mind, he takes on the appearance (clothing- and manner-wise) of Mister Rogers and calls them all neighbors and children.
  • Once Blake finds a woman named Namine, the Kingdom Hearts jokes abound, as Blake starts giving himself names that have an X in them, which Nathan-Prime finds amusing, but Namine reveals that was where she got her name from, as an intentional reference to the series.
• Soul-Crushing Desk Job: Blake definitely sees his life as this now, as, while being the leader of a superteam sounds good on paper, it also requires a lot of paperwork he has never once had to do in his life to the point it drives him to madness. When an undead army attacks the city, Blake is elated, despite the danger, because then it means he can actually do something for once.
• Summon Magic: En-dor uses hers to summons shades of the dead to fight on her behalf, including the ghost of Al Capone, who she claims died in Alcatraz. Blake fact checks her by telling her Capone was imprisoned there, but actually died elsewhere, making her realize the ghost was just pretending to be the gangster to seem competent.
• Trickster Mentor: As per usual, Nathan-Prime excels at this, offering cryptic clues when needed and overt ones when the time for subtlety is long gone. The issue for Blake is trying to figure out when Nathan-Prime is doing either option. He also deliberately withholds information for the sake of being dramatic, because It Amused Me.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Thanks to their mental link, Blake and Zea are able to fight as one without saying a word to each other. They speak of part of the plan, but the actual follow through is left unsaid. This proves useful when fighting the Dracolich as Valefar watches, as they're able to kill the dracolich and almost kill Valefar, were it not for his resolve.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Who would be stupid enough to just use a paddleboat to travel the treacherous waters around Alcatraz to just go directly into the only harbor on the island? Blake would, which is exactly what Morior Invictus was hoping he'd do, as they had done their research on him before attacking Corpus Christi.
• Wizards Live Longer: Blake notes that Morior Invictus looks as if they are thousands of years old (looking to be in their fifties or sixties to his eyes), but something seems off about them. This is because they are merely over a hundred years old, but incompetent training has caused them to age by being unable to not feed off of creation like all trained Christeners can, even if they engage in actions that feed off of life in a harmful fashion.

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