Beside him is Bree, a Cave-born scientist and his partner in rebuilding; one experiment, one salvaged soul at a time. Bree has endured public torture, attempted crucifixion, and the slow corrosion of her body, yet she clings to knowledge as the last sacred thing. Together, they are trying to stitch a new world from ash, bone, and biotech.
But then, an invader comes in like a plague wrapped in flesh. Han the Great, conqueror of half the world, commands armies of mutated horrors: Nightmares with jaws like grave-crushers, Dreams who can fly through lightning storms and disappear into mist, and a weaponized theology built on racial purification. When Han’s creatures infiltrate Torono in the night— slaughtering civilians and assassinating elite defenders—Geo realizes that his reign will be brief if he lets Han and the chaos he brings run wild. Meanwhile, in the depths of a reclusive underground facility, children are being trained in secret; children who can teleport, fly through space, and see beyond the sky. They are humanity’s last evolution. But they are still only children.
Desperate to resist extinction, Geo forges a new battalion from the unlikeliest of warriors— Dreams and Nightmares, mutated beings half-human, half-living weapon, led by the majestic and deadly Angel, a winged scout who soars the toxic winds like a myth. Bree, clinging to both scientific rigor and maternal instinct, is tasked with creating a program to harness the gifted children’s powers, against rising religious cults. But someone is feeding information to Han and they all have to act and think faster than him if they’re to save Torono and themselves from complete ruin.
Book 3 of the Corrosion series, Black Corrosion is a searing, intelligent, and visceral vision of post-apocalyptic evolution. Gurgu’s writing is sharp, vivid, and evocative, painting each scene with such precision that readers will feel as though they are part of the story. Themes of survival, environmental degradation, dystopia, and good vs. evil ground the work in the real world while technological advancements and fantastical characters move the book from ordinary to extraordinary. Fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s Borne, Silo Series by Hugh Howey, and N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Trilogy will feel at home in Gurgu’s derelict Black Corrosion.
