The back-and-forth between the two heroines is worth celebrating. No one is perfect in this vision of the past. And, thankfully, not even Ellie and Fin are blameless in how they treat others.
Both Ellie and Fin maintain complex, multidimensional relationships that ebb and flow as real relationships do. That being said, the setting never overtakes the interplay between the characters. One can almost hear the creak of Ellie’s boat or the tinkle of Fin’s expensive champagne flutes as we float into and out of each character’s perspectives. The vision Tanzer paints of Long Island during Prohibition is nostalgic, tactile and just a little bit creepy. Bound together by shared experience, Ellie and Fin must work together to find the source of the unholy presence gripping the island. Fin ends up taking a sip from one of Ellie’s unmarked bottles, and sees a vision: a man bowed before a monstrous thing, submitting to a dark will that she is unable to understand.
She’s coaxed into hosting a party and enlists Ellie’s help to supply the all-important booze. Meanwhile, Fin, a socialite visiting the island to escape the city, feels disconnected from her husband and the rest of her friends from high society.
When she discovers a wrecked ship stocked with bottles of a mysterious liquid, she naturally takes them for herself. It’s the height of Prohibition, and she smuggles liquor by boat to paying customers all over Long Island. But what do you have to give to receive these gifts? In the case of Molly Tanzer’s fun and atmospheric Creatures of Want and Ruin, two women from very different walks of life have to figure out what the demon wants before Long Island is swallowed by an evil they don’t understand. Maybe you end up with superhuman strength, riches beyond your wildest dreams or the admiration of those around you.
In many fantasy stories, making a deal with a demon starts out as a good idea.
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