The story takes place during and immediately after World War I, and concerns a faerie who kills hundreds of soldiers and curses a number of others during the Battle of Amiens in 1918.

The same faerie appears, but things go wrong and their binding spell that was supposed to contain the creature, fails, and it escapes and possesses Hero.

[2] A starred review in Publishers Weekly called the book an "ambitious historical fantasy" that "skillfully weaves together the mysterious and the mundane".

"[1] In another starred review, Marlene Harris stated in the Library Journal that the novel is "an immersive world of power politics, magical societies, and world-shattering consequences".

She said the book reminded her of Susanna Clarke's alternate history, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell with its "nebulous worlds" and the mysterious fae.