~~ of course there are SPOILERS ~~
Continuing from the last: all the fighting. Also, we learn another evoloved physiology in this world: leopards’ spots move across their bodies to indicate their next move, or intense thoughts. So weird. There are even more battles. Legoshi fights the gang of red foxes- and has trouble because once again he’s reluctant to attack females. You think this series has enough strangeness yet but now: Legoshi stops in the middle of the fight to put on a tight dress and high heels- so that he will be on equal footing with the vixens (they wear that absurd style of dress even when battling). It’s very surreal. Then suddenly there’s a blackout, the whole city. More flashbacks of Melon’s disturbing relationship with his mother. Louis speaks out publicly in support of carnivores, highly controversial and inflammatory. We have a glimpse of drama club students’ reactions, of Pina visiting with Riz (the bear) in prison, and then the city dissolves into outright brawling and riots in the darkness.
Yahya and Goshin immediately want to do something together to restore the peace, but they’re in public, so pretend to be fighting each other. The second half of the book is Legoshi’s final, very bloody battle with Melon. The lion gang are there but they just sit and watch. Other bits interspersed- Louis getting locked up by security and then sprung free by the lions, and the press questioning Yahya, speculating wildly about Melon. The book closes with Legoshi getting seriously strangled by Melon, but a word from Kyu spurs him to a sudden renewal of energetic effort to save himself-
Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 4/22/24.
