Tapestry of Worlds, Part Two: Running and Gunning by Hadley Thorne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Louisiana a dark figure hunts in the night, he is shrouded in shadows as he disposes of the trash for the Black Queen, it is the start of something dark and disturbing and he is revelling in it, as long as it doesn’t hurt the one he loves. Meanwhile “Ransom” McIlwain is packing up and preparing for a new mission with his team, although he wishes he was going to a party with his girlfriend Erika instead, especially with how good she looks in the picture she just sent him, but duty calls, at least until he can swap to another area of the military in the future. H wants to spend more time with her, she is bold, beautiful, intelligent and everything he is looking for in a woman, but when she speaks about her Ph.D in Folklore, he admits to himself that he tunes out a little, not believing in what she is telling him, but for now, he has to concentrate on work and not his girlfriend.

As the briefing starts and the team find out where they will be going and what they will be doing it all seems to be something they don’t normally deal with and they would be right, they are going after a terrorist called the Black queen who is combining neurotechnolog and mysticism to launch a domestic terrorism plot on home soil and that they will be deploying to Lousiana to go to a top; secret facility in order to receive further intel and training to use during their mission. Before they head out, their Captain insists they call their families and warn them about the pandemic of Covid-19 which is going to become more problematic and widespread while they are on mission, Ransom does his best to warn Erika, but it seems like she is having too much fun to listen to him, he is hoping that he is wrong.

As they arrive at the underwater black ops base, get set up with their equipment and are introduced to the doctors who will be looking after them during the mission, as they go into their brief they cannot believe what they are hearing, apparently the Black Queen has found a way to cross the Veil between the worlds and that they will be using brand new technology to access it, however, on the other side, things will not appear as the team expect, they will be in a state of lucid dreaming and will explain more when they get to the other side. As the team settle into their assigned machines and cross the veil, they realise what the doctor meant by looking and seeing things differently, but as they begin to immerse themselves into this strange new world and start to gather the information they need to try to stop the Black Queen, Ransom realises that his girlfriend had unwittingly already partially prepared his for this mission.

Will they be able to navigate this world on the other side of the veil and accept and use the gifts they find themselves with to complete their mission, or will the dangerous beings within this world somehow use this to their advantage instead? This is a military mission based around current times with a paranormal twist of alternate dimensions, shifting landscapes and otherworldly gifts which will keep you hanging on the edge of your seat throughout.

Review by @roxsannel

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