Suzy and the City of the Plain

Can Suzy's parents really have betrayed the Resistance and gone over to the dark side? It certainly looks that way in the shocking final scene of Suzy and the Magic Turnip, the first book of S. M. Dunning's ambitious The Perilous Times Saga. In this second book, Suzy not only has to contend with that terrible suspicion but with how best to combat evil, an issue that fractures the Resistance. Can only peaceful means be justified even when your enemy is determined to bring the rule of Hell to Earth?

Inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one Resistance member attempts to blow up a meeting of the would-be global tyrants. In retaliation, they destroy the portal that enables the Resistance to move easily between Earth and the Haven. Now, their only route is through the eldritch "cuboid" dimension, where they discover a hellish city, built as a "dry run" for the totalitarian society to be established on Earth.

But Suzy is still a teenage girl, who also has to navigate complicated relationships with the other young members of her team, who include a brilliant but impulsive athlete, a withdrawn genius with telepathic powers, and a quiet youth whose deep faith ultimately proves both devastating and redemptive. Deciding to enter the fray directly, Suzy embarks on a rash adventure, in the course of which she experiences a tragedy that may haunt her forever.