The Everything Box is superfun! I added it to my library queue after some happy Cannonball Read reviews, and am so glad I did. I read almost this entire book in one sitting.
I would best describe this as Neil Gaiman Lite, which is NOT a criticism. There is a richness missing that would make it a full Gaiman experience, but sometimes you don’t need the bone marrow spread on top of the rib-eye on top of cheesy polenta. Sometimes you just want a salad with some grilled skirt steak, and maybe a little avocado. Sorry; I just had surgery yesterday and I’m a little loopy. The point is: this book is delicious in its own right.
So here’s the deal with The Everything Box, it’s present-day in Los Angeles, and there are, I believe at final count, 4 groups intent on acquiring a mysterious box in order to take credit for bringing on the apocalypse, and 3 additional parties intent on acquiring that same box for the purpose of owning the power that it contains, without necessarily unleashing the end of the world. They’re all leaning hard with their various versions of influence on Coop, a career thief specializing in negotiating around magical traps and curses, and in and out of magically protected vaults and safes.
There are angels, and demons, and a crap-ton of dark magic. There are government agencies, hidden worlds under the city, and magical creatures like dragons and vampires and werewolves (oh my!), and a whole bunch of stuff I’d never heard of or imagined before (yay!). The general population is aware of none of it, typical drones that we are, just going about our boring days as if the end of the world weren’t nigh.
There are a handful of exciting convergences of these groups, nice fat action sequences, and lots of thrilling kidnappings and the like. This is all right up my alley, and it’s all wonderfully written. I was a very happy reader.