📖 LEDGER ENTRY: Half City
Kate Golden | Harker Academy, Book One
Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.
Story Breakdown
Half City follows Viv Abbot, a 21 year old secret demon hunter living in the city of Astera, who discovers she's not nearly as alone as she thought when a reformed demon named Reid recruits her to Harker Academy, a hidden college where Lymantrians train to fight Deviants. While she's busy navigating new friendships, a forbidden pull toward her demon instructor, and the buried secrets of her murdered father's past, Viv uncovers something much bigger: a plot by the ruling Deviant faction to reopen the gateway to hell using her own rare aeon bloodline. By the end she's survived, but barely, and now she's carrying a dark spell bound into her spine and more questions than answers. The real danger is only just beginning.
Faces of the Realm
Main Characters
Vivienne Abbot ("Viv") — FMC, 21 year old demon hunter. Secretly an Aeon, a rare hunter subtype with heightened abilities. Fiercely independent, stubborn, sarcastic, and often feels like an outsider.
Reid Graveheart — MMC, a reformed demon ("deviant") working as a combat instructor at Harker Academy. Dark, mysterious, powerful, and morally gray.
Supporting Characters
Penelope Pine ("Penny") — Viv's longtime best friend. Loyal, supportive, and often serves as Viv's connection to normal life.
James Pine — Penny's brother and Viv's boyfriend at the beginning of the book. She's not in love with him, and really only dates him for her mom's sake.
Kitty Briggs — James's newfound cousin who looks strikingly similar to Viv. Very smart and takes her studies seriously. She goes missing early in the book, and we later learn she was kidnapped and killed by the Dean, who believed she could be Viv and the key to his syrabraxa.
Deacon Gravehart — Reid's older brother, known as "The White Stag." He runs a nightclub that functions as neutral ground. Ruthless, and he hates Reid for reasons still unknown.
Dean Edgar Driscoll — Dean of Harker and a powerful warlock. Turns out he's working for the High Thane and is the one who killed Viv's father. He kidnapped Kitty and Lyra and has been collecting ingredients to brew the Syrabraxa. Viv kills him at the end of the book, even though he was the only one who could break the spell now bound in her.
Viv's Found Family
Sophia Valentine — Viv's roommate at Harker Academy. Gorgeous blonde, outgoing, loves boys and partying. Has an uncanny ability to sense what people are feeling.
Elliott — Sophia's childhood friend and a fellow student at Harker, part of Viv's little group. A great fighter on the lacrosse team, goofy and likable.
Peter — Quiet and super smart. Has a secret crush on Sophia.
Viv's Family
Nora — Viv's older sister.
Fiona / Professor Gemeline Lisette — Nora's wife, who works at The Windsor. A dichotomous shifter capable of taking both mortal and hunter form. We learn toward the end of the book that Fiona and Gemeline are the same person.
Beatrice Abbot — Viv's mother. Their relationship is strained and complicated, and she's a major source of pressure in Viv's life.
David Abbot — Viv's deceased father, a former hunter who trained her. He was murdered in front of Viv when she was young.
Location Log
Astera — Known as the "Half City," built around the Chasm. A place where humans, hunters, and deviants coexist, often unknowingly.
The Chasm — A gigantic crevasse running through Astera. The oldest and largest sealed gateway to the underworld, and the source of much of the city's supernatural danger.
Harker Academy — The secret academy where hunters learn to hone their skills, and the main setting of the book. Accessed through a hidden gateway.
- Elkfore Hall — the freshman dormitory
- The Coliseum — the academy's combat arena
- 🌿 The Planetarium Garden — a secret garden discovered during the investigation, home to rare asphodel flowers
🏛️ Windsor Museum — Viv's connection to her ordinary life, and where she works before fully entering the academy world. Houses the secret gateway to Harker.
Fever Dream — One of Astera's most infamous clubs, controlled by the White Stag.
World Notes
Thousands of years ago, the Chasm was ripped open as a gateway to hell, unleashing Deviants into the world. Lymantrians, beings with angelic lineage from an upper plane, came to Earth to fight them and seal it shut. The seal held, but Astera was built right on top of the Chasm, leaving the city permanently populated with Deviants. Mortals have no idea any of this happened; they believe the Chasm is nothing more than a geological feature. The hunter versus Deviant war has been quietly ongoing ever since, hidden from the regular world.
Terms to Know
Aeons — A rare, near-extinct subspecies of Lymantrian hunter. They can physically sense Deviants through a full-body sensation.
The Brood — The ruling faction of Deviants, led by the High Thane.
Syrabraxa — A dark spell that requires an aeon host to power it.
Predictions 🔮
Reid killed Viv's father. He was a brood demon all along, and the way he looks at her sometimes feels like he already knows.
Tales Untold ❓
- Can the Syrabraxa actually be removed from Viv's spine? She just killed the one person who could have done it.
- Did Reid get kidnapped at the end, and what exactly is his history with the Brood?
- What role is Deacon going to play going forward? We left off with him pulling Viv into his club.
Quotes
"Who knew a demon and a huntress could have so much in common?"
"When we're together, Viv... I don't know. I feel reborn. I see myself in your eyes, and I like the reflection."