Valentine's Resolve — E.E. Knight

Possessed of an unnatural and legendary hunger, the Reapers have come to Earth to establish a New Order built on the harvesting of enslaved human souls. They rule the planet. They thrive on the scent of fear. And if it is night, as sure as darkness, they will come.

It has been three years since David Valentine's forced exile from his friends in the war against the Kurians. Brought back into the fold by his old teacher, Duvalier, Valentine discovers that the Lifeweavers, Earth's allies in the conflict, have all but vanished. Without their aid, mankind cannot possibly stand against the Reapers and other life-forms the Kurians use to subjugate the planet.

Many of the Lifeweavers are held captive by the powerful Kurian known as the Seattle overlord. To free them, Valentine must trek across the Cascades and convince the marshal, a legendary resistance fighter with a grudge against the Seattle Kurian, to join his cause. But the marshal is something of an overlord himself, ruling over his men with an iron fist...and giving Valentine a new enemy to fight.