Synopsis: From the flaps of the Tor edition: "Without warning the world is invaded by a myriad of horrible mosters. A little orphaned girl named Sauna sees them first, as oddly shaped packages that disappear from the baggage claim at Manchester Airport. Originating in England, the invasion causes the precipitous downfall of civilization in the British Isles as most of the population is eaten by the monsters. The countryside has become a dangerous wasteland, and the cities isolated fortresses. In a desperate attempt to bring food to the starving people of Manchester, a heroic band known as the Cockatrice Corps sets out aboard an armed and armored train. The last recruit to the Cockatrice Corps was a drummer boy, Dakin Prestwich. When he told his mother that he had been accepted for the anti-monster corps, she burst into floods of tears. "Oh, Dakin, you never! What d'you want to go and do that for? You must be out of your finitical mind!" "I'm sick of living in the strong room of Barclay's Bank, Sheperds Bush." said Dakin "I want to see some daylight." "You'll be killed for sure! You'll be crunched up by a Flying Hammerhead. Or stamped on by a foot-monster. Or the deadly Mirkindale will get you. And I shall be left all alone." wept Mrs. Prestwich. Along the way, through battles of triumph and loos, the intrepid members of the Cockatrice Corps rescue Sauna in Manchester from the clutches of an evil aunt, and discover that they have a further mission; to find the source of the monstrous invasion and end it. Sauna, Dakin, and the rest of the Cockatrice Corps journey northward, toward Scotland and an evil that beckons them to destruction that only Sauna can avert."