By 2053, the return of magic to the world has filled the streets of Chicago with beings and creatures from mythology. For those in the politically dominant mega-corporations, the underworld and everywhere in between, it is a time of chaos and wonder, and opportunity ripe for the taking.

For fifteen year-old Peter Clarris, transformed by his Awakened genes from a human to a troll, the forces of magic are a curse to be combated with science. Torn from the comfortable biotech fast-track of his childhood, he becomes an outcast, shunned by friends and strangers alike. Now, living among the outcasts - the underclass of orks and trolls, the criminal societies of gangsters and shadowrunners - he grows up, pursuing the elusive means of controlling his own genes, and ultimately his own destiny...