History Literature / OperationChaos

* GreaterScopeVillain: Each arc has its own villain or set of villains (the Caliphate and the Afreet, the Salamander, and the Incubus), but a scene in each reveals there's an evil being, implied to be the Adversary himself, orchestrating these events to prevent the Steven and Ginny from ruining the plan in the final story. The Adversary doesn't know what they'll do or even what his own plan will be at that point, he just knows that killing and/or corrupting them will prevent it from failing.
* GuileHero: Steve and Virginia tend to defeat their foes via applied psychology. Against the Efreet, for example, she casts a truth spell on herself, asks whether he knows about the principle of "the name is the thing" (he does; Steven knows it's been disproven), and then truthfully asserts "My name is Ginny". He thereafter treats her as an equal. Then she gives him advice, which she couldn't lie about; but she never said it'd be ''good'' advice. She eventually defeats him by [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath psychoanalyzing him and playing on his fears.]]

* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: During the section set at a college, a student prankster conjures up a fire elemental, and it escapes his control and starts wreaking havoc.

* HornyDevils: An Incubus and a Succubus, who turn out to be [[spoiler:the same being]].

* ShapeshifterBaggage: Partially averted. It's explicitly stated that were-creatures have the same mass in both forms, but [[BalefulPolymorph transformation spells]] play it straight.

The narrator (a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]]) recounts a series of tales (originally four separate short stories) involving various paranormal adventures, from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (which took place against an Arab Caliphate that invaded the United States) through the Sixties, culminating in one that links them all together.

* AllWitchesHaveCats: Virginia has a cat named Svartalf as a familiar.

%%* CatsAreMean: Svartalf treats Steve like dirt.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Steven and Ginny have many run-ins with evil forces. The final one, which shocks them to the core despite all they have seen, is the kidnapping of their baby daughter to Hell.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Virginia is cold, brisk, and businesslike when she and Steven first meet. When they get a chance to actually talk, she thaws.

* {{Geas}}: A common form of magic, often used to ensure employees adhere to the guidelines their employers place on them. For example, When Ginny accepts a job at a university, she has a Geas placed on her preventing her from [[HotForStudent fraternizing with students]].

* GuileHero: Steve and Virginia tend to defeat their foes via applied psychology.

** Were-creatures keep the personality and memories of their human selves, but have the instincts and approximate intelligence level of the animal. (Or, as Steven himself puts it: "...as a wolf I'm a rather stupid man.") They're trained from birth to hold on to their human selves while in animal form.

* ToHellAndBack: At the climax of the novel, one of the Devil's top henchmen kidnaps their baby daughter and they use experimental magicks to invade Hell and snatch her back.

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: It's a civilization entirely based around this, to the extent that much of it seems perfectly normal and modern (for 1970). Furthermore, all the magic is described in very scientific terms, and many scientific principles still hold. For example, as noted, Conservation of Mass is in full effect for were-creatures, silver hurts them because it's a "biochemical poison" to their "semifluid state", and turning someone to stone leaves the victim radioactive due to the chemical effect.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: It's a recessive gene, not a curse, and can't be transmitted by biting. They transform fully into an animal, with no intermediate forms.

* MagicalIncantation: Magic is more potent if an incantation is spoke in a language foreign to the caster. Although a real language is preferable, PigLatin will work in a pinch.

** Physically, they're difficult to injure because of near-instantaneous regeneration, though lost limbs [[spoiler:or tails]] can't be regrown and they have the traditional silver weakness ("biochemical poison").

* PublicDomainArtifact: The seal of Solomon

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!!Tropes found in this work