Changelings

This is essentially about the search for the restoration of balance and the meaning of humanity. It is set in the future after, what appear to be, a series of natural disasters that have led to the extinction of many species and a significant reduction in the human population. It started with the disappearance of the bees.
The story centres around a crypto-biologist, who in this future world uses cryptid or mythical creature DNA to change the appearance and function of what are deemed to be non-functioning humans. The remaining English population are all gathered in the overcrowded conditions in Birmingham.
The charismatic Director rules Birmingham. Philomena Tollins and it is she, along with her subordinates, who decide who is to be changed. Mike Caldwell is one of her star crypto-biologists writing the codes and combining the chemicals that make the changes possible, as such he enjoys all the benefits of the new society. He is somewhat self-absorbed and spoilt.
One day he returns from work to find his companion missing. He believes himself to be in love with her and embarks on a mission to find her; he is simply furious at losing something he owns. To find her he contacts an owl changeling by the name of Cerberus, direct contact between humans and changelings is forbidden but Mike does not think that the rules should apply to him. Cerberus is the proud leader of the owl people created to keep the rat population at bay and ruler of the night streets. He agrees to help Mike because he sees a possible way to free his people from what he sees as slavery to the human population he despises. He considers himself as having lost his humanity and losses his perspective whilst mourning that loss. He has more humanity than Mike.
The Institute for Genetic Harmony (IGH) governs the future society. Mike’s search leads him to look behind the perfect image the IGH presents; he searches records and places that have been virtually abandoned because they are no longer needed. He realises that the benevolent institution may not have the best interests of the people at heart. Whilst searching he forms an unlikely alliance with an old detective, Sutton, who discovers that cryptids are far from extinct, they are in hiding. Sutton is taken into a strange shadow world where they have been hiding in order to communicate with them. Meanwhile Mike travels to Loch Ness to try and gain answers; it is at this point he finds his lost companion. She is now changed and he rejects her, realising he is no longer attracted to her. In contrast to Cerberus, Mike displays a lack of humanity and empathy. When his companion gives her life for him, Mike begins to change and see that his life was just a shadow of what it is meant to be. He starts to see that he needs to fight for what truly matters.
He is now caught up in a series of events that mean he is unable to return to his old life. The IGH arrest his current companions and he must assist the changelings to help everyone involved.
The owl people clash directly with security forces and their deadly trackers, creatures that can kill and drain a victim of blood in seconds. Most of the owls withdraw to Manchester where Mike and Sutton reunite with the changelings and cryptids. Cerberus recognises his own love for his companion Maia and is determined to protect her, realising that he never lost his humanity, despite his less than human appearance, understands that it is those we love who are important and who really save us from ourselves.
Mike returns to the IGH to gather supplies he needs and finds one of the changelings has its own agenda. Betrayed they only just make it back to Manchester.
A battle between the changelings and the IGH ensues with neither side securing a clear victory. The changelings withdraw to fight another day.
Mikes emotional journey leads him to develop from an emotional cripple into a functioning empathetic being who is ready to engage in battle, to bring balance back to a damaged world.
The book deals with the battle between the rejected changelings who have teamed up with the surviving cryptids and the IGH, led by the director. Mike with the changelings and genetically related cryptids want to stop the changeling process being used and the status of changelings to be recognised as equal to the humans, which they essentially are. The IGH want things to remain as they are, with the director in charge of the situation she has essentially manufactured. It is a battle between what is right for the corporate world, the pursuit of money and power, and what is right in an absolute sense. It is also an exploration of humanity in an image obsessed society, where external appearance reigns.
The novel finishes at the end of the first battle leaving the possibility for a second round, where the changelings and cryptids take the war closer to the IGH and the director.