Shadowmancer by G. P. Taylor
May. 2nd, 2007 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Shadowmancer takes you into a world of superstition, magic and witchcraft where nothing can be taken for granted, and the ultimate sacrifice might even be life itself.
Obadiah Demurral is a sorcerer who is seeking to control the highest power in the Universe. He will stop at nothing. The only people in his way are Raphah, Kate, Thomas - and the mysterious Jacob Crane.
Packed full of history, folklore and smuggling, this tale of their epic battle will grip both young and old. The thrills, suspense and danger are guaranteed to grab the attention and stretch imaginations to the limit.
I wanted to like this book - G. P. Taylor is one of the self-publishing success stories and the book involves magic, wicked vicars, demons, angels, smugglers and God. So the fact that the story itself is flatter than a steamrollered pancake was a massive disappointment.
Frankly, the book reads like a first draft. The dialogue is uninspired and serves only to move the plot, there's very little humour and there's this weird feeling throughout the book that there are scenes missing - for example, there's a key scene where Kate, Thomas, Jacob and Jacob's men are effectively tapped in a canyon by Varrigals, which ends with the children being left to find their own way to a meeting point. Kate then tells Thomas to go on without her as there's something she has to do, but we never find out what that something was. Similarly, later on it's implied that Jacob has betrayed the children to Obadiah, but we're not given the scene where the children first realise this - instead we're given a scene where they're handed over to Obadiah and complain about having been betrayed. It's very strange.
Also very strange is that for a book that's clearly set in the 18th century, there's no real sense of time beyond a lip service to the use of candles, ships, swords and muskets. The only clue we get as to the exact time frame is from Jacob's reference to a friend that "this is the 1700s" (something that so clearly would never have been said by anyone living in that time) and later Thomas complains that the king is fat and mad, placing it anywhere between 1760 and 1801.
The big problem though is with the characters. Thomas and Kate never feel real on the page. Both are clearly meant to be tough kids who've had hard times, but we're never shown it through the way they act or speak. Thomas in particular is a deeply frustrating character, not least because he had a lot of potential to be interesting - with his visions of Riathamus and the practically last-minute revelation that he's a sin-eater - in more skilful hands he could have been deeply layered. Kate is pretty much a cardboard-cutout 'spunky tomboy who wants to be a girl'. There's nothing new with her and it's depressing that she's so reliant on Thomas to help comfort her. Raphah, like Thomas, should be interesting given that he's a living 'Kerruvim', which basically translates to having the power to heal people through his belief in Riathamus. Jacob is supposed to be the mysterious smuggler who's only out for himself until an encounter with a mysterious old woman makes him recant his treachery of the children. Unfortunately, he's simply not well drawn enough to be believable, either as a successful smuggler or as someone who recants his ways. Obadiah Demurral - the wicked vicar who has managed to take control of the small seaside town of Thorpe - has all the trademark villain cliches - cackling, being evil for the sake of being evil, very little motivation beyond possible demonic possession - so very dull. He's been given a sidekick called Beadle who reminded me of bad fanfic portrayals of Peter Pettigrew from the Harry Potter series - craven, weak, disabled - but ultimately also given an opportunity for redemption.
I've mentioned Riathamus, who's basically Jesus and God rolled into one. Whilst I think that there's a lot of potential in using Jesus and God in fantasy fiction, this is not the way to do it. Raphah, with his almost sanctimonious devotion to Riathamus, comes across as smug and there's too much emphasis on trusting in Riathamus and his angels to help the children for the conclusion to be in any doubt. All in all, the religion angle is handled too clumsily for me to believe that the child readers that Taylor's aiming this at find it exciting or believable.
For all my criticisms, there are a lot of ideas going on in the book and Taylor hints at an ability to handle action scenes well if he uses a better editor.
The Verdict:
Very disappointing and peculiarly flat and uninspiring. This is a book that could have been so much better had it been properly developed and allowed to stew properly into a cohesive narrative. As it is, I doubt that there is enough skill in the writing for it to appeal to either young or old.
Shadowmancer takes you into a world of superstition, magic and witchcraft where nothing can be taken for granted, and the ultimate sacrifice might even be life itself.
Obadiah Demurral is a sorcerer who is seeking to control the highest power in the Universe. He will stop at nothing. The only people in his way are Raphah, Kate, Thomas - and the mysterious Jacob Crane.
Packed full of history, folklore and smuggling, this tale of their epic battle will grip both young and old. The thrills, suspense and danger are guaranteed to grab the attention and stretch imaginations to the limit.
I wanted to like this book - G. P. Taylor is one of the self-publishing success stories and the book involves magic, wicked vicars, demons, angels, smugglers and God. So the fact that the story itself is flatter than a steamrollered pancake was a massive disappointment.
Frankly, the book reads like a first draft. The dialogue is uninspired and serves only to move the plot, there's very little humour and there's this weird feeling throughout the book that there are scenes missing - for example, there's a key scene where Kate, Thomas, Jacob and Jacob's men are effectively tapped in a canyon by Varrigals, which ends with the children being left to find their own way to a meeting point. Kate then tells Thomas to go on without her as there's something she has to do, but we never find out what that something was. Similarly, later on it's implied that Jacob has betrayed the children to Obadiah, but we're not given the scene where the children first realise this - instead we're given a scene where they're handed over to Obadiah and complain about having been betrayed. It's very strange.
Also very strange is that for a book that's clearly set in the 18th century, there's no real sense of time beyond a lip service to the use of candles, ships, swords and muskets. The only clue we get as to the exact time frame is from Jacob's reference to a friend that "this is the 1700s" (something that so clearly would never have been said by anyone living in that time) and later Thomas complains that the king is fat and mad, placing it anywhere between 1760 and 1801.
The big problem though is with the characters. Thomas and Kate never feel real on the page. Both are clearly meant to be tough kids who've had hard times, but we're never shown it through the way they act or speak. Thomas in particular is a deeply frustrating character, not least because he had a lot of potential to be interesting - with his visions of Riathamus and the practically last-minute revelation that he's a sin-eater - in more skilful hands he could have been deeply layered. Kate is pretty much a cardboard-cutout 'spunky tomboy who wants to be a girl'. There's nothing new with her and it's depressing that she's so reliant on Thomas to help comfort her. Raphah, like Thomas, should be interesting given that he's a living 'Kerruvim', which basically translates to having the power to heal people through his belief in Riathamus. Jacob is supposed to be the mysterious smuggler who's only out for himself until an encounter with a mysterious old woman makes him recant his treachery of the children. Unfortunately, he's simply not well drawn enough to be believable, either as a successful smuggler or as someone who recants his ways. Obadiah Demurral - the wicked vicar who has managed to take control of the small seaside town of Thorpe - has all the trademark villain cliches - cackling, being evil for the sake of being evil, very little motivation beyond possible demonic possession - so very dull. He's been given a sidekick called Beadle who reminded me of bad fanfic portrayals of Peter Pettigrew from the Harry Potter series - craven, weak, disabled - but ultimately also given an opportunity for redemption.
I've mentioned Riathamus, who's basically Jesus and God rolled into one. Whilst I think that there's a lot of potential in using Jesus and God in fantasy fiction, this is not the way to do it. Raphah, with his almost sanctimonious devotion to Riathamus, comes across as smug and there's too much emphasis on trusting in Riathamus and his angels to help the children for the conclusion to be in any doubt. All in all, the religion angle is handled too clumsily for me to believe that the child readers that Taylor's aiming this at find it exciting or believable.
For all my criticisms, there are a lot of ideas going on in the book and Taylor hints at an ability to handle action scenes well if he uses a better editor.
The Verdict:
Very disappointing and peculiarly flat and uninspiring. This is a book that could have been so much better had it been properly developed and allowed to stew properly into a cohesive narrative. As it is, I doubt that there is enough skill in the writing for it to appeal to either young or old.
