Arcady [Paperback]

Michael Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997

A no-man's-land called the Absence attracts refugees from a land torn by civil war, while a failed seminarian tries to unravel the texts behind its weird powers before it engulfs his family. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In Williams's latest, the undulating Borders separate Presence from Absence. But Absence is released when Citizen Arouet ?the ruler of the realm?begins to mine bordermetal. With the Absence churning across the landscape, destroying everything in its path, Priest Solomon Hawken fights to save his family and their homestead, Arcady. This is a multilayered work combining ecological fantasy with concerns about both family relations and the stranglehold of military government. Recommended for fantasy collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

In a futuristic fantasy from paperback author Williams, set millennia after some disaster has destroyed a technological civilization, a huge poetic jumble (drawn principally from William Blake's prophetic books), known as the Text, is accepted as holy writ and considered to possess magical properties. But eerie, wandering Absences--swirling, terrifying blobs of magical other- reality--are slowly eroding the landscape and now threaten to annihilate Arcady, the sprawling estate occupied for centuries by the Hawken family. In the Border forests nearby, a civil war rages between Citizen Arouet's guardsmen and Hawken cousin Artemis's rebel partisans. Aunt Morgana summons the various, far-flung Hawken relatives to defend Arcady, and they respond. Then, however, Morgana rushes off, brother Solomon decamps, brother Endymion flees with his companion phoenix, Khole, while one-legged Diego's incompetent guardsmen clash with Artemis's well-drilled partisans. Inside an Absence, Khole is transformed into an angel and instructs Solomon on how, using real magic, he must tame the Absences--which are sentient and evil and have been set adrift by Arouet's mining operations. A sort of ecological parable? Maybe--the ideas here have a certain alluring, incoherent sumptuousness. A shame, though, about the long-winded narrative, unevocative prose, and whimsical plotting. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Roc (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451455983
• ISBN-13: 978-0451455987
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,704,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Different, not for the faint of heart, June 20, 2000

By 

"jessi_lune" (Brantford, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arcady (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read just about every sci-fi fantasy there is, and this one is truly different. Rarely is religion, adventure and characters mixed together like this. The pace stars slow, but bear with it and enjoy the scenery, because when the plot takes off, it goes in directions you'd never have guessed. For wimpy readers who are used to D&D or cute little unicorns? Way to deep for you. Go home. This is for readers who don't want everything spelled out plain as day. Get some tea on a rainy day, unplug the phone and go to it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly good read, August 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Arcady (Mass Market Paperback)

I admit,<Arcady> was not the easiest book to read. However two years after finishing the last page, I am still haunted by its powerful images and moody gothic atmosphere. If you liked <Little Big> by John Crowley and <Hound of Baskervilles> A.K.Doyle,this is the book for you. I am about to start rereading both <Arcady> and its less successful but still icredibly affecting sequel <Allamanda>. These books should be the cornerstones of modern fantasy literature. I can not believe that Michael Williams also used to write novels for TSR. Go figure

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What an imagination!, November 10, 2007

By 

Christine Wallace "anaea" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arcady (Paperback)

This wonderful, though at times difficult book, contains such atmospheric and descriptive writing that the images remain with you for a long time, like flashbacks from a particulary vivid dream. Everytime I see a castle or historic building, crumbling under the wait of time and ivy, I think of this book. It may take you a long time to read Arcady, and its equally compelling and confusing sequel Allamanda, but the visions of the this beautiful and terrifying world, as well as the consistent and sympathetic characterisation, make it well worth the effort.

P.S. Buy the UK paperback edition with the wonderful cover by Mick van Houten