Customer Reviews

Candlenight

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is one of those spooky ones, where you keep wanting to cheer for the hero, but you have the feeling he's going to be killed at any minute. A modern English couple move to Wales where Claire's father left her his cottage. Things become strange from there. They are English and the Welsh are not too fond of things English. This is a very small town, where even people from the next village might be considered "foreigners." And guess what? There's something very evil afoot. Recommended if you're into gothic-type horror novels. I recommend reading Crybbe or Curfew as well.

Phil Rickman writes in the horror genre, but not with gratuitous, sadistic violence. His settings are atmospheric, his plots original, his prose tight and intelligent, and his characters likeably human. Candle Night is one of his very first novels, and it's folklore, mystery, murder, and human nature tightly packed between two covers. Glad I didn't read this story before I visited Wales, or I might have chickened out. A page turner.

I found CANDLENIGHT,first... not having ever heard of or read anything by Phil Rickman.....seeing it was endorsed by S. King was a bit of a plug to get my hand tugging at this book on the shelf....and it led to my hungered search for anything else I could find by this extraordinary, original (in a class of his own), and stunningly gifted writer. I was so happy to find a book of quality length and even more so quality of content of story. I opened it up and the journey began. I found unique blending of a fiction story, enterwoven with Wales own history and beliefs, I found clarification of wording, places, and understanding of this culture of people, and I found myself looking over my shoulder a lot! It is that smouldering awareness of perhaps there is some truth to tales, and it frames ones allure of 'all is right with the world uh huh' in giving ones mind that edge of wonder, and doubting that "all is right...." . Making sure the doors are locked, and feeling that it really won't matter...and still not being able to explain this to anyone who has not read Mr. Rickmans outstanding works. I finally felt that I had found a 'genre' of the type of books that dug inside and grabbed at many different feelings, that truly I could not put down...to the point of having on hand at least two copies...one for home, the other to go with me in my backpack. I am left feeling that bit of unsettledness that causes me to be ever in search of another book by him...and another...and I finally found an author who pulls me right into his creation-hesitating or not.......fearfull or not....ready or not.....and I would not miss it for anything. READ the works by this man...you won't regreat a single hour, a single page....CANDLENIGHT was my introduction to him, then followed with CURFEW (CRYBBE), third DECEMBER....I am find that this, in retrospect, was a good way to begin this journey...I just want to be able to access in the U.S. the rest of his works..and thank goodness that is coming true.

I discovered Phil Rickman by accident about 10 years ago when I came across "Curfew" also known as "Crybbe", and it's been a very satisfying and reliable relationship.

Candlenight has it's rough spots in comparison with his later works but compared with the drivil that is so shamelessly flogged on the best seller lists, this effort is stellar! The story is cohesive and teases on the paranormal rather than completely turning itself over to the horror genre.

WARNING! Phil Rickman is a REAL writer. To enjoy his books you must be capable of paying attention and processing information. Since this book is a mystery you will be invited to figure things out for yourself and there will be no spoonfeeding of easy give-aways, and clues. If this isn't you then go find something more digestable on the New York Times best seller list.

My wife and I recently "discovered" Phil Rickman's novels, when we picked up his latest ("Midwinter of the Spirit") in a bookstore in Tokyo. We have since ordered all of his other books. We both find his writing style to be engaging and suspenseful. His characterizations have the ring of truth; he has a keen ear for dialog. His 2 most recent novels, "Wine of the Angels" and "Midwinter of the Spirit", have a woman Anglican priest as the protagonist. (He is also working on additional titles with this character.)

While the new titles have not been picked up by an American publisher, we can thank Amazon.com for making them available to us. I ordered them from Amazon.co.uk, and received them with the usual Amazon.com promptness. The titles not available in the US are: The Man in the Moss; The Chalice; The Wine of Angels; Midwinter of the Spirit

And there is a new title coming out in February, 2001!

Woe betide the unsuspecting English man or woman who ventures into the Welsh village of Y Groes. Ever since the end of Owain Glyndwr's unsuccessful revolt early in the 15th Century, the English have been treading on Welsh sensibilities and Welsh territory. Now (in the late 20th Century), they're moving to Wales en masse for a taste of the bucolic life, and the Welsh are being priced out of their own land.

Except in Y Groes, where the Sais (a derogatory term for 'English) rarely last out a year. It's such a pretty village, too.

A young English couple moves to Y Groes, after the photographer-wife inherits an old cottage from her Welsh grandfather. She and her husband are gung-ho Welsh and start taking language lessons from a recently widowed schoolteacher whose deceased husband was English. The young widow is still trying to recover from the double shocks of her husband's untimely death, and her discovery of a suicide in the woods near her school (another Englishman).

While the husband is away in London at his weekday job, the schoolteacher notices that his wife is behaving in a very peculiar fashion. Should she inform the absent spouse?

I'm a huge Phil Rickman fan, and have read all of his books, including the Young Adult (YA) paranormal mysteries that he wrote under the pseudonym 'Thom Madley.' "Candlenight" (1991) was his first published novel, and it takes place in the supernatural territory that Rickman has made his own: the borderland between England and Wales.

The characters in this first book are not as finely realized as they are in the later novels, but the horror is just as acute. There are corpse candles galore, a mysterious crypt where the village's last curate died, a shadowy midnight bird that taps against a character's bedroom windowpane, a deceased judge who hated the English, black bards, and well, much much more. If anything, there is an overabundance of supernatural phenomena, especially at novel's end when...well, you'll have to read it yourself.

I enjoyed "Candlenight" but if you're new to this author, you might want to start with his first Merrily Watkins novel, The Wine of Angels (A Merrily Watkins Mystery)(1998), or my favorite non-Merrily novel, The Man in the Moss(1994).

This would have to be one of my favourite books by Mr. Rickman. It concerns a couple who move from London to a small village in Wales in the hope of a better life. I felt great empathy for the widowed Bethan in this book who is so driven to despair by the claustrophobic atmosphere of Small Town Village Life that on Saturday nights a night out with the town loser and getting absolutely drunk has some appeal.If you are ever stuck in a "one horse town" on a lonely Saturday night you would probably feel the same way too.Well done Mr. Rickman!!!

This novel is a very complex one. As is the author. With this type of novel you really have to pay close attention and you must be patient. That's what got me through this book. When I first started reading it, it kinda angered me, with all the confusing Welsh pronunciations and all. But less than half way through the novel, I grasped the story and I really began to enjoy it. There are some parts in it that seemed, to me, to be irrelevant. But, like I said it's a very complex peice. So if your into complexity, it's a book you should read. If you're not...you should still consider reading it.

Rickman picks up the old chestnut about the creepy small town that doesn't cotton to strangers and recreates it in a Welsh village. The English are apparently trying to turn Wales into their Florida and the Welsh resent it. The English who come to Y Groves have to worry about more than thugs. They face a murderous cult and their black magic.

I was so creeped out by the book that I had to lay it down a week before finishing it. I consider this one of my favorite Rickman thrillers.

Hands down, this is my favorite of all of Rickman's books. I have read them all after literally dicovering CURFEW behind a stack of paperbacks at a bookstore. If you are thinking about reading his work, I highly suggest this story to get you addicted to the rest!