Customer Reviews

The Crooked Letter: Books of the Cataclysm: One

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Crooked Letter (2006) is the first fantasy novel in the Books of the Cataclysm duology. This novel is the prequel to the Books of the Change series. The second novel in this duology, The Blood Debt, will be the sequel to the Change series.

Hadrian Castillo is the mirror twin of Seth Castillo. Although they look identical, Hade has his organs on the opposite side than Seth's body. They are in Europe on holiday, leaving Australia to see the old countries.

Ellis Quick is also Australian -- a student from Melbourne -- and is slightly older than the twins. She meets the twins in Vienna and the three soon pool their resources to acquire better facilities. Ellis is the first to notice the Swede following them.

In this novel, Seth and Hade have a falling out in Stockholm and Hade is chasing through the streets to overtake Seth. Ellis catches up with Hade in the park and tries to talk him out of his anger, but Hade pushes her aside and, bleeding profusely, follows Seth. Ellis leads him down to the underground station and the three finally connect on the train.

Unfortunately, the Swede and his henchmen catch up with them there. The men grab Hade and Seth and the Swede pulls a knife. At first he threatens Hade, but Seth mouths off again and the Swede stabs him in the chest. The Swede carries off Ellis, but leaves Hade and Seth lying in a cul-de-sac.

When they are found, the paramedics treat Hade for his wounds, but Seth is pronounced DOA. Hade wakes up in a hospital and soon meets Bechard the orderly and Detective Volker Lascowicz. He hears people in the beds around him, but the curtains are drawn around him and he can't see the others. He describes his experiences to Lascowicz and learns that the power network is down.

In this story, Hade sleeps and awakens to a strangely quiet ward. A changed Lascowicz speaks to him out of the dark and says weird things. When Lascowicz leaves, Hade gets up and wanders around the ward. Everybody else is gone.

When Lascowicz comes back with Bechard, Hade avoids them and runs down the hallway. Something with claws pursues him, but he evades it and hides. Then Pukje -- a small monkey-like creature -- finds him and sends him off after his brother's body, which has been partially cremated in the hospital furnace. Hade saves a finger bone and then finds his way out of the building.

Although Pukje tries to tell him that a Cataclysm has been initiated by his brother's death, Hade refuses to believe anything so fanciful. Then he starts discovering signs of disaster in his travels through the city. Before long, he encounters Kybele, the goddess of the city.

Meanwhile, Seth finds himself falling through the Bardo into the underworld. He is chased by daevas and helped by a dimane named Xolotl, a former human with a transformed body. Under these conditions, Seth has little argument with Xol's assertion that he is dead.

Seth wanders through much of the Second Realm following Xol and others. He learns of the alien god Yod, a black ziggurat from Outside, and his efforts to slake his hunger in the First Realm. He also discovers that Xol is the mirror twin of Quetzalcoatl.

This story is an aggregation of various elements from folktales around the world. While it is heavily influenced by Germanic and Greek folklore, there are also aspects of Celtic, South American, Jewish and Arabic tales. Initially, Hade only encounters supernatural aspects of Scandinavia -- including Pukje -- but Kybele was originally a Phrygian goddess.

The structure of the world in this novel is three-fold, with the First Realm being our normal universe of matter and energy. The Second Realm is governed by Will, which is expressed as magic. The Third Realm is ruled by Choice, which is expressed by diverging worldlines similar to the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

These Realms are ruled by dei, both major and minor. They each have inhabitants, some of whom are human. There are places within the Second Realm, but they defy common sense. It is difficult to say whether the Third Realm has places as such.

Since the Books of Change have not yet been published in the US, few people -- not including this reviewer -- outside Australia have read those stories. The Australian editions are available through Amazon in only limited quantities. Hopefully, an US publisher will reprint these books sometime soon.

Without the Books of Change to compare with this volume, it is hard to determine the degree of commonality. Obviously this volume has little in common with any other single fantasy tale, but maybe there are bits of mutual backstory across a wide spectrum of such tales. As the author admits in the appendices, he has been gathering material from various sources over the years. Now he has attempted a coherent presentation of these concepts. Nonetheless, the reader had better be prepared to suspend all disbelief in reading this book.

This book is fascinating, but difficult to understand at first. By the end of the book, one gains some comprehension of the overall situation, but so much is still unexplained. Don't expect the sequel to tie up all the dangling ideas, but maybe it will come to an acceptable conclusion. If you have read any other works by the author, such inexplicable and unexplained concepts should be familiar usages.

This reviewer is somehow reminded of Dante's Divine Comedy by this work. Although very different in style and details, this novel does feature (two separate) journeys through exotic realms. Maybe it is the quest format or the guided tours or the strange creatures or the divine aspects. Yet Dante could never have written this novel.

Highly recommended for Williams fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of convoluted fantasy, initial confusion and gradual -- but not complete -- comprehension, and many very strange creatures.

-Arthur W. Jordin

The Crooked Letter is both the first in a new series and the first in the continuation of a well loved series (to those of us who have loved it), The Books of the Change. The journey into the underworld of twins Seth and Hadrian does more than press the boundaries of contemporary fantasy fiction. It also puts pressure, in the most compelling and page-turning way, on the things our culture values most closely: the concept of the freely determined self, the idea of 'natural justice', and most importantly, the line between body and spirit. Forming a segue between the Books of the Change and the Books of the Cataclysm, this is some of the most intelligent and gripping fantasy writing available. Start at the beginning, and don't stop.

I have just finished reading this novel, which is the weirdest end-of-the-world story I've come across so far. I like the surrealistic settings and situations depicted in the Crooked Letter. They give the novel a dreamlike aspect that I find enteresting. I also liked the exotic elements used in the world building. For instance, the afterlife of the Second Realm is the most exotic and unusual after death scenerio I've come across. What I found most unique about it is that it even has it's own ecology, which is alien to that of earth's. There is also a sci-fi aspect to the Second Realm, such as how it's laid out on the inside of a hollow sphere. There is also a Third Realm even more alien than the previous, which explores the multiple-histories idea of quantum mechanics. And, finally I found the alternate theoligy explored in the novel to be both unique and mind-shocking. All of the above, makes for a fascinating read.

Few writers can mix magic, spiritual philosophy and contemporary fantasy as well as Sean Williams. The Crooked Letter intertwines death, rebirth, mythic gods and ordinary teenagers in a spiraling story that tells the end and beginning of a world. The author doesn't shy away from the passion of new love, the shock of betrayal, the pain of separation and the path of redemption. It's an epic as sinuous and intoxicating as a double helix cocktail (if there was one). Like Julian May's Intervention, The Crooked Letter is an extraordinary watershed between the Books of the Change and the Books of the Cataclysm. I could not put it down.

Mirror twins Hadrian and Seth Castillo hate the fact that in some unexplainable way they are linked to one another; each wants to be an independent soul, but that psychic connection they share never allows that to be as together the polar opposites are whole.

That changes when someone kills Seth while Hadrian sees the stabbing occur. Yet though he remains in the realm of the living, Hadrian feels the psychic connection to Seth stronger than ever. Seth's spirit exists in the Second Realm, a containment area filled with monsters wanting to breach the "wall" and enter the First Realm where Hadrian exists. Yod notices that the chasm between the realms is diminishing; he realizes why and plans to use the brothers to enable him to conquer the First Realm. If the twins, even with guides to help them, fail to come together, Yod will breach the barrier and bring hell on earth. While Seth struggles to live, Hadrian considers death as a possibility to reunite with the sibling he never wanted to be near.

Set in the same realms as the Books of the Change series, the first Books of the Cataclysm, THE CROOKED LETTER, is a deep fantasy mindful of Dante with the numerous realms, though predominantly only two are vividly described through the twin poles. The story line is filled with plenty of action, but as is the case with most opening novels in a series, the background needs explanation whether it is delightfully descriptive especially that of the Second Realm or the challenges confronting the twins require "guidance". The cast makes the tale as the siblings and their connection seem real, which in turn makes the rings of realms feel genuine. Fans of a strong fantasy thriller will appreciate Sean Williams' superb opening tale.

Harriet Klausner

Set in the future, in a world of ancient magic, and eschewing all stereotypical notions of fantasy, the characters in The Crooked Letter undertake an amazing journey in a world which would make Stephen Donaldson stand up and take notice. The characterisation in The Crooked Letter is excellent and the writing intelligent and engaging and I have no doubt that most people who read this book will love it. It is un-put-downable and you will not be able to stop until you finish and then you will be begging for more!!! Although this works as a perfect stand-alone book, luckily this book is the prequel to a further series so if you love this book, as I did, you will have plenty of enjoyable reading ahead. Enjoy!!!!

This book was highly enjoyable...a written Dali. Volume 2 and 3 as more straightforward fantasy/adventure also good reads. Volume 4 as of March 2011 does not appear to have been published in the USA.

I thought the the story line was interesting and different than anything I've been reading in the recent past. The originality was refreshing and I plan on reading more works by this author.

With that being said, IMHO this book needs some serious proof review (Kindle version). The Hadrian/Seth name mixups were totally uncalled for and should have been corrected along with some more less grievous issues.

Bottom line: good book, good author, bad editor, thus three stars.

I had no idea that this was what he had in mind when I started reading The Stone Mage and the Sea. One of those fantasies that is really science fiction, as you learn and go further on.

Ancient god types, questors with horrible things to do. He really should have a few beers with Mark Chadbourn, perhaps. I really liked this book, now I have to find one, and read any others.

In later books, it appears, the pre and post events are explicitly linked by way of characters, I presume this was not made clear in the marketing of this first book to prevent spoiling of the story? Anyway, very good, different fantasy with an Australian setting which is very, very refreshing. These are a bit more adult than The Stone Mage series, as the characters are grown up.