Shadowmancer (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "It was a still October night..." (more)
Key Phrases: acacia pole, alum mine, goatskin bag, Jacob Crane, Captain Farrell, White Moor (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An apocalyptic battle between good and evil is vigorously, violently fought in British author G.P. Taylor's suspenseful, action-packed fantasy. The story, set in the 1700s on the Yorkshire coastline, revolves around Vicar Obadiah Demurral, a corrupt-but-inept, dead-conjuring "shadowmancer" who desires to control the universe by overthrowing God, or Riathamus. When two hard-luck near-orphans, (13-year-old Thomas Barrick, a bitter enemy of Demurral, and his troubled friend Kate Coglund) band together with a young African stranger named Raphah, they spend the rest of the book trying to stop the wicked Vicar as if their very souls are at stake...they are. Along the way, the three youths meet an enormous cast of friends and foes, some agents of Riathamus, others of Satan (Pyratheon), and some godless (but not for long) smugglers like Jacob Crane.

Readers who love fanciful storybook characters will find mermaidlike Seloth, smelly hobs, leg-dragging servants, goodhearted whores, and benevolent boggles. Age-old superstitions abound, though old magic and witchcraft are clearly denounced here as the work of the devil. Indeed, the author, an English vicar himself, tells a very Christian story and his often deliciously dramatic adventure lapses into stiffly presented glowing-halo Touched by an Angel moments(readers will be lured into the Enchanted Forest, but tricked into Sunday school). Nonetheless, Shadowmancer, the first of a series, is a pageturner bursting with magic and myth, and will appeal to fantasy lovers who don't mind the Bible mixed in with their boggles. (Ages 11 and older) --Karin Snelson

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-The atmospheric Yorkshire coast is the setting for this good versus evil fantasy. Local vicar Obadiah Demurral desires the power to command God. To do this, he needs an angelic figurine called the Keruvim and its human equivalent. As he uses his considerable powers to acquire the Keruvim, a young man named Raphah comes seeking an object stolen from his African kingdom. It is soon obvious that Demurral's angel and Raphah's stolen prize are one and the same. Once Demurral has it and Raphah under his control, he believes he will be master of the universe. Thomas and Kate, two local children, are inadvertently drawn into the struggle. Soon their lives are in jeopardy. The plot twists and turns, revealing that Demurral is not the ultimate evil but merely a tool in the hands of a fallen angel. The book is rich with detailed descriptions that sometimes threaten to overwhelm the story. There are a number of fantastic creatures warring on the side of evil, but at bottom this is a seriously religious story clothed in the trappings of high fantasy. Biblical allusions abound, sometimes bordering on direct quotes. The theme of the triumph of love and light over pure evil reflects the Christian gospel message, with overtones from Paradise Lost. Thomas has dreams or visions of someone who can only be Jesus. Raphah heals a deaf boy and casts out demons. He is also brought back from death. Whether teen readers will understand all this is a matter of conjecture.-Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile; 1st American Edition edition (April 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399242562
• ISBN-13: 978-0399242564
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (165 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #708,190 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars disappointing, April 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Shadowmancer (Paperback)

I began reading this book very predisposed to like it, but found it terribly disappointing. Having heard good reviews and comparisons to JK Rowling and Philip Pullman, I plugged on til the end, hoping that it would get better, but it never did. While I could see that some children might find the story exciting because of the constant appearance of smugglers, trap doors, hidden tunnels and sliding wall panels, I can't see why this book could cross over into the adult market. I found the language stilted and cliche-ridden and the Biblical allegories unimaginative and unilluminatingly obvious. It seemed like Taylor was trying to write a Christian book that would appeal to fantasy readers and Tolkien fans, but the brazen allegory would have Tolkien turning in his grave. It starts rather obscurely, with lots of occultic references, and ends like a Pentacostal revival meeting, but with none of its power because of the clumsy writing. Although the two child characters through the story are supposed to grow into good Christians (sorry, followers of Riathamus), their development is forced. Here's an example of a key point in the development of Kate, a main character who has been completely one-dimensional up to this point (and remains so, I think.):

"She had lost all the trust she had in [her father], in fact in everyone. Life with her father had never been easy. It was his drinking that had always been the problem. He would fly into a rage at the slightest thing, shout and scream and then break down in tears. For many years she had thought it was her fault, that in some way she was responsible. Kate could never live up to his expectations, she could never be a child, never play games. Her lot in life was to cook and clean, to sew and mend. These were his demands. He wanted her to be a mother, a servant, but never a daughter. Tonight she had leant that he had been living a double life, and realized that her father had been slowly poisoned by the death of her mother, the guilt, the pain, and now the deception. 'It's not my fault, it's not my fault,' she kept repeating under her breath as she thought of her father and of how he had betrayed her."

Taylor is economical with his character development; he gets it over in one paragraph. The monsters/demons/scary things were also equally unconvincing. Tolkien creates some great monsters, Taylor never even gives them good descriptions or personalities, just piggybacks on what we know of other beasties from other fantasy stories. And evil is equally unconvincing and entirely unattractive. If someone wanted to recommend obviously Christian allegorical books to their kids, there are books out there that are better written. John White's Anthropos books ('The Tower of Geburah', 'The Iron Sceptre', etc ) are at least very readable. And other, not overtly Christian books can get kids thinking without resorting to churchy language and religious cliches, just changing names and adding bogeymen.

I admire Taylor's attempt to make a good, scary story, and he knows which props will appeal to readers, but I think he needs to keep writing and learn to flesh out his characters and create a more subtle and convincing manifestations of both good and evil. I hope he keeps at it.

40 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars possibly the worst book ever, people, November 19, 2004

By	Al Kitching (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews

SCENE ONE: Night. On top of a windblown cliff, evil moustache-twirling villain (and local vicar) OBADIAH DEMURRAL is looking out to a violent, boiling sea. His comedy sidekick, BEADLE simpers at his side.

DEMURRAL: Waves and wind, fire and water. Thunder, lightning and hail, hearken to my desire, hearken to my words. Come forth from the north and the deep below. Tempest, storm and ravaging wind, crash this boat to the shore and bring me the Keruvim that I might not need to employ any more cod Shakespearean storm dialogue any more.

Thunder rumbles, lights flash on and off.

AUDIENCE: Boooo!

DEMURRAL: Blow wind and cra-

BEADLE: Sir?

DEMURRAL: What is it Baldrick?

BEADLE: Beadle.

DEMURRAL: Cease, worm! Can't you see I have evilness to, er, do?

BEADLE: That whole even-more-powerful-than-God thing we talked about?

DEMURRAL: That.

BEADLE: Right. It's just that it seems a big step to take. You know, taking on the unseen and unknown powers of the Universe and what have you. I'd have thought we'd discuss it a bit more in depth. What's my role, my motivation? Big issues at stake here and I'm still rather in the dark. Plus, as my key worker already told you, my unendearing mixture of incompetence and boozing is almost certain to mess things up. I just need to know where I stand.

DEMURRAL: How do you mean?

BEADLE: Well, fr'instance. If we were to, say, take some plucky kids hostage and then a lucky earthquake destroys the building they're in and - oh I don't know - you'd just happened to leave them with the priceless religious artefact that you've dedicated your life to owning and then - purely hypothetically - trusted me to go and save it, what with the earthquake and that, would you prefer me to simply kill them, knock them unconscious or stupidly untie all three and then go 'Ooops'.

DEMURRAL: Oh 'Ooops' I think. This is a children's pantomime after all, regardless of the fact that we're going to throw in shed loads of complex religious stuff.

BEADLE: Super.

DEMURRAL: Well, it's important to get these things sorted out at the start.

Enter RAPHAH, KATE and THOMAS, stage left. DEMURRAL and BEADLE do that walking around thing with the kids close behind. All very amusing.

AUDIENCE: They're behind you!

DEMURRAL and BEADLE: Oh no they're not!

RAPHAH, KATE and THOMAS: Oh yes we are!

SCENE TWO: Day. Inside DEMURRAL's vicarage, the three kids are trapped in the tower, tied to chairs, waiting for midnight and some sort of ceremony.

KATE (to RAPHAH): So, where are you from?

RAPHAH: Egypt. Not the touristy bit. Another bit.

KATE: Right, and what A levels did you do? I want to do Film Studies at Uni so I'm thinking Art, English and Drama, but my school doesn't do Drama so I might have to think about a language and then possibly an evening class? Like, to top up? You know? Ooh, is that your mobile?

THOMAS: Kate. Kate! This is the early 18th Century.

KATE: Are you sure? I seem terribly middle class. Where are Edmund and Lucy?

THOMAS: Who?

KATE: Sorry, wrong Christian allegory.

THOMAS: Oh for heaven's sake.

RAPHAH: Precisely my little fish.

THOMAS: You what?

KATE: Have you noticed how this is supposed to be rural North Yorkshire two hundred and fifty years ago and no-one even tries to speak with the primitive rustic indolence that Wordsworth will champion in a generation's time? I mean, I'm a dead ringer for Emma thingy out of them Harry Potter films. That can't be right.

THOMAS: And I'm like that lad who stole the coal from Mr Perks in The Railway Children.

RAPHAH: Peter.

They all nod.

THOMAS: Who are you like then, Raphah?

RAPHAH: Oh I'm a sort of vague amalgam of lots of different people. I'm a nod to the PC brigade because I'm black and God loves everyone, but I'm sufficiently different to be able to come out with all that King James Bible type stuff. He who is will show you, and so on.

An earthquake begins.

RAPHAH: Ooh, there's lucky.

SCENE THREE: Night. In a church overlooking Whitby Bay. All but DEMURRAL and PYRATHEON (the horned one) are in a right pickle.

DEMURRAL: MUWAHAHAHAHAHA! [twirls moustache]

AUDIENCE: Hisssssssssssss!

DEMURRAL: I'm dead evil, me.

PYRATHEON: And I'm the least convincing, most unscary devil ever.

They cackle.

Enter JACOB CRANE, rogue, raconteur, enfant terrible, bete noir, femme fatale and homoerotic fantasy in the absence of any vampires.

CRANE: I've come back like Han Solo in the last few minutes of this cack to save the day and appear like a proper hero, with a bit of stubble and a gold earring to boot. Huzzah!

DEMURRAL and PYRATHEON: Bum!

CRANE: Maybe later.

RAPHAH: Er, sorry, but I think you'll find Jesus saved everyone.

EVERYONE: Who?

RAPHAH: Jesus.

The CAST take out their scripts.

KATE: No mention of Jesus in here. Maybe he was too serious and worrying for a big publisher to risk putting in? He's this RIATHAMUS character isn't he?

RAPHAH [looking glum]: Yes.

KATE: Sorry. Well, maybe in the film, eh?

CRANE: Whatever ... I'm a changed man! Let's rock!

ALL [except DEMURRAL and PYRATHEON]: Woohoo! Get down!

EXIT pursued by an overwhelming sense of £5.99 badly spent.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good idea - Needs work, January 31, 2005

By	Mary E. Mccomsey (Warminster, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

G. P. Taylor seems like an interesting individual and his story has possibilities, but unfortunately the writing style is amateurish. The characters are so underdeveloped one hardly cares that they spend the entire time in mortal danger. The plot, while interesting, is shallow, contrived, and woefully thin. Taylor forces his story, like a child gasping out a startling event - the details are sparse; events are jumbled; and characters wander in and out for no apparent reason.

This book was a difficult read largely because the many flaws in the plot development ruined the action. For example, the description of Demurral's conversion from well-intentioned preacher to dark lord was completely implausible and inadequately explained. I found myself wondering what actually happened to explain his monstrous make-over. This is only one of many inconsistencies and shortcomings that distracted from the excitement of the story and made for a tedious and frustrating reading experience.

I heard that Taylor originally self-published the book. Maybe the editing got left out in the process. It's too bad. The author has a good idea, but his basic writing skills need work.

One final caution: this book is far darker, scarier, and more occult than Harry Potter, to which it is frequently compared. It is not for younger readers. I found it in the library in the yount adult section.