Book Analysis: SHADOWMANCER

Author: G. P. Taylor
Publisher: Putnam (April 2004; 304 pages; Hardcover)
ISBN: 0-399-24256-2
Genre: Historical Fantasy/Adventure

On a dark Yorkshire night, Demurral the Vicar of Thorpe and his cringing servant Beadle scuttle toward the coastline to keep a catastrophic appointment with a ship, the Friendship. Employing the magic powers of an icon he embezzled church funds to obtain, Demurral stirs up raging storms, murderous mud slides, and soul-eating spirits to drive the ship to its death at his feet. The crew is killed, and the fate of a mysterious passenger unknown. But what Demurral lusts after--the icon's twin--is nowhere to be found. His quest to unseat God as ruler of the universe must wait a little longer.

Demurral quickly claims salvage rights and organizes local citizens to collect the wreckage. Thirteen year-old Thomas, who publicly blames Demurral for burning him and his widowed mother out of their home, ridicules the Vicar on the beach and runs away. Demurral swiftly takes his revenge, conjuring a large, shadowy animal to ambush Thomas atop a cliff. Trapped in the Vicar's spell, the boy plummets helplessly into the sea.

When he awakes alive and well in a warm cave, he meets his rescuer and a new friend in one- Raphah, the African survivor of the Friendship. Raphah introduces Thomas to the worship of Riathamus and his mission to recover the stolen icon from Demurral. Enlisting the help of Thomas's tomboyish friend, Kate, they plunge into the twisting tunnels beneath the vicarage, and into an adventure that will change their lives and the universe forever...if they survive.

Shadowmancer is a imaginative historical-fantasy adventure with strong Biblical overtones. The free use of scripture as original dialogue frequently surprised me, but generally it worked well to both characterize and foreshadow. The book's greatest strength is not its many jaw-dropping scenes or well-researched setting. It's the telling of a battle waged scene-by-scene between clearly-defined forces of good and evil.

G. P. Taylor described himself in a Charisma magazine interview as a storyteller, not a writer. I think that is a fair and accurate assessment. He is an author with huge potential. The gamboling omniscient viewpoint lacked both the narrator of classical omniscient and the discipline of limited omniscient. Jittery, the narrative often blurred up to three viewpoints in one sentence, and made it extremely difficult to get into the otherwise fresh story. By its nature, omniscient viewpoint distances readers from the characters. When inexpertly handled, it is hopelessly confusing--even exhausting.

I thought the author made a supreme effort to paint the story with vivid imagery. Despite my conflicted feelings over enjoying the story and laboring over the way it was told, I missed G. P. Taylor’s imaginary world after closing the cover on the last page.