- Paperback: 1 pages
- Publisher: Ace (TRD); 1st Trade edition (Jan 22 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0441008410
- ISBN-13: 978-0441008414
- Product Dimensions: 15.3 x 2.2 x 23 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,031,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Dark Sleeper, Barlough's fantasy debut, earned kudos for its impressive recreation of the tone and texture of the Dickensian triple-decker. This second volume in his Western Lights Series duplicates the feat, immersing the reader in a Victorian pastiche thick with earthy characters, social politics and supernatural intrigue. Although set in a peculiar alternate world where modern civilization abuts a prehistoric wilderness, the novel focuses on daily life in rural Shilston Upcot and its disruption when mysterious Bede Wintermarch moves into Skylingden House, a brooding deserted mansion in the hills overlooking the town. Once the site of a monastery of mad friars, the house has been gossip fodder for decades, since its former owner was implicated in the shame and suicide of a vicar's daughter. Secrets dislodged by wagging tongues and the nocturnal activities of a giant predatory owl soon have rationalist Squire Mark Trench and his guest, writer Oliver Langley, exploring caverns beneath Skylingden and digging up clues to a macabre revenge plot. Barlough keeps the fantasy effectively low-key, grounding it in the eccentricities of a large, vividly drawn supporting cast that includes smarmy barrister Thomas Dogger and besotted bible-spouting stonemason Shank Bottom. Their vivid personalities sustain the multilayered plot through its subtly orchestrated build to a chilling crescendo, and affirm the author's talent for working a dark comedy of manners into an eerie Gothic melodrama.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This is the second novel, after Dark Sleeper (2000), in a series, Western Lights, that is set in an alternative nineteenth-century Britain and has already been characterized as "Dickens flavored with Lovecraft" but also recalls Wilkie Collins or toned-down Poe. The plot is familiar enough: new tenants have taken the hard-to-let old house in the village of Shilston Upcot. They tend to keep to themselves, which, of course, sets all the tongues in the village wagging and speculating. Barlough masterfully works those well-worn elements toward a horrific conclusion, as archetypal but well-delineated characters learn more about the horror stalking them and finally take up arms for a fight to the finish from which only the narrator escapes alive. Very good but also rather demanding, because one needs some knowledge of nineteenth-century English social customs and a high tolerance for realistically depicted demonic possession to fully appreciate it, Barlough's series merits inclusion in virtually all horror collections. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
House in the High Wood,
By
This review is from: House In The High Wood (Paperback)
Where have all the people of the village on the lake vanished away to? One man remembers the horrific truth...Barlough creates an astonishing--one hesitates even to call it an imitation--believably nineteenth-century gothic style in this novel, which is more horrific in theme than its similarly styled prequel. His chosen style means that Barlough sacrifices something in characterization perforce, but he manages to do a fair amount. In this second book the plot is less unwieldy than in the first, and is timed and handled gracefully. Though the style will put off some readers, I found this an enjoyable book, strikingly original in its combination of period and fantastic detail.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absorbing book, frustrating universe,
By tJohn (Bayside, New York United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: House In The High Wood (Paperback)
Barlough's virtues have been well listed by the other reviewers. His characters are compelling and his style, often compared to a Dickens-Doyle-Lovecraft blend, is different and absobing. The world of these books, however, is a bit odd. Although sometimes described as psuedo-victorian, in fact it feels older, perhaps 18th or early 19th Century. Curiously, unless I missed it, there appears to be no gunpowder, and the cities do not have railroads or any other late 19th Century devices. And how does the "sundering," be it comet strike or something else, explain those prehistoric animals? Perhaps the next book will explain, perhaps not. In any event, these are certainly worth a look.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A dark and compelling fantasy,
By Fosky Bob "human" (Vacaville, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: House In The High Wood (Paperback)
Over the span of two novels Jeffrey Barlough has become one of my favorite writers. Barlough's strengths lie in his picturesque depictions of a world in the aftermath of a great cataclysm (that either hasn't been fully explained yet or that I have unfortunately missed) and his marvelously vivid characters. Barlough's charming characters have great names like Mr. Nicodemus Binks, Mr. Shank Bottom, Miss Cherry Ives, and Mr. Alfred Snorem. Barlough writes with a non-traditional writing style. Both of his current novels read much like a Charles Dickens novel. But Barlough's novels have entertaining plots too. In _The House in the High Wood_, Barlough introduces the reader to the small town of Shilston Upcot, which has a dark and mysterious past. The reclusive squire, Mark Trench, sets out to uncover the hideous secrets behind the disappearance of his father many years past. I think that a reader coming to this novel without a great deal of patience will not fully appreciate it. Barlough's story moves at a leisurely pace with frequent digressions to explain a character's backstory. One of the complaints that I heard frequently with regards to Barlough's first novel, _Dark Sleeper_, is that the plot was subsumed by Barlough's characters. Those who agree with this statement will likely find much of the same in this novel. Those of us who enjoy intriguing characters and wonderful stylistic differences will love both of Barlough's first novels. _The House in the High Wood_ is one of my favorite fantasies of 2001. Highly recommended.
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