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Shadowmancer 1
 
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Shadowmancer 1 (Paperback)

by G P Taylor (Author)
1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
List Price: CDN$ 12.34
Price: CDN$ 11.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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"Shadowmancer" takes you into a world of superstition, magic and witchcraft, where the ultimate sacrifice might even be life itself. Obadiah Demurral is a sorcerer who is seeking to control the highest power in the Universe. He will stop at nothing. The only people in his way are Raphah, Kate, Thomas and the mysterious Jacob Crane. Packed full of history, folklore and smuggling, this tale of their epic battle will grip both young and old. The thrills, suspense and danger and guaranteed to grab the attention and stretch imaginations to the limit.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Shadowmincing, Mar 4 2007
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Take a cup full of "Harry Potter." Add a teaspoon of hokey religious thrillers, a sprinkling of Tolkien ripoffs, and a dash of the fantastical. Mix thoroughly, and heat to lukewarm. That's basically the recipe for vicar/author G.P. Taylor's debut novel "Shadowmancer," a lame and limp semi-spiritual fantasy.

Like many a fantasy villain, Obadiah Demurral wants to play God, and the corrupt vicar does so by trafficking with evil powers -- as the story opens, he summons up a storm to crash a ship. Meanwhile a troubled teen named Thomas Barrick is rescued by a mysterious man from Africa, Raphah, who is after a mystery item that will be incredibly destructive if evil people get their hands on it. (Wow, that's original)

Are our heroes going to let Demurral and the forces of evil win? Of course not. Thomas (who has quasi-religious visions) and his hostile pal Kate team up with Raphah to somehow keep Demurral from becoming king of the universe with the help of that amulet. But can our heroes win out against Pyratheon (read: the devil)?

Original fantasy is hard to come by, and "Shadowmancer" doesn't improve the situation. It's your basic good vs. evil-forces-stirring-up-Armageddon story, with a layer of religious allegory thick enough to choke you. It leaves you wondering why he even bothered.

Taylor manages to dredge up a few interesting mythical creatures, and a solid Yorkshire setting, but they're drowned out by the trite writing. When he isn't stringing together run-on sentences and awkwardly artificial confrontations, he's dropping phrases from the Bible. And someone needs to tell him that apocalyptic struggles aren't very interesting when you KNOW that one side is going to win.

No way is religious fantasy a bad thing in itself -- after all, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien rooted their stories partly in religion. But Taylor's brand of Christianity is very watered-down, very generic, very politically-correct and VERY preachy. He lays this bland religious goo on so thickly that it's hard to read without feeling twitchy and uncomfortable. "Riathamus [God] stands at the door of your life and knocks. If you hear his call and answer him he will share your life and live with you always," Raphah announces. It's like he's reading from a pamphlet.

Nor can you expect much in the way of character development; everyone is a symbol rather than a person. Demurral is a cackling, mustache-twirling devil-worshiper. Saintly Raphah is as dull as the proverbial ditchwater, and so are the plucky kids who accompany him. There are no shades of grey here. A flawed person either is pure evil, or he's just waiting to be redeemed by a flashy show of God's power.

"Shadowmancer" is packaged as a thrilling dark fantasy for kids. But under the skin is a lame religious thriller with tepid writing and bland characters.
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