Shadowmancer

Rating:
Summary: Vaguely Unremarkable
Review: The book, while I did enjoy a few elements of it (one of the reasons it actually eeked three stars from me) was tedious and really seemed to go nowhere. I put it down several times, and each time had to go back and reread the last fifty or so pages because I could not remember what had happened. Shadowmancer is unremarkable, in so many ways that it is almost unique. It almost felt like a book that was required for a class- it would have been good, if it weren't supposed to be educational.

Buy it. In paperback.
Then again, if you are that determined to read it, exercise your library card before you decide to buy it- it might save you the cost of a hardcover.

Rating:
Summary: Feh. Ick. Bleah. Overhyped beyond words
Review: It's rather hard to imagine a vicar writing this book, there is enough seeminess to fill a sewer. I think if I hear one more book is 'the new Harry Potter' and than have it turn out this bad I will choke.

AVOID!

Rating:
Summary: Absolute Rubbish
Review: All I can say about this book is wow. But that wow is not a stand up and yell cause I just found the best book I've ever read wow, instead it is a quiet, shake my head in absolute wonder wow that I believed the hype and actually paid money for Shadowmancer. This book is perhaps one of the most poorly written books I have ever read. I'd love to say that the plot is ingenious, but it's not. I'd love to say that it's a cliff hanger, but it's not (guess what? God wins in the end - sorry to have spoiled it for you). I'd love to say that the characters are unique and have depth but they don't. The one girl character is quickly put in her place at the beginning of the story when she is changed out of boy clothes into a proper dress that she wears until the end of the story. This is done by people with five fingers and a thumb on each hand, - what interesting insight into their character.

The boy main character, Thomas (wanna know a secret, at the end of the story he doubts his faith) is nothing short of ridiculous. His actions are not consistent, his verbal dialog forced and the scene with his mother - well sorry to be redundant but also forced.

We have bad guys named Demurral (wait a minute, that wouldn't be pronounced like the word Demerol a very potent narcotic that is often abused on the street is it?) and Finnesterre (not to be confused with his cousin Mr. Sinister).

We have good guys named Raphah and Abram, (clearly someone's spell check was on the fritz that day). And we have someone carrying a cross shaped case on his back while he stumbles on a steep stone path - you know that reminds me of something I've heard about before but I just can't place one of my four fingers on it.

There are phrases like "he hoped against hope" (rule number one - to be a good writer means you stay away from clichés). "I never thought I'd see the day when I would be asked to stand for God. Can't he fight his own battles?" Just on more example of the absolutely riveting literature found in this book.

The scenes are trite and predictable. I imagine that somewhere there is a checklist for Christian literature and this author decided to include everything from that list. In the bad corner we have alcohol, Tarot cards, greed, deception and Halloween. In the good corner we have (far too many) sheep, mustard seeds, Christmas (for no apparent reason other than checking it off of that Christian list), lots of breaking bread and glowing crystals shaped like eggs.

To be somewhat fair, I didn't realize that this was Christian literature when I got the book (that fact is cleverly hidden), this is not the type of book that I would normally read. But having said that, I'm sure that there are Christian writers who can develop a good plot with solid characters. This book is about 5 re-writes short of that kind of potential.

I finished the book because I read some of the other reviews and thought that maybe I was missing something, maybe the author somehow pulls this off in the last 100 pages, 50 pages, even the last 10 pages, but when I closed the book, I knew I had been tricked just like all the other good people had been in the story. The evil ones lost, the good guys won and I was out the money I spent on this book. I've read in reviews (from Newsweek of all places) that this book may be the next Harry Potter - please. Harry -relax, you've got nothing to worry about.

Sigh.

Sigh.

Rating:
Summary: Good for Summer, but not much longer.
Review: I am a supervisor in a bookstore and was aware of all of the hype leading up to the U.S. release of Shadowmancer. I look upon each release of the "Next Harry Potter!" with much trepidation. It seems that whenever that cry is yelled loud enough, publishers push and shove with their wallets, advertise to great lengths to see the book sell well for a month or so, and then dissappear. I forsee Shadowmancer following this trend. While there is plenty of action, there is little else to write about. It makes for a good summer read to hold the attention of a tween or teen, but the book's characters will not grip the heart like J.K. Rowling or Cornelia Funke's characters have the ability to do.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Be ready to be scared!
Review: Shadowmancer by GP Taylor is one scary read! Eek! But, that's why I read this book in the first place. I really enjoy books of this exciting genre and believe me this book gave me exactly what I crave. Fun book. Try it. I think you will agree fighting the forces of evil can be both exciting and fun!

Rating:
Summary: Barely readable
Review: Oh, dear. It's very rarely that I have to struggle to finish a book, but if I hadn't been stuck in a hotel room with nothing else to do this one would still be languishing, half-finished, on my bedroom floor. It's long since gone to Oxfam to bore some other poor soul rigid.

Creaking plot, cardboard characters, overt evangalism, overused Bible quotes and tired cliches in the place of dialogue - Shadowmancer has nothing to recommend it, unless you're looking for a cynical laugh at the author's heavy-handed attempt at fundamentalist anti-occult propaganda. ("KIDS! Magic is DANGEROUS! Don't try this at home!!!") The sound of one or two characters - the obligatory feisty girl sidekick/token female character, for example - struggling to develop personalities is drowned out by the clanking of the plot and the chorus of hallelujahs.

If you're raising kids in the Christian faith and want good fantasy fiction for them, for goodness' sake stick to CS Lewis or Pullman, or even Pilgrim's Progress. Don't touch this book with a bargepole - it'll put them off for life, not to mention the dangers that the sloppy writing poses to their English grammar.

In all honesty: recommended only for punctuation-impaired fundamentalists.

Rating:
Summary: SHADOWMANCER BY G.P. TAYLOR
Review: I'VE JUST READ THE REVIEWS SUBMITTED BY [e-mail] AND HATWELL BOOKS AND I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH THE NEGATIVE VIEWS THAT THEY HAVE GIVEN ON THIS GREAT BOOK.

THIS BRILLIANT NEW WRITER MR G.P.TAYLOR, HAS WRITTEN A "MASTERPIECE". THIS BOOK WHICH IS NOW IN IT'S 8th REPRINT HAS JUST SIGNED UP A PUBLISHING DEAL WITH AMERICAN GIANTS PENGUIN PUTNAM. IT HAS RECEIVED RAVE REVIEWS WORLDWIDE AND IS A TALE OF SUPERSTITION, WITCHCRAFT,AND MAGIC AND IS SET IN NORTH YORKSHIRE ON THE EAST COAST, AROUND THE AREA WHERE MR TAYLOR LIVES.

IT'S ONE OF THOSE BOOKS THAT GRABS YOU FROM THE START AND IS VERY ADDICTIVE,AND IT ALSO APPEALS TO ALL AGE GROUPS. IF YOU WANT A GREAT READ,THIS IS THE BOOK TO GET,IT'S HOTTER THAN POTTER AND ALL THE REST PUT TOGETHER. 10 OUT OF 10 FROM ME, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT 2 BOOKS TO COME OUT.

Rating:
Summary: Shadowmancer
Review: Obadiah Demurral wants to be God. I know a few people like that and it never works - they never learn do they, or do they? With our heros Raphah, Kate and Thomas around, good is sure to prevail.
I thoroughly enjoyed Shadowmancer. It is very well written with what I call the '3D effect'. I felt as if I was in each scene, so much so I could actually smell the environment surrounding me. I was delighted with the Christian element running through it, it made it all the more real and comforting when good and evil are so much a part of our lives.
G.P. Taylor did not need a magic wand to elicit magic, the book was pure magic in itself.
I look forward to seeing the film and reading his next novel.

Rating:
Summary: terrible writing
Review: Even if one doesn't mind the over-religious tone (after all, the author is a vicar and there's nothing wrong with him promoting his own beliefs), the writing of this book is terrible. The characters are two-dimensional caricatures. The author couldn't be bothered to create his own dialog for the priest character, but instead continually fills his mouth with verbatim quotes from the Bible. And the dialog of the other characters....totally unbelievable is putting it mildly. There is no character development; instead the author simply tells you what the characters feel.

If you're after well-written fantasy by a writer who promotes a Christian world view without shoving it down the readers' throats, look to contemporary writers like Stephen Lawhead and the old masters like CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. This book is to Lewis, Tolkien, and JK Rowling what a Ford Fiesta is to a Rolls Royce.