Shadowmancer

Rating:
Summary: Don't Believe the Hype? What Hype???
Review: I've never held to the view that teen's books are just for teens. I still go back and read Garner, Joy Chant, Rosemary Sutcliff etc - the books I grew up with. And so I still browse over that section of any book store and have been happy to have found some grand surprises over that way - Pullman of course, but others too: Phillip Reeve's 'Mortal Engines' and 'Predator's Gold', Chris Wooding's 'Haunting of Alaizabel Cray' and Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy spring to mind.

But for every hit there are bound to be misses. I should have known from the rather non-indicative reviews on the back of 'Shadowmancer' that this was not a book to be trusted. Two quotes do nothing but describe the book as an event. Another is a simple description of what the book is about. In fact the latter - "a magical tale of vicars and witches" - is the title of an interview with Taylor - not a review at all. One of the other quotes leaves off half way through - a very cynical manoeuvre - the full quote being: "The adventure unfolds at a vivid and breathless pace, but the religious symbolism is rather too fundamental and proscriptive for comfort."

Inotherwords the hype is pretty much manufactured from a publisher looking for not just a new Harry Potter like series (they always have to be series), but a J.K Rowling (and they always have to only use the initials of their first two names, like G.P. Taylor): an author who has a good story to back them up.

It would be churlish to belabour the religious point as it is well-covered elsewhere, but what the hell. This is a very thinly veiled pro-Christian book. It is not allegorical and magical like C.S. Lewis, nor is it just like any other fantasy book that features battles between good and evil: although that is a slight remark - many fantasy books do deal with good and evil. Yet the worst do so like this book, blandly and simplistically, while the best know that human nature is a good deal more complex. Even if Taylor referring to God with a made up name is not enough to distance this book from the tract it is.

Of course Christian-based books are not Bad Things, but this book paints it so darn obviously that it is completely absent of any suspense, any ambiguity, any sense of Greyness. Taylor is missing one of the main points of Pullman's trilogy - this sort of treatment of Christianity is colourless. The language is straight out of the worst type of evangelical pamphlets, pompous and overused: I will be with you always even to the end of time ... Let the one who can bring peace heal your life ... See he is coming, the bright morning star shines upon the earth.

Even an agnostic like me knows that there is a richness of language in the Bible, a richness of symbolism that so much literature has since simplified into Black and White. The Bible - and, really, any good author worth their salt - knows that Good and Evil are not simple concepts.

And as to originality - well many fantasy authors have modelled their demonic entities on Tolkien's Ringwraiths and Taylor is no exception. But there are faint echoes of other Tolkien-esque figures - the Miller and his family are a little Tom Bombadil-like, even in their placing in the novel, for instance. Moreover there are any number of fantasy works that better explore the world of British folklore than this - from Robert Holdstock's sophisticated and adult 'Mythago Wood' to Peter Beagle's 'Tamsin'.

There are far, far more finely written fantasy works for teenagers than this one. Don't believe the publisher's hype.

Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter, and Old One or Gilraen's young son
Review: Having just read Shadowmancer in one day I find myself engrossed in yet another magical world. I am a large Harry Potter fan, Cooper enthusiast and devoted Tolkien reader. I would agree with the reviewers that commented that this is more a Tolkienism than a Potterism and would add a twist of Cooper to the mix. Shadowmancer is a young adult's story, and I enjoyed the Christian theme. I would consider it for a Christian youth group book study, and will recommend it to my own children when they get older.

Rating:
Summary: Better than expected
Review: Having reacently been on holiday in the States I borrowed this book from a friend and started to read it on the plan. I found the first two chapters hard going trying to understand the plot and know where I was going. By the time I had got to chapter 4/5 I was into the book and could not put it down, infact I am in my mid twenties and my cousin who's 13 had read half the book in 3 days and she's from the states and loved Harry Potter too.

I believe that a non-Christian reading it would enjoy this book too - it shows the powers of darkness and light and the extracts from the Bible are in the right place. I would give it to any member of my youth group to read

Rating:
Summary: ...an interesting response to the Potter phenomenon...
Review: I was intrigued when reading the promotional material for this book that it was lauded as being on the same magnitude as the Potter saga. To be honest, when I read the first few pages, I thought "Here we go again...characters like the Death Eaters, teenage boy in magical capers.". It made me cynical from the start. I truly believe that had Harry Potter and his world not come along, this book would have stood up more on its own merits rather than appearing to be a Christian response to their unfounded fears that Rowling's books incite children to want to practice black magic and stray from the "path". The religious subtext becomes frankly too much for me, and although I can take a little of everything, this took the biscuit, as we say. There's a fine line between making a point and forcing a point. As a Christian kids book, it's fine, wonderful even, but as a piece of fiction, it reads more like an exaltation to God and a denunciation of the rest. For my money, there's a better book out there...go find it!

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: A tangled tale
Review: The writing and quality of this book is not even close to Tolkien, so any comparison to Tolkien did not even enter my head until I read some of these reviews. I was amazed some people even see a basis for a comparison.

Though the media is calling this book a "Christian Harry Potter," it is NOT Christian. In fact, the author, G P Taylor, has vehemently denied it being Christian in several interviews that you can find online. He said he wrote it for Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and that Muslims see Mohammed, Christians see Jesus, and Jews see the coming Yeshua. Those are his words. So to make all these groups happy, the God in here, called Riathamus, is very generic, as is the "King" who seems to be a Christ figure but has a very small role. In his encounter with Thomas, he tells Thomas he will forgive him but does not tell Thomas why or how this is possible. Two references to the "Battle of the Skull" (Golgotha where Christ was crucified) do not help. The crucifixion was not a battle anyway; Jesus willingly laid down his life to atone for humanity's sins.

The supposedly good guy, Raphah, has mysterious powers that are very occultic-like, and he turns out to be one of the "objects," but in the flesh, that the evil Demurral wants for his sorcery. So is he an angel, a boy, a statue come to life, or what? Identities are very confusing in the story and we are never sure who several mysterious figures really are. The story is more frustrating than anything.

There are also several quotes from the Bible but they are given in ways that make them mean something different than they do in the Bible. Also, some of the quotes are changed from the original words or mixed with other quotes that don't go together.

As far as the plot and characters go, I found both rather trite and stereotypical. There is not much creativity. The villain, Demurral, is especially implausible because he is so utterly evil that he is almost cartoonish -- much like the Dursley's and Prof. Umbridge in the Harry Potter books. Regular people who seem ordinary but give in to evil desires are much more interesting than someone who right off the bat talks about wanting divine power.

Most disturbing are several warnings and hints that Demurral could actually fight Riathamus (God) and get his power. Raphah tells Thomas and Kate that if Demurral gets the Keruvim (cherubim from the Tabernacle, but you have to figure this out as this info is not given), he could control the world and even the power of Riathamus. Later, Thomas tells Kate that Raphah told him that Demurral has a power that can call up the dead and control the wind and sea. Well, Jesus, during a storm, commanded the wind and sea to stop and they did (Matthew 8, Mark 4, Luke 8). He did this because he had the authority of God as the Son of God and God the Son. No man has this power. It's strange a vicar would put this in a story.

I would really give this book one-and-a-half stars but you have to choose one or two. There are so many good books out there, so choose another book to read.

Rating:
Summary: Shadowmania sweeps the world!
Review: Shadowmancer is a simply wonderful book set in 18th Century Yorkshire, England. It is a tale of superstition, witchcraft and magic, featuring an evil vicar called Obadiah Demurral who wishes to take over the world! Whilst Shadowmancer is listed as a children's book, it also has an adult read quality about it. Often hailed as the new J. K. Rowling, G. P. Taylor is far better compared to Tolkien. The story unfolds at a breathtaking pace and holds the reader throughout. You may need to read it a couple of times before fully appreciating it and the film is sure to be a massive success! I recommend reading Shadowmancer in a dark room, probably just before you go to sleep to amplify the fear factor! Charge up the mobile in case you need to phone a friend!

Rating:
Summary: It's okay.
Review: I read that it was the next Harry Potter, and that a film deal had been signed so I figured I'd pick it up and check it out. Bleah! First off, Harry Potter has believable characters that even adults can relate to. Shadowmancer's characters are barely more than paper thin cutouts of the author's trite concepts. Rowling takes time, and lets the story tell itself. She gives each character enough time for us to understand them and see some of the things that shaped their lives. Taylor merely tells you what he (she?) wants you to know about the characters. Comparing this author to Rowling or Tokien is unfair. They are in a completely different class, Rowling being succinct without holding back, and Tolkien being almost overly descriptive. Both Rowling and Tolkien allow the reader to feast, Taylor chose to force-feed us. I find that it reads relatively quick enough, but when I put it down I have trouble convincing myself to pick it back up. If you want tales of magic set in history, read Morgan Llewellyn or Marion Zimmer Bradley instead. Both are far better at weaving tales.

Rating:
Summary: Offensively bad
Review: This was a truly badly written book. In addition to trite characterizations and borderline gender discrimination, the plot is dumb and the writing is terrible. Don't believe the hype and the cool cover. It's a rotten book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book is really good! I recomend this to all of you action adventure fans who are trying to fill the void until the next Harry Potter comes out. It shows the clasic struggle between good and evil and set in 18th century England. There is a variety of different characters the main ones being teens. Each one of the three main heros is different due to there view of the world, yet they unite to stop the forces of evil (the vicar). The action of the book occurs in a relatively small time period, but it is beautifully complemented with insight into the character's pasts in the way of flashbacks.