Shadowmancer

Rating:
Summary: exhilarating religious allegorical fantasy
Review: In England, Vicar Obadiah Demurral lost his belief in his religion and God years ago, as he firmly believes that the Almighty has turned a deaf ear towards humanity. Obadiah is a "poisoned angel", a SHADOWMANCER, who communicates with the dead and has plans to rule the world. To achieve his ambition, Obadiah needs to obtain two Keruvim, an amulet that he already possesses and some other artifact of power that he seeks. Together, the twin Keruvim objects will turn Obadiah into an invincible force.

On a quest to recover the stolen relic taken from his village, African Raphah tracks the object to England where he meets two young victims of Obadiah's evil wrath, Thomas and Kate. The trio team up in an effort to stop Obadiah from accomplishing his malevolent objective even if it means going into hell for their heavenly cause.

SHADOWMANCER is an exhilarating religious allegorical fantasy that provides a deep message without preaching inside a wonderful action-packed good vs. evil war. The story line is fast-paced as Obadiah comes closer and closer to achieving his evil objective while the three youngsters are the only souls with faith in God and his way. Though some bad dudes change sides too conveniently, readers from high school age and up will appreciate this timely cautionary tale. G.P. Taylor admonishes the leaders of organized religion not to abuse power especially at the cost and loss of the congregation and pleads with the congregation to keep the faith even when the leaders abuse their positions of power and fail them.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Badly written and NOT Christian
Review: I hurried to buy Shadowmancer, hearing that it's a Christian answer to Harry Potter. Sorry, it's not. While the Harry Potter books are reasonably well-written, the writing in Shadowmancer is so awful, I laughed out loud at times. There are more point of view shifts than in any book I've ever read, sometimes giving multiple perspectives in a single paragraph. Speaker attributions are usually out of place, and dialogue is often pitifully contrived. The characters are wafer-thin, and even the heroes are plastic soldiers. It's hard to cheer for anyone to succeed.

Also, it's not a Christian book. Raphah speaks a lot of Christian-type lines, but he appears to follow a cult, calling on Riathamus. While the meaning of that name may conjure a Christlike being in the reader's mind, this deity appears to approve of Raphah's cultlike adherence to dark symbols of power. The only character who holds to any appearance of naming Christ is the worst bad guy in the story, Demurral, the Vicar. Yes, it's clear that his faith is fraudulent, but I'm troubled by the fact that the only "Christian" in the story is a demonic hypocrite.

I'm looking forward to the release of two other reputed Christian fantasy titles, "Raising Dragons" and "Dragonspell," both coming out in June. We'll see if these are any better.

Rating:
Summary: Vicar in a No No
Review: I think all I need to do to get across how blank and lame this book is, is quote some of the prose:
"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."

See what I mean? And that's supposed to be a moving bit!

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: I bought the book for my pre-teen as a substitute for Harry Potter, and I ended up reading it first! This was truly an epic story in the classic style of historical good vs. evil. I appreciated the biblical analogies the author used. For parents--this is a trustworthy purchase, believe me.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully done
Review: The author of this book sold his motorcycle to get enough money to self publish his book. And ever since he has enjoyed the success of a book published by a huge publishing company. And now he has his pick of the bunch as he has a best seller. It is the same Cinderella story that the book, The Little Guide To Happiness, had. A self published book that became a best seller beyond anyones wildest dreams. And like-wise, it is beautifully written, and deserves every bit of attention.

Rating:
Summary: Watch out J.K. Rowling!!
Review: (...)This book was terrific! An epic tale of good vs. evil in the manner of Lord of the Rings or the newest Harry Potter (it's darker than the first few Potter books). It is classified as a teen type book but I think it transcends that to become a book that would be enjoyed by anyone. I don't think I could've taken the advice another reviewer gave to read it in the near dark right before bed, all I would've seen in my dreams were scary red eyes!! I don't want to say too much about the story itself for fear of giving away the ending. Mr. Taylor, if you happen to read this - please continue with more tales like this!

Rating:
Summary: An epic adventure
Review: In the 1700s, evil stirs in the village of Baytown, on the Yorkshire coast. Vicar Demurral has stolen a powerful religious relic called the Keruvim. When he attains the second Keruvim, Demurral will be omnipotent and able to become the supreme being of all creation. To that end, with the power of the first Keruvim, he conjures a tremendous storm, which wrecks a ship carrying the second sacred object. The other Keruvim, however, eludes him.

Thomas, a near orphan, is saved from drowning by Raphah, an African teenager surviving the shipwreck. Raphah recruits Thomas to help steal back the Keruvim, stolen from Raphah's people. Thomas hates the despicable vicar and is determined to help Raphah wrest from the vicar the power obtained through thievery. His friend, Kate, helps the two boys enter the vicarage through a tunnel. Thomas escapes from the vicar, but he and Kate run headlong into a gruesome battle with giant evil warriors called Varrigal. The two cannot even hope to win the fight against these horrific supernatural creatures. Yet somehow they triumph.

Meanwhile, Raphah is imprisoned by Demurral, branded as his slave, and sent to the shale mine. Thomas and Kate are offered a chance to help their friend, who is said to be otherwise "as good as dead." But are they walking into their own deaths? The ultimate fate of the earth and all its beings rests in the hands of Kate, Thomas and Raphah. Can they save earth and heaven from being lost forever to evil?

SHADOWMANCER is an exciting adventure with unforeseen plot twists and terrifying shocks, filled with blackest despair and joyous triumph. G. P. Taylor weaves a fine tapestry of earthly and spiritual battles, complete with characters and references seemingly biblical in nature (although ambiguous enough to possibly represent faiths other than Christianity).

SHADOWMANCER has been billed as "hotter than Potter"; its scope is much more epic, faith-based and disturbing than the Harry Potter novels. Fantasy readers who can handle significant religious symbolism threaded through a "can't put it down" adventure will welcome this first book of a planned trilogy as a future classic.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: Lame and limp "Shadowmancer"
Review: 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 -- all-out sorcery and devil-worship. Enter Raphah, a mysterious man from Africa who is after a mystery amulet 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. Troubled teen Thomas Barrick (who has quasi-religious visions) and his 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 heavy layer of religious allegory. Taylor manages to dredge up a few interesting mythical creatures, and a solid Yorkshire setting, but they're drowned out by the trite writing.

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 evil, or he's just waiting to be redeemed.

"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.

Rating:
Summary: I'm sorry...
Review: I never ever write a review for a bad book. I always only write for books that I give 5 stars. However I feel as if I am forced to write a review for this. I was at B and N and I saw a large cardboard figure of a man in a black cloak and glowling red eyes, advertising for a new book. And I thought, "If it has a scary cardboard man, it must be good." And it also said on the back "the book that's taken the UK by storm." (yeah. by a storm of horribleness.) And it was just a horrible book. It was one of the only two books I have ever not finished and I hate not finishing a book. It wasnn't necessarlily boring just whenever I started reading it I wanted to scratch my eyes out and I threw the book across the room (which damedged it a lot). I can't really describe how bad it is, if I would I could, only that is so bad. That's the only way to desrcibe it. I hate givivng bad reviews and I always feel bas about it afterwords but I just wanted to make sure that you were tricked by the cardboard man. So please do not go out and get this book, its just so bad! And if I could give it 0 stars I would.

Rating:
Summary: White Cracker
Review: A good book to read is Shadowmancer. It's about a orphan boy who lives in a cave. One day the priest had something really dangerous,called the Keruvim. It could do what ever you told it to do. The priest makes it tear up a ship so he can get the other half of it,and have it's full power.