Shadowmancer
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Shadowmancer is a fantasy novel by Graham Taylor. Like C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia it is a Christian allegory in the form of a fantasy adventure. It is the first of four books generally referred to as The Shadowmancer Quartet and sometimes inaccurately referred to as The Shadowmancer Trilogy. Two thematic sequels named Wormwood and Tersias were also released soon after. A sequel named The Curse of Salamander Street that follows on where Shadowmancer left off has also recently been released in the United Kingdom versions.
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[edit] Plot
The story takes place in Whitby and concerns the evil sorcerer Obadiah Demurral who is seeking two powerful amulets called the Keruvim which he plans to use to control the elements and dominate the world. At the start of the book he purchases the first Keruvim which takes the form of a golden statuette of a cherub from an Ethiopian named Gebra Nubera. He then uses the Keruvim to destroy a ship upon which the next Keruvim is prophecied to arrive but when he surveys the wreckage he finds nothing. The next day an Ethiopian boy named Raphah arrives searching for the Keruvim. He befriends the main character, an urchin named Thomas and reveals that he is a messenger from God [called Riathamus here], and that Demurral is a Shadowmancer, a sorcerer who can control the dead. Despite not believing in God, Thomas agrees to assist Raphah in regaining the Keruvim because he wants revenge on Demurral for evicting him and his dying mother.
They pursue Demurral and the Keruvim with the assistance of Thomas's tomboy friend, Kate and the mysterious smuggler, Jacob Crane. During the story, Thomas, Kate and Jacob Crane who all for their own individual reasons didn't believe in God do come to believe in him.
Eventually it is revealed that in using the Keruvim, Demurral has unleashed a demonic race called the Glashan who were imprisoned at the dawn of time for rebelling against God. Led by the evil Pyratheon, a satanic character, they join forces with Demurral so that they can find the other Keruvim and harness its power to overthrow God and rule the universe.
It is eventually revealed that Raphah is the other Keruvim so Demurral and Pyratheon try to capture him so that they can kill him and turn him into an Azimuth [a slave spirit] in order to activate the Keruvim's full power.
At the climax of the story Thomas, Kate and Raphah meet an angel referred to as Seruvim, a play on the word Seraphim named Raphael who goes by the alias, Abram Rickards and a showdown takes place in Demurral's church during which Raphah is killed and Pyratheon obtains the Keruvim. He recites the incantation to activate its power and the world is temporarily plunged into night. Pyratheon thinks he has succeeded in stealing the power of God and gloats. However Abram then reveals that whilst Raphah is dead it has no power and all Pyratheon has done is meddle with time. After Abram restores life to Raphah, the sun rises, Abram is revealed in his true form and Pyratheon and Demurral flee.
Abram tells Thomas, Kate and Jacob Crane to take the Keruvim away to another land so they leave aboard Crane's ship, The Magenta. However in the closing page of the book it is revealed that they are being stealthily pursued by sea-demons called Seloth.
[edit] Reviews
Reviews for Shadowmancer were mainly positive, with Christians praising the Christian messages and morals, and the more subtle Biblical references. Critics also congratulated Taylor on creating such despicable villains in Obadiah Demmural and Pyratheon. Other critics disliked its Christian messages and thought that it was not epic or exciting enough to convey the story matter and said that Demmural was not giving off the impression of someone to be feared and was quite undistinguished for someone who was trying to wrest control of all creation. Other critics still believed the book exciting and epic and it claimed top spot for a while in Waterstone's bookstore and the novel is being published in several languages.
[edit] Special edition
A special edition Shadowmancer was released in 2003 containing an extra chapter that carried on where the book had left off. In the extra chapter Raphah and the Keruvim are snatched by the Seloth. Special editions of Wormwood and Tersias were also released.
[edit] Comic
Tony Lee has adapted Shadowmancer into comic book form for Markosia.
[edit] Film
A movie adaptation of Shadowmancer is being released with a working date of 2007. Rumours of Mel Gibson directing have also been circulating.
[edit] Trivia
Reverend Obadiah Demurral’s vicarage is based on the main building of Fyling Hall School.
At the end of Shadowmancer, the effects of when Pyratheon uses the Keruvim to distort time and reality, is also the beginning of G.P Taylor's follow-up novel, Wormwood. Where the book's main protagonist Dr.Sabian Blake, is studying the comet Wormwood when the sky-quake from the north hits the city of London.
[edit] External links
