The Menagerie (series)
The Menagerie is a dark fantasy novel series written by Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski. The Menagerie is made up of legendary characters, each with his or her own powers and mystical, mythical origins. Golden and Sniegoski have taken various characters well-known from literature and mythology and made them their own.
As described by Ace Books: They are beings of myth and legend. They possess powers beyond imagining. They are our only hope.
Meet the Menagerie - as hodge-podge a mix of other-worldly beings as anyone can imagine. But a sorcerer, a scientist, a sixteen-year-old demon, and the others all have one thing in common: a hunger for justice - no matter what the cost.
Book One: The Nimble Man
Behind the facade of a stately Boston brownstone, humanity's last defenses are being marshaled. Called to action by the enigmatic, brilliant man known only as Mr. Doyle, they hail from all planes of existence and are born from an array of supernatural and otherworldly backgrounds and bloodlines. But as the group struggles to come to terms with their shadowy pasts, personal demons, and conflicting loyalties, their greatest challenge awaits them.
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Together, they will confront the minions of utter darkness, who have already begun their quest to resurrect the most malevolent of the fallen angels—whose wrath against mankind knows no bounds.
Published October 2004 Ace Books, ISBN 0-441-01215-9
Book Two: Tears of the Furies
When word comes to Doyle of a series of inexplicable deaths in and around Athens—men and women turned from living flesh into cold stone—he dispatches the Menagerie to investigate. But he soon follows when he realizes that he has sent them into a far greater danger than he imagined. For the queen of the Gorgons herself has risen. To defeat her, the group will have to descend into Hell itself.
Published May 2005 Ace Books, ISBN 0-441-01293-0
Book Three: Stones Unturned
A powerful, demonic force has escaped from the infernal realm - putting the human world in dire peril. It seeks an ally in Danny Ferrick, the youngest member of the Menagerie - a changeling who is already tormented by his dark, primal urges, the legacy of his demon father. Tempted into sampling the horrific but thrilling existence of a full-fledged demon, Danny is on the edge of renouncing all that makes him human. Now time is running out for the other members of Doyle's team as they struggle to save their friend from falling into darkness - and taking all of humanity with him.
Published September 2006 Ace Books, ISBN 0-441-01446-1
Book Four: Crashing Paradise
The Legion of Doom is hell-bent on breaking into Eden, and they've got the perfect captive to help them: Eve, mother of all humanity—and all vampires. Only Doyle and the Menagerie can stop them from turning a blessed garden into a paradise lost.
Published August 2007 Ace Books, ISBN 0-441-01532-8 or ISBN 978-0-441-01532-0
Character Guide
The Menagerie
Mr. Doyle - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the second most powerful sorcerer in the world, behind his former teacher Lorenzo Sanguedolce, aka Sweetblood the Mage. He has been kept alive by his magic and a faerie potion. Once the lover of Lady Ceridwen. Was a former student of Sweetblood with Nigel Gull. Knighted by King Edward.
Eve - Eve is the first woman. After being driven from Eden, she was assaulted by an Archduke of Hell. The demon's violation of her flesh and mind eventually turned her into the first vampire. For many millennia, her mind was gone and she was pure evil, until she awoke from that. (Precise details have yet to be revealed.) Ever since, she has tried to redeem herself in the eyes of God. She despises her own kind—her vampiric offspring—and destroys them when and where she can. Eve can be volatile and whimsical and sexy. She has a passion for and obsession with designer clothes. She remembers only the vaguest glimmers of Eden. Her relationships with the other Menagerie are aloof at best, but she has a longstanding friendship with both Clay and Conan Doyle.
Clay - God’s own Clay. In the beginning, God used Clay to make all sorts of animals and eventually man. Many designs were tried out. Clay can shape shift into any animal, real or imagined in the mind of God, or any person with whom he has had contact. Clay has forgotten much of his own past. He sometimes works with the New Orleans Police department to solve murders. He can see the ecto-plasmic trails of ghosts, and they often hang around their murderer, making it possible to track a killer by this ectoplasmic trail if he reaches the corpse in time. Clay can remember Eden, but only vaguely remembers the hands of the Creator.
Danny Ferrick - A 16-year-old demon living as a boy. He was switched at birth with a human baby and raised by that child's parents as their own. When his demonic nature began to emerge in physical characteristics, his father left the family. Danny is very strong and immune to fire. He can manipulate darkness, cast shadows, and has superhuman vision. His evil/demonic side becomes more pronounced when he gets angry, and sometimes he finds it difficult to control. Danny has been prophesied to play a large part in things to come, but no one yet knows precisely what that means. Danny is the youngest member of The Menagerie. He has his own blog and MySpace page.
Dr. Leonard Graves - The ghost of a former adventurer. Born in Swansea, MA in 1909, he was the son of the servants to Stewart and Annabel Williams. Dr. Graves inherited the Williams' money when their own son died. African American, he was engaged to a white woman, Gabriella Gnecco when he was killed on October 7, 1943 in Florence, Italy. The primary reason the ghost lingers in the physical world is to discover who his killer was, though he spends some time in the spirit realm. The current of the soulstream is always pulling on him, trying to sweep him into the afterworld. In life, he was a brilliant scientist who used his knowledge to hone his body and to combat crime. The ghost has grown fond of Julia Fenrick and has promised to watch over Danny. He has a penchant for vintage black and white movies, which he watches with Conan Doyle.
Squire - Conan Doyle’s squire and driver is a hobgoblin who loves junk food, cigars and bad TV (particularly game shows). He is also a metalsmith and armorer who supplies the Menagerie with their weapons. Short, quat, with a twisted form and pointed ears, Squire is ugly but very likable. He bickers constantly with Eve. He can “shadow walk,” slipping into a shadow anywhere in the world and emerging from any other—traveling the surreal paths in between. Squire has a workshop in the shadow paths, where he combines silver and iron into a magically potent alloy.
Lady Ceridwen - Niece of Finvarra, King of the Fae, she was once Conan Doyle's lover, and their romance is in the midst of being rekindled. Ceridwen is a powerful elemental sorceress who calls upon the spirits of the elementals to do her bidding. These spirits are not bound, but agree to do this based on a deep mutual respect for the Fae. Ceridwen remains with Conan Doyle even though she re-establishes the portal to Faerie, and is given her own room in his home. Meanwhile, trouble brews in Faerie, and her uncle wants her home.
Others
Nigel Gull A former student of Sweetblood's, Gull has an intense rivalry with Conan Doyle. Gull left Sweetblood's tutelage when he began searching for darker magics. One ancient Egyptian magic left his face deformed, so that his features now appear “horse-like.” Gull uses powerful magic to discover nearly any secret by drinking rain water from the mouth of a corpse, thereby speaking with the voice of that dead person and learning their secrets.
Tassarian An undead assassin working for Gull. He has been killed and reconstituted many times. In the 1980s, Squire killed him, but he later came back to life.
Lorenzo Sanguedolce (a.k.a. Sweetblood the Mage) Conan Doyle’s teacher and the most powerful sorcerer in the world, Sweetblood first detects the Demogorgon in the 17th century. He hid himself away to prevent the god-killer from finding Earth, but now that he has been discovered, the Demogorgon will have sensed him, and all involved seems to think he knows it all.
The Demogorgon An ancient creature. A magic and god eater. On his way to Earth to consume Sweetblood. Also called the “Devourer” and the “Destroyer.”
Worlds
Blight, The The faerie name for the human world. Once Faerie shared a greater connection to the Blight, but no more. Only a very few portals exist between the two, though there are Fey sorcerers who make the journey without such a portal.
Faerie A dimension of sorcery inhabited by such magical creatures as fairies (the Fey), trolls, and giants. It has been ravaged frequently by wars (the Twilight Wars), though recently there has been a prolonged period of peace. New trouble appears to be brewing.
Hades The Underworld. A pocket dimension that is home to the faded gods and monsters—some of them flesh and some only spirit—of the Greek legends. Its gates are located outside of the Ayil Asomati caves on the Cape of Matapan (Taenarus) on the Ionian Sea. Its former ruler, Hades, committed suicide, but it seems likely his ghost—like that of so many others—still lingers there.
Hell A collective term for dozens—perhaps hundreds—of alternate dimensions populated by demons and other malevolent beings, and where suffering and cruelty are the norm.
River of Souls Also known as the Soulstream, this is the flow of souls from life to the afterlife. It is the limbo area between the land of the living and the spirit gates that lead to the soul's final rest.
Shadowpaths A world made up of shadows, into which each shadow in the human world is a doorway, if you have the power to travel the paths.
Events
Ages of Man Three have been mentioned so far.
- First Age of Man - Creation to Civilization.
- Second Age of Man - The Mythological Age
- Third Age of Man - The Modern Age.
Golden Age of Heroes The early days of Pulp heroes, which included Dr. Graves, Joe Falcon, The Siren and, for a while, The Whisper.
The Twilight Wars A series of wars that involved the Fey, Hobgoblins, and the Corca-Duibhne, amongst many others. Ceriweden’s mother was killed during one. Conan Doyle fought for the fae. The most recent wars took place around the same time as World War I and II.
Literary significance & criticism
"Move over, X-Men and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, here comes the Menagerie!" - The Barnes & Noble Review
The fourth Book "Crashing Paradise," is to be the last book in the series. In an email response given by Christopher Golden regarding when the fifth book would be printed, he replied "I'm sorry to say that sales on the series weren't very good, and the fourth book, CRASHING PARADISE, is likely the last one, at least for now."
- The Official Christopher Golden Website
- The Official Thomas E. Sniegoski Website
- The Christopher Golden Message Forblog and MySpace page.