World's End (Age of Misrule, Book 1)

I didn't expect to be as impressed with this book as I was. It has a subtle intensity in descriptions, never slows down enough to get boring, but also never made me impatient to keep reading. I enjoyed the balance of descriptions, conversations, and action. It was a joy to read a book by an author I had never heard of, yet who seems to be taking the business of writing fantasy books seriously to invest admirable amount of research. Even though by the end it was really obvious the most popular description throughout is that everything tends to be "mediaeval" and every door is "oaken" :) Overall, a highly enjoyable read for anybody interested in the ancient fantasy resurging into a modern world presented with respect for everyone involved. Or just any fantasy fans in general, really. Highly recommended!

With Age of Misrule: World's End, Mark Chadbourn's oeuvre of Celtic gods and monsters returning, with catastrophic results, to the world, finally reaches U.S. Publication. Done in a handsome edition with great art by John Picacio, the book soon transports the reader into a world that starts off familiar. Only at first. We met a set of characters in-then contemporary Britain (the book was originally written in the 1990's). Jack, Ruth, Laura, Shavi, and Ryan slowly come together, under the mysterious guidance of Tom, as events slowly reveal that the old creatures and Gods of Celtic Mythology are not only real, but they are returning to the world to take their place in (mis)rule once again. Technology starts to fail, and magic starts to rise again. But the return of magic and magical beings, and magical items is no good thing. And worse. the five characters have been signaled out by the forces of darkness for reasons the characters themselves do not at first understand. Still, when a dragon firebombs a freeway in order to try and kill you, and the Wild Hunt comes after you to stop you from doing something that you yourself do not know, its time to, flaws and all, to try and be a hero. To try and make sense of a changing world, and better still, try and guide its change for the better. The characters are three dimensional and none are cookie cutter protagonists or sad-sacks. Chadbourn's writing is both poignant in the stories of the character as well as describing vividly and engagingly the encounters and conflicts these characters face as they deal with the too-rapidly changing world. Strong use and understanding of remixed mythology and Faerie (which reminded me, in a different vein, of Bear's Promethean Age novels). Excellent set pieces. Characters that grow, change and you learn to care about. Forget derivative pablum fantasy. This is some of the good stuff. In Silverlock terms, its clear that Chadbourn has made a pilgrimage to Hippocrene and isn't afraid to write like it. I've already bought the second book in the series. I think, after reading this one, you will too.

World's End, by Mark Chadbourne, is the first book of the Age of Misrule trilogy, in which the old fairy tales are returning to Britain, bringing about the end of the Age of Reason. In London, Jack Churchill and Ruth Gallagher witness a brutal murder that leaves them both unconscious and with no memory of the murderer. The come to realize that the perpetrator was unnatural, and that more instances of the supernatural are occurring all over Britain, along with intermittent failures of technology. The two of them leave London to look for answers. As they travel, they're pursued by the frightening Fomorii and their vile allies. They meet a few helpful people along the way and come to realize that they're two of five Brothers and Sisters of Dragons -- fated to stand against the horrors invading the world. Their task is to collect four items of great magical significance, hidden in ancient sites of power. Along the way, some beneficent creatures offer help, but of course, they're few and far between compared to the evil ones. Chadbourne has clearly done a huge amount of research into Celtic mythology and Arthurian legend, weaving folklore into a secret history. The result is a layered, complex world invaded by gruesome terrors, but lit with occasional moments of awe and beauty. The protagonists, Church, Ruth, Laura, Shavi, and Veitch, are flawed people thrust into a position of responsibility, doing the best they can against overwhelming odds. Their acceptance of their situation builds at realistic pace, contrasting nicely to the descent of the world into supernatural terror and technological failure. The relationships between the five of them are shifting and not without tensions. Another strength of the book is the atmosphere of desperation, as humanity becomes less and less able to stand against an invasion of powerful, frightening creatures with no regard for human life. The feeling is of an insidious cataclysm, creeping up despite their best efforts. The tension ratchets up throughout the book, the stakes increasing the more the protagonists know. I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this, and it was worth being tired the next morning.

The first book in his trilogy of trilogies, about the return of magic to our modern world. A quest where 5 flawed individuals are brought together to collect various artefacts and try to stop the return of the Nightwalkers. There is alot of Arthurian and Celtic legend within the story and the book gave me pause for thought more than once. How would we cope if technology failed and the monsters and demons of our nightmares and childhood fairy tales really did exist? Chadbourn throws all of this into the melting pot and the result is a hugely enjoyable fast paced urban fantasy that takes you on a whistle stop tour of some of the UK's ancient sites, but also a multi-layered book that gets better and better the more you read it. The flaws of the characters keep them very real, their reactions and actions in the bizarre situations they find themselves in kept me hooked. There is fear, anger, betrayal, love, sex and music all wrapped around a masterful plot of myth, legend and magic.

Well I found this book by going through my local second hand book store and was amazed by the way this story line. Mark Chadbourn's continuous melding of ancient mythological creations with today's technology is great. I can't wait for his second book to come out so I can buy it.