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Library Journal:
Magic has returned to the land of Noreela, but the Mages have taken the seed of power for themselves and now raise armies and magical machines to destroy the land. Only a few stand against them, among them a witch, a young man addicted to a substance known as "fledge," and a librarian who is more alive when dreaming than when awake. This sequel to Dusk again demonstrates Bram Stoker Award winner Lebbon's consummate talent for viscerally visual fantasy. Coupled with strong and unusual characters and a plot of epic proportions, it belongs in most libraries' fantasy collections.
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FANTASY BOOK CRITIC:
For Tim Lebbon, multiple award-winning (Bram Stoker, Tombstone, Shocker, British Fantasy) author of numerous horror/supernatural-themed novels (“Beserk”, “Desolation”, “Face”) and short stories (“White”), the “Dusk” and “Dawn” duology marks the writer’s first attempt at a fully realized fantasy world with mixed results.
Before we get into the positives/negatives of the novels, it must be noted that “Dawn” is a direct sequel to “Dusk”, so it’s necessary to have read the one before the other, because basically we’re talking about a single story split into two volumes. As to this review, I’ll be mainly looking at the duology as a whole…
First, the good: Far and away the most fascinating feature of the “Dusk/Dawn” duology is the world of Noreela that Mr. Lebbon has fashioned. Rife with strange peoples (Red Monks, Shantasi, fledge miners, Breakers, Cantrass Angels) and even stranger creatures (the Nax, Tumblers, Mimics), Noreela is a character unto itself, defined by its bloody history, unique cultures/locales and a ton of little details (rotwine, rhellin, fodder) that give the world depth & personality. As far as fantasy worlds go, Noreela is among the most imaginative & absorbing that I’ve had the pleasure to explore, so it’s no surprise that I found those parts of the books that focused on Noreela the most interesting. Of course, Noreela is merely the setting for “Dusk/Dawn” and there is an actual story involved :).
In “Dusk”, Noreela has been absent of magic for 300 years since the end of the Cataclysmic War and the banishment of the Mages. Into this dark and despairing time period, hope enters in the form of an ordinary farm boy named Rafe Baburn. Not surprisingly, there is much more to Rafe than there first seems, and the boy soon becomes caught up in a deadly adventure across Noreela that attracts an unlikely cast of misfits to his cause in saving the world. In other words, your standard fantasy tale right? Well, that’s where Tim Lebbon comes into play as he makes it an effort to challenge such conventions, as evidenced by the shocking events at the end of “Dusk”. With “Dawn”, Mr. Lebbon continues to try and avoid various fantasy pitfalls, and for the most part does just that, though certain events that play out are still fairly predictable. Still, despite a little unevenness, the story that comprises “Dusk/Dawn” is an exciting one, driven by fast-paced action, inventive sorcery, interesting characters and explosive convergences.
As far as the actual characters of “Dusk/Dawn”, this is where the results are a bit varied. On the one hand, I loved the eclectic & vast cast of heroes and villains that we’re introduced to, especially since Tim Lebbon does such a magnificent job of establishing the various players, which include a thief (Kosar), a librarian (Alishia), the Shantasi warrior A’Meer Pott, a witch/whore (Hope), a fledge miner (Trey Barossa), a Red Monk (Lucien Malini) and their founder Jossua Elmantoz, and Lenora, a survivor from the Cataclysmic War and lieutenant of the Mages (Angel & S’Hivez). Unfortunately, despite possessing unique backgrounds, the characters' personalities are mostly formulaic with decisions made throughout the books that are never that uncharacteristic. Additionally, with so many different viewpoints involved, their development as the story progresses is stunted, and for the most part I was never emotionally attached to any of the characters, and did not really care what happened to them, no matter how tragic or unexpected the events. Apart from these weaknesses though, the characters are mostly enjoyable to follow, most notably with such personal favorites as Trey or Alishia, while I felt that Lenora’s narrative was the weakest, especially since she was the link to the Mages (main antagonists) who were the most one-dimensional & stereotypical characters in the book.
As a whole the “Dusk/Dawn” duology was a series that I was more than happy to pick up. Sure, it’s rough around the edges with characters that are difficult to relate to and a story that can be predictable at times, but for anyone who likes their fantasy made of darker and more imaginative material, tinged with horror elements and aimed at adults, then this is it. Best of all, Mr. Lebbon concludes the “Dusk/Dawn” duology with an ending that leaves room for future exploration and already plans on returning to the spellbinding world of Noreela with a couple of standalone prequels and a short story. Personally, I can’t wait to see what Mr. Lebbon comes up with next for the denizens of Noreela…
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Publishers Weekly:
In this flawed follow-up to Dusk (2006), a genre-bending amalgam of horror and fantasy that saw the ascendance of the vengeful Mages, Angel and S'Hivez, the dark powers continue their rampage across the land of Noreela, which they condemned to eternal darkness after killing Rafe Baburn and devouring his seed of magic. The fellowship that helped Rafe on his flight across Noreela—Hope, Alishia, Kosar and Trey—is left with one small hope: Alishia's conviction that Rafe passed her a small bit of what he carried; Noreela can be saved if Alishia reaches the mystic city of Kang Kang. Dusk was a revelation as a shocking, vital tale of a dying land, but Lebbon overplays his hand in this sequel. No longer dying, Noreela is essentially dead and in need of resurrection, and all but the few main characters appear resigned to destruction at the hands of the two-dimensional Mages. Not even Lebbon's wild inventiveness—bio-metal-stone war machines and rolling sentient balls of bone and flesh—can compensate for the hopeless scenario and wooden villains.
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Craig Davis
Through the years there are only a handful of writers who never disappoint.... in no particular order they are Bentley Little, Terry Lamsley, Kealan Patrick Burke, and, of course TIM LEBBON. Tim seems to be getting better and more prolific (YES!!!!) with age. Dusk is a extremely creative take on the fantasy/ sword and sorcery epic type stories. The descriptions and believable world will leave you desperate for more. By blending the best elements of his horror work (read White and Other Tales of Ruin NOW!!) with fresh takes on fantasy, this is a book that almost redifines the genre. For fans of horror, Steven Erikson, George R R Martin, Stephen King, hell....EVERYONE I'd give this book 10 stars if possible.
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Mark Graham, Rocky
Mountain News
Grade: B+
First, the annoying part: You see a copy of Dusk at
your local bookstore. It has a pretty cool cover which boasts:
"This is a fantasy for grown-ups...an excellent book."
And the synopsis on the back sounds pretty good, so you buy
the book. Nowhere is there an indication that this is just
the first half of the story, nor that the ending will leave
you hanging in space until the publication of Dusk in the
spring of 2007.
This happens all too frequently these days, and I really
get irritated when I think I'm going to finish a book, and
then realize I have to wait a year to find out what happens
to the characters I have begun to care about.
Despite this caveat, Tim Lebbon has succeeded in writing
a riveting adult fantasy.
It is the Year of the Black 2208, which really doesn't mean
much, since the planet where the narrative takes place has
two moons and obviously isn't Earth. The land once depended
on magic for everything from agriculture to military defense.
But 300 years ago, two mages misused the magic, and a cataclysmic
war followed. The mages were exiled to a forbidden island.
Now the magic is trying to return, and it has been embodied
in a naive farm boy named Rafe Baburn.
As the tale begins, a Red Monk comes into Rafe's village
and kills every man, woman and child. Only Rafe, who has no
idea of the magic within him, and a branded thief named Kosar,
escape. The Red Monks are like ninja warriors, whose only
purpose is keeping the land free of magic. They are hard to
kill and not very particular about who they slaughter.
Kosar and Rafe make it to a nearby city. But hundreds of
Red Monks aren't far behind. The boy and the thief team up
with a witch, a miner, a librarian and a whore, and the unlikely
group tries to escape the Monks, only to discover that the
mages are coming at them from another direction. The mages
want the boy and the magic for themselves.
What follows is sex, violence, monsters and magic, all the
ingredients of a fine adult fantasy. The only thing that is
lacking is a conclusion.
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Midwest Book Review
The Cataclysmic War ended the reign of magic with mages fleeing
for their lives. Over the next three centuries, in spite of
the demise of magic as a combat tool and the thought that
the Cataclysmic War was the war to end all wars, battles continue
using savage mundane methods to kill or maim your adversary.
In 2208, the Year of the Black, Kosar the Thief watches the
rider in red serendipitously comes to the village Trengborne.
He is stunned as the stranger begins a slaughter killing the
young and anyone else offering resistance even the militia
while taking blows that should have left him dead. Kosar notices
one teenage boy escapes up the dark hillside. That lad Rafe
Baburn saw his parents and others murdered by what had to
be a demon. Evidence has surfaced that magic has been rebirthed
in the young; the Red Monk and his minion plan to eradicate
it before the one soul possessing the skill can mature enough
to use it against them. Kosar meets and teams up with A'Meer
the Shantasi warrior in a search to find and protect Rafe
from the Red Monk, but first must expedite him from Hope the
witch. This epic coming of age fantasy grips the audience
from the moment the Thief fearfully observes the red-robed
killing machine and never slows down as Kosar finds allies
to protect the dying world's perhaps last hope Rafe. The exhilarating
story line paints a dark gloomy Poe like atmosphere throughout
especially when the adversaries take center stage. The key
characters in particular the teen and his champions are unique
individuals that make their realm seem even more nightmarishly
real. Tim Lebbon paints the darkest Dusk that will
have readers keeping the lights on until dawn breaks.
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Terry Weyna, The
Agony Column
Never in my life have I been more eager to read a sequel than
I am to read 'Dawn', the sequel to 'Dusk'. I
didn’t want to put 'Dusk' down, not even when
I got to the end. I even read the end pages, the sneak preview
of the sequel — something I never do — because I
wanted more of this story. Tim Lebbon has written a book that
is compelling, haunting, terrifying and shocking, fully creating
a world no one would want to live in but about which everyone
will want to read. This genre-bender, skillfully melding horror
with fantasy and with (maybe, if you squint a bit) just a
soupcon of science fiction, is a fine addition to the New
Weird, the wave of new literature of the fantastic that is
doing wonderful things infusing new life into genres that
were becoming mired in computers, elves and gore.
Like many New Weird tales, 'Dusk' is about a place
at least as much as it is about people. Noreela is an ailing
island; the soil is losing its potency for growing crops,
there are sinkholes that resemble whirlpools, and some areas
have become so barren that nothing but bedrock remains. The
cause of this degradation is the departure of magic from Noreela
three centuries ago, coinciding with end of the Cataclysmic
War. At the end of the war, the Mages were driven north, past
the archipelago and into the unknown world that is outside
Noreela. Magic left them at the same time it left the land.
At the same time, all machines — powered by magic —
ceased to function.
The Red Monks are ever on the lookout for the return of magic,
so that they might destroy it once again before it ever takes
hold, thereby depriving the Mages of the weapon they used
in despicable ways to enslave the land and its people. The
Shantasi warriors, on the other hand, are also on the lookout
for magic in order to nurture and protect it, keeping it safe
from the Mages but giving new life to the land. And in between
are the witches, who lost their magic but found natural ways
of practicing it, along with those who find magic in huge,
lost libraries, and those who mine fledge, the drug that takes
them into the minds of the earth, the air, the rocks and all
those who inhabit them.
Into this world is born Rafe Baburn, a boy who, for reasons
he cannot fathom, leads a Red Monk to attack his village and
insanely slaughter all those who live therein. The only survivors
are him and a thief, a man who follows him when he flees to
Pavisse for protection with his uncle. Rafe meets there with
a witch, and Kosar meets with A’Meer, a Shantasi warrior,
and together the four flee south and east to escape the pursuing
Red Monks. There they meet with a librarian and a fledge miner
who has himself escaped horrors newly arrived underground.
The band of six, wholly inadequate to the trials they are
to face, move on toward Kang Kang and The Blurring. Soon they
are running not just from the Red Monks, but from the Mages,
who have reawakened to the promise of renewed magic that seems
to run through Rafe.
This is not a land of beauty or joy, and it repeatedly shows
the frightened and wholly inadequate band of travelers how
inept and hopeless their quest truly is. How can you have
a quest with no object? Where can they go to find safety from
the powerful forces that pursue them? When even the land cries
out in misery, how can six people find some measure of protection
from the evil that pursues them so relentlessly from every
direction?
The slaughter that begins the book describes the tenor of
the novel: life is nasty, brutish and short, and people die
for absolutely no good reason, in the most horrific ways.
Pleasure seems hard to find in Noreela, much less joy. Lebbon’s
reputation as a horror writer of great skill is clearly on
display in this novel in which strange, unknowable creatures
— tumblers, who resemble tumbleweeds with terrible spikes
and a malicious intelligence; the Nax, slumbering but vicious
creatures of the fledge mines; machines composed of flesh
as well as metal; and the Mages themselves, beautiful and
powerful and unspeakably hideous, not physically, but in who
and what they are. But this is not a pure horror novel; it
is a novel of dark fantasy, a novel that partakes of the tropes
of the quest, of the Land, and of the magical child.
The writing is exquisite. The characters are fully formed.
The sense of place is so strong that you feel you are living
there. Several different societies are lovingly described
and take firm hold in the imagination. The fear, the horror,
the wonder are clearly felt. The mysteries await solutions.
As 'Dusk' descends on the land in a truly shocking
ending, one weirder and more horrifying than any I’ve
ever read, all that remains for the reader is an all-encompassing
desire to know: what happens next?
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Johnny Butane, The
Horror Channel
I just picked up my first Tim Lebbon book a few months ago,
I believe it was a novella put out by Cemetery Dance, and
instantly I knew I had discovered something special. Since
then I've read the two Leisure releases that have been put
out, Desolation (review)
and Berserk (review),
both of which are pretty firmly planted in the horror world.
So I was a bit surprised when I learned that Lebbon’s
next novel would actually be a fantasy story, but the fact
that it’s so incredibly good is a testament to what a
solid writer, not just of horror but in general, Lebbon truly
is.
Usually when you hear the term "fantasy" you immediately
conjure images of unicorns and great castles, or at least
I used to, but much like Chris Golden’s Myth Hunters
(review),
which is also out on shelves now, Dusk is anything
but happy fairies and sneaky elves. Lebbon demonstrates this
in the first few pages of the novel, which come from the viewpoint
of the thief Kosar.
After traveling the world performing all manner of nefarious
activities, Kosar has finally settled down in a small farming
community. He has been permanently branded a thief through
a method that causes his finger tips to bleed constantly,
but the community has grudgingly accepted him and he’s
finally earning an honest day’s living.
One day, a man in a red cloak rides into town on horseback.
Kosar immediately senses danger so he hides in a ditch, and
witnesses the man in red approach a child on a bridge, asking
for the whereabouts of one Rafe Baburn. Before the child is
even given a chance to answer, the slaughter begins. The man
in read kills every single man, woman, and child in the town,
all the while being shot with arrows and stabbed, suffering
injuries that would kill any normal person. But he continues
on until he believes every person in the village is dead,
then he allows himself to succumb to his injuries. It’s
a very disturbing scene, and a fantastic way to introduce
what is one of the most formidable evil creatures I’ve
ever see in any book.
The man in red is a Red Monk, one of an entire order of monks
who are both completely insane and completly driven to be
sure that magic never comes back to the land. 300 years ago,
a pair of lovers called the Mages bent and twisted the ways
of magic to their own evil deeds, bringing war and death to
the population, and so magic (which in the world of Dusk is
a part of the world that works through people) withdrew itself
from the planet. Since then the machines have not worked,
society has crumbled, and the Mages were banished to a frozen
wasteland for the rest of their unnaturally long lives.
Rafe Baburn is the new conduit for magic, a fact which he
is at first ignorant of but later embraces, and the Monks
will stop at nothing to kill him. Meanwhile the Mages have
sensed the resurgence of magic and have put plans in motioin
to be sure the new conduit is theirs and their alone, for
they have had many centuries to both go even more insane as
well as plan their revenge.
Sorry if that seems like an overly long plot synopsis, but
it’s important I think for you to see just how different
this story is. As the characters all come together to protect
Rafe, attempting to get him somewhere where there are a race
of warriors who understand magic and an protect him, I was
reminded of works like The Stand, where a wide group
of individuals all team up for a common goal, though the underlying
themes in Dusk are far darker than even in King’s
world. Even though the disappearance of magic caused the world
to fall into ruin, those that are trying protect Rafe understand
that if it comes back in the wrong hands, things will get
much worse than they already are.
Lebbon does a masterful job bringing all these varied characters
together; from a witch who believes that Rafe is her reason
for being, a miner who only came to the surface world because
creatures called The Nax destroyed his entire underground
city, Kosar and his warrior girlfriend, the only person to
have ever killed a Red Monk single-handedly, all the way to
a librarian who is comatose for a good portion of the story;
they all have their own reasons for being there, although
some are more up front than others. We’re never given
a feeling of real camaraderie or comfort with this group,
though; underlying the other reasonse, they’re all there
because they feel they have to be which lends a palpable tension
to the adventure they’re all on together.
I did have some minor issues with the pacing, as it seemed
to drag on a bit too long in some places where I thought it
should be moving forward quicker, but most of it is character
development and that could lead to a better understanding
of their motives in the next book, Dawn. The ending,
as well, will either enrage you or (as it did me) make you
have to go back and re-read the last few pages over and over
again to maker sure you read what you thought you just read...
it doesn’t end like you may think, that’s for sure.
Overall, Dusk is a great read and another reason for
me to point to Tim Lebbon as one of the most talented authors
working today. Though it may be billed as a fantasy book,
the trappings that come along with that label are all but
naught here, and a world is created that I know I want to
hear more from as soon as possible.
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Kirkus
Dark, gripping swords-and-sorcery noir, first in a promised
fantasy series.
The land of Noreela has a turbulent, violent history. After
the Cataclysmic War, magic was banished from the land, and
an order of demonic men known as Red Monks have made it their
mission to see that it stays banished. Though they are a fearsome
and deadly menace, they lurk in the shadows of myth and hearsay,
used as boogiemen to scare children. Signs of impending conflict
emerge when a Red Monk comes to a small village looking for
a boy named Rafe Baburn, thought to be the conduit for magic.
The entire village is slaughtered, but Rafe remains unfound.
His only chance for survival lies with a group of unlikely
heroes, including a falsely branded thief, a clever witch/prostitute
and a brave young librarian. Lebbon's medievalesque world
is well-developed, if overly familiar; the bleak tone and
setting, which includes drugs and whores aplenty, counterpoint
with dark effectiveness those fantasies that focus on highborn
royalty and knights in shining armor. If any armor shines
here, it's because it's covered in blood.
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Library Journal
Three centuries after the death of magic and mages in the
Cataclysmic War, the world has returned to an earlier, simpler
form of civilization. When the wanton destruction of villages
and repositories of knowledge at the hands of sinister Red
Monks begins, only a few understand that magic has returned
and that a young man, Rafe Baburn, needs protection in order
to prevent that magic from destroying the world. Bram Stoker
Award-winning Lebbon (Mesmer; The Nature of Balance)
begins a new series with a coming-of-age tale featuring a
sharp-witted, youthful hero and a group of unlikely allies
that include a thief, a warrior, and a witch. Engaging storytelling
and a solid backstory make this a good choice for most fantasy
collections.
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Publishers Weekly
Well-drawn characters and a literate way with the grisly distinguish
this first of a new fantasy series from Stoker-winner Lebbon
(Desolation). Long after the Cataclysmic War that devastated
the world and banished magic, the Mages are trying to ensure
that the magic, if it returns, is under their control. When
farm boy Rafe Baburn shows signs of magical gifts, the Mages
send their relentless minions, the Red Monks, in pursuit.
Rafe must flee for his life, but fortunately he finds allies
in a thief, a woman warrior and a scholarly witch. Many of
the well-handled action scenes are from the bad guys' point-of-view,
an unusual perspective that helps round out the author's fantasy
world. The climactic battle, a variation on the classic raising
of the dead, offers an ambiguous outcome that presumably will
be resolved in the sequel.
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Erik
Alkenbrack, a reader from Canada
Are you a little tired of the standard horror fare? I am at
times, and a change is good.
This book is anything but standard stuff, horror, fantasy
or otherwise. I don't read much fantasy, be it dark or any
other shade. Its never really interested me much. And this
book IS dark fantasy, but don't let that fool you. You won't
see any magic elves, or anything else you might equate with
'fantasy' in this book. One of the things that has always
drawn me to Tim's writing is the unique ideas and fresh perspectives
he brings to the genre. This was no different, his imagination
runs wild with this story.
The book is set in an alternate world that is bleak, strange
and violent. It begins with the massacre of an entire village
by a single man (and I use that term loosely), and the pace
seldom slows from that point on. Tim describes the landscape
and wild assortment of (often violent) characters in vivid
detail without slowing the story line in the least.
I've always enjoyed Tim's style of writing and this one is
top notch. Pre-order it now...really, you won't be disappointed.
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Lee
Copeland, a reader from USA
Within the first few pages of any story he has written Tim
Lebbon draws his readers into an entire world he has created
out of thin air. Dusk is an outstanding example of
that. I have been a fan of Tim Lebbon's writing ever since
I first read his collection Fears Unnamed. I had no
idea what I was in for. He was able to instantly create characters
that I had sympathy for and concerns. Mostly the concerns
part. His stories are completely engulfing.
When it comes to Tim Lebbon weaving a believable and undeniably
terrifying world, he truly is a master. What he has created
is anything but a traditional fantasy world. From the very
beginning when you're introduced to the magic-hating Red Monks
you know you're in for a bumpy ride. The world of Noreela
is so stark and exciting.
If you were looking for a world brimming with magic and wonder
this book is just the opposite. Magic was twisted and used
for evil means so it up and leaves the people of Noreela to
fend for themselves. In so doing leaving the masses to fester
and die. I loved the fact that magic was long gone and being
hunted by the red monks. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that
magic itself seems to be its own being... actually one of
the main characters.
Do not worry about your beastly menagerie. This book has it's
share of not quite natural creatures. It has a fresh and exciting
cast of monsters to keep the most die hard fantasy buff satisfied.
The absolute brutal nature of the characters and events made
me fear the outcome. It kept me guessing about the fate of
magic and the cast of interesting characters. The ending still
haunts me and I truly expect anyone who reads this to feel
the same. I definitely recommend this book to anybody looking
to break out of the norm when it comes to fantasy adventure.
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Hobbit
from SFFWORLD.COM
The year is the Year of the Black 2208. There has been no
magic on the world of Noreela for three centuries. It is a
savage place, a post-Cataclysmic War environment, where life
is nasty, very unpleasant and often short.
The book begins with violence - a graphic and gruesome massacre
of men, women and children in a village by an seemingly unstoppable
creature, a Red Monk. It is searching for Rafe Baburn, a young
man who, though he doesn’t entirely know it, has a destiny,
and whose future will affect Noreela. And the return of the
Mages also means that magic is returning…
So starts Tim Lebbon’s first book in his latest fantasy
duology. Tim Lebbon is a Bram Stoker Award winning author,
as well as the winner of two British Fantasy Awards, a Tombstone
Award and a finalist for both the International Horror Guild
and the World Fantasy Awards, where he has also been a judge.
DUSK is his eighth novel.
That brief resume should tell you that with such a pedigree
and track record, this would therefore suggest that DUSK
is something special. It is, in fact, a horror writer’s
take on a fantasy novel, and if you have the stomach for it,
it is a memorable read.
The book is a book in two parts. The first half, First
Signs of Night, introduces a broad range of characters
to the reader. Much of this part of the book deals with the
premonitions that show things are changing and that the evil
of magic is returning. Prophecies are fulfilled and characters
from the past return. A lot of this part of the book deals
with Rafe’s attempts to avoid the Red Monks, who are
determined to stop the return of the Mages and the magic that
they would like to wield. But this is a broader book than
that, in that there are other characters introduced which
expand the scope of the book. Alishia is a librarian in an
enormous library in Noreela City, where (presumably as
a result of cultural decay) people do not really read.
The destruction of the library leads her to start on a great
adventure. This leads her to meet Trey, who is found injured,
escaping from the destruction of his previous life, permanently
underground mining fledge (a hallucinogenic drug used for
recreation and for out of body experiences). There is
also Kosar, a criminal determined to do good who, like Rafe,
has escaped the Red Monks and now wants to survive with his
old friend and lover, A’Meer. A’Meer is a character
with a long and complicated past. Hope is an old witch who,
seeing the signs, has taken on the responsibility of looking
after Rafe, our messiah-like innocent.
On the other side of the coin, the book also deals with the
Mages and their allies – outcasts living in exile after
their destruction of the world, which led to the loss of magic.
Leading their return is Lenora, a psychopathic character given
the responsibility of leading an army, the Krotes, clearing
the way for the Mages to get revenge and return to a position
of power.
The second part of the book, Sunfall, mainly deals
with the return of the Mages. Having spent the first part
of the book building the world and its characters, this part
of the book deals with the way that the Mages return, leaving
destruction and carnage in their wake.
For those who read a lot of Fantasy, the plot in that brief
introduction above may at first sound a little familiar. However,
Tim’s dexterity as a writer is to take those genre concepts
and plot elements and turn them into a compelling, if harrowing,
read.
I was hooked straight away. It is dark, nasty, and visceral
and yet a real page-turner. The characters are well developed,
- so good that even when they are not likeable, they are comprehensible.
The skill of a good writer is that, whether good or bad, as
a reader you want to know what happens to these characters.
Lebbon managed this admirably.
Where this book scored for me was is in the way that a horror
writer’s sensibilities are given in a Fantasy context.
This is best shown in the book’s representation of evil.
The Red Monks, for example, are convincingly frightening;
horrific, twisted, unstoppable spectres of evil, whose presence
was compellingly there throughout the book. (This is also
shown in the fabulous cover of the book). The Mages are corrupt
megalomaniacs, whose sense of purpose is briefly given, yet
clearly expressed. And then there are The Nax, a malevolent
intelligence living deep below ground in a Lovecraftian way
– unspeakable, nameless evil.
There are points in the book and events that shock and will
horrify. It is clearly an adult book, using words and language
that are not for those who like their Fantasy as cosy comfort
reading. Battle scenes in the second part of the book are
given in details which are both horrifying and engaging. The
dreadfulness of war is graphically presented. The force of
evil that pervades the whole novel is shown here in its full
horror. If I had to find fault, there were places where I
felt that the attempts to shock were trying to shock too hard.
But the cumulative effect is remarkable.
One of the basic, key themes which run through the book is
redemption – something Kosar seeks, but must work hard
to get. The Mages’ return is partly in response to a
need for it, and the Monks are driven by a need to stop it.
Perhaps the book’s strongest theme is that of decay
and decadence – a world run down and clearly on its last
legs. Lebbon also manages to create a world which is convincingly
corroded. Surprisingly quickly, I found myself revelling in
a world of decay and disruption - like Viriconium or New Crobuzon,
like Hawkwood’s world, Noreela is a world where life
is hard and yet at times rewarding.
I also enjoyed the environment of Lebbon’s creation.
There is a use of people, place names and events - a new vocabulary
in fact - that is skilfully dripfed into the reader’s
reading experience, and which by the end of the book creates
this amazing, if depressing, environment. The overall drabness
and darkness can be a little overwhelming after a while –
I did feel in places that the point that this was a world
in decay was rather overemphasised, but it has a purpose.
The ending is both effective and jawdropping, cleverly building
on the events of earlier in the book.
Overall, DUSK is not a light read, nor paradoxically
a particularly pleasant one, in the nicest possible way. It
is a good fantasy book with strong horrific tones. I found
shades of Cook and Erikson here in the book’s violence,
Mieville in it’s contemporary weirdness and perhaps most
strongly Paul Kearney here, in that combination of horror,
decay and squalor, though Lebbon is clearly his own voice.
His proficiency as a writer means that in the end the style
of the story wins through to create a book which is imaginative
and memorable, and if you can handle it, definitely worth
reading.
A very strong book, for those with a strong disposition.
I look forward to the sequel in the duology, (DAWN),
which is due in 2007. Tim’s website for the book, www.noreela.com
gives you a taste of what’s here and is recommended.
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Kath
Deakin, a reader from South Wales
I've been lucky enough to have a sneak preview of Dusk
and I can't wait to read it again in its final edit. It's
another Lebbon book that you won't be able to put down once
you start reading it so make sure you give yourself the time
it deserves; and, of course make sure you're surrounded by
friends or family. In the daylight…
This time he's used all his macabre energy to create a thoroughly
fantastic world. There's everything here you need from your
fantasy novel: an operatic cast of characters; a multi-layered,
multi-species and highly complex society; a truly epic quest,
and heroes. And villains. I'm still not completely certain
which is which.
But this is fantasy as directed by Paul Greengrass and starring
Peter Mullan. It has the hard-edged, embittered taste of reality.
With no faerie rings or elfin beauty, Lebbon's Noreela is
a world that's as difficult to live in as our own. There's
as many shades of grey in this novel as there is red and the
missing magic is the fantastical WMD everyone needs to find.
There's a pace to the narrative that is inexorable in its
drive and, yet, the exposition required to create such an
imaginable world is so subtly introduced that it must be delivered
by literary osmosis. The action is highly realised; from the
claustrophobia of the first scenes of violent chaos rendered
by the red monk to the panned-out scale of the invaders racing
the alert across a vast landscape.
You will enjoy this novel; it'll frighten, horrify, amaze
and attract you in equal measure. If you've only sampled Lebbon's
short stories until now, do yourself a favour and read what
he can do with a whole world to play with. I'm just extremely
glad that I know there's more of this to come.
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Laura
Long Martin, a reader from USA
I assure you, Tim Lebbon knows what you have dreamed
and you will find it written across the pages of DUSK.
Having first sampled Lebbon's work in his novel "Desolation,"
I was already familiar with how deftly he can move between
the ethereal and the fundamentally ordinary. He finds beauty
and wonder in the smallest things, and yet he is just as gifted
in flinging out the expanse of the universe like a mad astronomer.
I have been thrilled to experience a preview copy of DUSK
and I can already envision myself and a group of friends sharing
a drink and having lively discussions about all it has to
offer. Anyone in that scenario who admitted they had not read
DUSK would be immediately given the empathy typically offered
to the homeless and impoverished, because not to have paid
a visit to Lebbon's Noreela universe is to be truly poor in
body and soul.
I must say it again, Lebbon knows what is in your nightmares
and he will show them all to you again.
Others have described Lebbon as having a wild imagination
but I fear it is much worse than we suspected. He could be
mad or at the very least quite ill. How else could he have
created such creatures of horror, the seen and unseen. There's
the Red Monk, the skull ravens, the tumblers and furbats,
the Nax and shades and weapons and the smell of rotwine rotting
in the hot sun. There's Trey with the yellow eyes and the
beautiful, sensual A'Meer who likes it over a chair. There's
Hope the Witch and Rafe Baburn, the last hope for a dying
world. And there's more…there's always more to the eye
where Magic is concerned.
DUSK is an epic story, but don't let that frighten you if
you're not fond of them. This one will wrap your heart in
chains with each successive chapter and will not let you go.
You will find yourself swept up into the story of unlikely
heroes and sworn enemies, of the ancient machines left over
from the Cataclysmic War, of a love story in a place where
primal fears reign supreme.
Just as the sun is going down, reflected in fire and water,
blood and smoke, all hell and all doubt, you will find that
which that stands unwavering and timeless in the face of impossible
odds…and pray for the DAWN.
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