The Lords Of Misrule
The Lords Of Misrule – John Tomlinson, Steve White, Dan Abnett, Gary Erskine & Peter Snejbjerg (Radical Books)
Almost all literature, whatever it’s genre or format, has a distinctive flavour, and The Lords Of Misrule is no exception. It’s a British book, and could only have emerged from the UK, being based on, in and around the mysteries of English legend and folklore, both ancient and urban. Presented as a series of interconnected stories, ‘…Misrule’ is, in equal parts, a horror story, a folk based fantasy, a daring tale of adventure in parts known and unknown and a terrifying one hundred thousand year old mystery whose climax gently opens the door for many a sequel. Cleverly interweaving the fates of each and every character, the book revolves around the eventual head on meeting between humanity and the Sidh (pronounced Shay), the ancient ones, the eponymous Lords Of Misrule. Based in and around the fictional town of Callow, it also examines the links between urban legend (you know that really weird thing that happened to a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend), myth and ancient folklore and how they’re connected and the parts they play in each of our lives, and how what lies just under the surface of the seemingly obvious may actually be a lot stranger and frightening than any of us dare imagine. It may be close to sixteen years old (reprinted in this edition in its entirety and in beautifully rendered, painted, full colour for the first time), but it’s as good as any other book on the market at the moment, and is vastly different (apart from Strangehaven maybe, which treads slightly similar ground, yet at the same time is vastly different, and is still one of the best British books of the last, or any other, decade) from just about anything else. If you’re looking for something a “little” (Ladies and gentlemen, we have a contender for understatement of the year…) different that’ll dig its claws in and hook you from the get go, then you really need to read ‘The Lords Of Misrule’. If you do, believe me, things will never be the same again… Tim Mass Movement
