Destroyer of Worlds

March 19, 2012
The champions of Existence undertake one last battle against the Void in this concluding volume (after 2012’s globe-trotting The Burning Man) of Chadbourn’s latest trilogy set in a Britain where magic is returning. Jack “Church” Churchill, faced with betrayals by companions and double-edged help from allies, has to lead his Army of Dragons into the Fortress of the Void to destroy the Burning Man colossus before the Void can manifest. The greatest struggles, though, are internal. Church must resist the temptation of despair that will change him into the Libertarian, the Void’s champion. Ryan Veitch, returned from the Void’s service, has to come to terms with his feelings for Ruth, Church’s love, as well as his own desire for Church’s honors. Chadbourn produces a merry mélange of mythological and invented beings wrapped around an egalitarian ethos that ennobles hardships and promises “magic, not money.” Agent: Ian Drury, Sheil Land Associates.

April 15, 2012

After being stranded in the past in Jack of Ravens, Jack Churchill, a Champion of Existence, has finally returned to the present in the second volume of Chadbourn's Celtic-inspired urban fantasy trilogy. With the modern world locked in a Mundane Spell that has left the population in a haze of diminished hopes, Jack and his companions seek a pair of "keys," individuals whose powers of creation and destruction can bring the world back from despair. Their journey leads to Scandinavia, Egypt, and Greece, whose gods are vying for power in the new world order with the already awakened Celtic deities.

The third volume finds Jack and the other Champions of Existence in possession of the two keys, but their enemy, the Void, finds new ways to sabotage their efforts. More gods, including the Aztec pantheon and the loa of Africa and the Caribbean, take sides until the conflict builds to a single pivotal moment that can alter the course of existence or destroy it altogether. Through three trilogies ("Dark Age"; "Age of Misrule"; "Kingdom of the Serpent"), Chadbourn has told an epic saga of men and women transformed into heroes. While each trilogy stands alone, the nine books together make up a vast tapestry of history, mythology, religion, and culture while never losing sight of the individual triumphs and tragedies of the characters. VERDICT Two-time British Fantasy Award winner Chadbourn has written a masterwork of dark fantasy that will appeal to Mercedes Lackey and Charles de Lint fans.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.