'You've spent your whole life . . . steeling yourself for disappointment and pain . . and yet when someone needs you you're there, blood and bone.' (p 356)
This is war
The cover says 'Rudden is an author to watch.' Wrong. Dave Rudden is an author to read. But only for those who dare.
Protagonist, Denizen, recruit to magical power though he is, fighter of supreme evil though he is, is no Harry Potter.
If you liked Harry Potter you may not like this. (Or you may just be blown away by it.) It could be called Harty Potter with attitude. It could be called Harry Potter with edge. But actually is not Harry Potter at all. It is the nightmare Harry Potter never lived. It scorns children playing with magic. It is not about children playing at all. It is about magic children fighting a real war. It is about magic children living life at its darkest. Harry's is the magic you always wanted to have. Denizen's, believe me, is a magic you never want to know. This dark 'tween'/teen fantasy is closer to Sally Green* than it is to JK Rowling. It is, however, brilliant. Devastatingly brilliant. Terrifyingly brilliant. Awesomely brilliant. Breathtakingly brilliant.
Black rain
This is emphatically the third of a trilogy, the culmination of Knights of the Borrowed Dark. (See my reviews of the first two volumes, posted May '16 and May '17.) It is not the book to start with.Denizen needs all his previous training and experience to face what is here. And he still not truly prepared. As the reader you will need all your experience of style, plot and characters from the previous two books. And you still won't be prepared for this. The text is dark, dense and intense. So is the action. It can be hard to follow. Images are as thick as unsrirred treacle, rich as triple chocolate. Go with the flow. It will propel you on in a tide of surging language. It will take you to horrendous places. It will submerge you in a sea of tumultuous warfare. It will pit you against the essence of a blackness way deeper than the borrowed dark we know. Voices speak from the void. They come at you from all over, just as they come at Denizen and his companions Whose are they? Their own , their comrades' , intrusive thoughts, the voices of the terrible Tenebrae? It can be a challenge to fathom. But go with the flow. It will sweep you along. Just when you think you are drowning, it will vomit you out into clear air - and what you see there will be unspeakable.
Unknit by sunlight
But there is great tenderness and sensitivity here too. Both writing and story drip crystal showers between the downpours of black rain. The tale makes war of necessity, but seeks peace, out of hope. And always there is Mercy, Denizen's infatuation from the previous book. She is at once a haunting girl of shimmering light and the essence of alien monstrosity; 'a dream unknit by sunlight.' Does Denizen still love her? Do you love her too? Can fractured love, surpressed love, transcend trust, or the lack of it? Trust Dave Rudden. He will steer you through, even though you will not emerge unscathed. But then this is war. This is fantasy fiction at it finest. This is where the imagination of the comic book and the deep resonances of literature collide. This is where classic tropes fuse with the complexity of sophisticated storytelling; where heavy metal segues with the sensitivities of poetry This is where, to quote another Irishman: 'A terrible beauty is born.'
Girls and boys come out to fight
Without being explicitly fussy about it, Dave Rudden does an excellent job of reinforcing diversity, inclusion and equality. In fact his lack of fuss - the total acceptance of these factors as 'normal' for the society he paints - is exactly what convinces so persuasively. Although main protagonist Denizen is a boy, there are numerous examples of both genders, young and older, and a wide range of racial types and personalities to be found amongst the 'heroes' of the Knights of the Borrowed Dark. And there is clearly no distinction in terms of power, ability or status made between them on any of these grounds alone.
He also conjures characters who have far greater dearth and complexity than is often associated with fantasy fiction. Amongst other superb creations are Vivien Hardwick, supreme 'Malleus' (war hammer) of the Knights, battling her nature as a mother as much as the Dark; Ediface Greaves, the metaphorically masked commander, hiding what few understand; the troubled and troubling Grey, mistrusted by himself more than anyone; and Abigail Falx, Denizen's friend and fellow Neophyte, her determination to make sense of her heritage leading forward whole sections of narrative. Then there is Denizen. Well you must meet the young Hardwick boy for yourself. But if you can get the full measure of him that is more than he can do. He is an adolescent after all.
Just willing him
And inside all the power, all the anger and fire, Denizen is still just a boy. A real boy, with elements of Aspergers's: maps, counting, ordering, cataloging. And it allows the reader to discover complete empathy, despite the wildly imaginative fantasy world through which Denizen moves. You will him to win, or at least survive, with every page-turning breath. He is war, love, self-discovery, torment, growth. He is you. He is truth reflected through the mirror of unreality. Extraordinary in his ordinariness.
'I just did what I had to do. that's all.'
No, said Mercy. That's everything
And, over and above all, Dave Rudden's storytelling is tension-racking at it most masterly. This is no rollercoaster; it has too few downs. He defies plot building convention and screws an ever upward spiral of breath-stealing horror, twists ever-tightening bands of chest-squeezing iron. If not external cataclysm , then internal wringing, wrenching. Conflagration without, combustion within. Until . . .
It is story of horrendous war and of its cost. It is a story of those who fight simply because they must. It is a story of the darkness we borrow, and of the sunrise for which we scarecely dare hope. It is almost a love story
The naming of cats
Years back, there was a inspirational book by Sandy Brownjohn about teaching children to write poetry, called The Ability to Name Cats. Its premise was that such ability demonstrated the essential poetic quality, original imagination coupled with illuminating aptness. In terms of fiction I often think that a parellel ability lies in the ability to title chapters. As well as being master of the eye opening verbal image, Dave Rudden is a supreme namer of chapter titles: original, imaginative, enigmatic, yet ultimately illuminating. It is an ability that telegraphs a fantasy writer of the highest calibre.
He does not patronise his young audience. And hooray for that. Readers should rise to the challenge. They will be hugely rewarded if they do. There are very few more exciting, involving, terrifying or affecting reads currently to be found. I sincerely hope these books prove as popular as they are good. They deserve blockbuster sales worldwide. This trilogy, crowned by The Endless King, is one of our finest examples of exactly what children's fantasy fiction can achieve.
Note:
*The stunning YA sequence starting with Half Bad (Although this is for much older readers.)