Recommended Reading: 'Dusk' and 'Dawn' by Tim Lebbon

Filed by: Darren on December 18, 2007 at 14:08
Filed In: Books

Tim Lebbon's fantasy duology gets a definite recommendation from yours-truly: if you're a fan of dark, menacing, refreshingly cliché-free fantasy that puts an original twist on the classic tropes and has some fascinating characterisation along the way, then these are two titles that you should seriously consider.

Lebbon is primarily a horror writer - with over 20 published novel or novella-length titles to his name to-date - and in Dusk and Dawn he brings his horror writer's perspective and sensibilities to bear on the classic fantasy quest scenario. The result is a work of fantasy fiction that's midnight-dark, rock-salt gritty and bleaker than the Pennine Moors in mid-winter (I mentioned this to the author in an email. "They don't call me 'Grim Tim' for nothing!", he cheerily quipped in reply...)

His world - focusing in these two volumes on the continent of Noreela, but with hints that far distant lands lie beyond - is a pretty grim place, for a start. Three hundred years ago two psychotic, power-hungry Mages tried to take possessession of the natural magic of the land and twist it to their own ends. The land responded by withdrawing magic from the populace and as a result the natural order has been slowly decaying and dying for three centuries, until it's finally reached the crisis point that sparks the narrative.

Now, one young man might just hold the seed of magic within him; he might just be able to restore the power to the world and halt the worldwide rot, but the Mages have other ideas. After 300 years of exile in the frozen northern wastes they're intent on returning to Noreela to wreak bloody vengeance on the foes that exiled them so long ago. Because they've sensed that magic might be on the verge of return as well, and this time they want to make sure they take it for themselves, keep it, and use it to destroy everything they find in their path.

It sounds like a pretty standard fantasy scenario in many respects, but Lebbon has gone to a great deal of effort to make sure that his world is anything but fantasy-standard. There are no elves, dwarves, goblins or dragons here, nor any of the miriad cast of Tolkienesque stock stereotypes that litter so many fantasy novels.

Instead we're introduced to an assortment of weird and wonderful creatures and beasties: organic-mineral machinery, narcotic fledge demons, giant sentient tumble-weeds (which are a lot more unpleasant than they sound), sand-dwelling swarmiform nasties; a whole menagerie of twisted things that are symptomatic of a land whose spirit is dying and slowly going insane.

Through this blighted world, the main characters - for the main part as screwed-up a bunch of misfits and misanthropists as ever you're likely to find in fantasy fiction - stumble onwards towards their dimly-perceived, largely instinctive goals; lacking the bog-standard mentor-guidance that so many fantasy heroes are so conveniently provided with; lacking any incredible powers of survival above and beyond their own wits and skills.

And they need to draw on all those wits and skills to survive, beset as they are by implacable, genuinely deadly enemies on all sides: not only do they have to contend with the Mages and their Krote armies, but they also have to evade the fatal attentions of the Red Monks; an order of quasi-religious, sociopathic killers bent on eradicating all traces of magic from Noreela in order to ensure that the Mages can never be victorious.

The plot itself is tight, tense and genuinely suspenseful; right up to the denouement you really have no definite idea which way things are going to go. And that, in itself, is something of an achievement given how familiar so many readers are with the Campbellian uber-hero plot mechanism that lies at the core of so many fantasy sagas, whatever their external window-dressing.

The one thing that the first two Noreela books don't come equipped with though, is laughs. As I've said already, this is dark, grim stuff; reading both volumes in one sitting might actually be too much, however tempted you might be. And by page 300 of volume two I guarantee your psyche will be crying out for something, anything to lighten the tone, but Lebbon is relentless; once again demonstrating his horror writers' skills by driving you to the edge of despair along with the characters in the book.

So, to conclude: yes, I'd recommend Dusk and Dawn if you like your fantasy dark and egdy, but do have a Terry Pratchett - or a Robert Rankin, or a Tom Holt, or something - on hand for light relief afterwards. You might just need it...

Author Info: www.timlebbon.net / www.noreela.com
Ordering Info: Amazon.co.uk - Dusk / Dawn
Publication Info: Dusk - Bantam US, Jan 2006 / Dawn - Bantam US, March 2007

Disclosure: Tim Lebbon is a website client of mine, yes. But I only ever call 'em the way I find 'em.