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Jack of Ravens: Kingdom of the Serpent Book One
by Mark Chadbourn
(Orion, £10.99, 374 pages, trade paperback, also available in
hardback priced £17.99, published 20 July 2006.)
Review by Nick Jackson
 A
fantasy quest with a cast of thousands which leaps from one time period
to the next with astonishing alacrity.
The story opens in Iron Age Cornwall where the eponymous hero establishes
his reputation as a giant-killer wielding a mysterious sword. It turns
out that Jack is just an ordinary 21st century bloke who has blundered
into the Iron Age through a time warp and has lost a chunk of his memory.
His first dilemma is to rid himself of a spider-shaped implant, which
is slowly sapping his willpower.
After a drug-induced journey to an ancient source of spiritual energy
he becomes the embodiment of the Pendragon spirit and forms the five-part
brother/sisterhood of the Quincunx - a band of warriors who ride around
destroying monsters and generally putting the world to rights. The first
section of the book sets the tone and pace of the book: it's a swashbuckling
rampage from one feat of death-defying bravado to the next. Chadbourn
piles on the mytho-historical details and slots in a host of flamboyant
bit-part characters who glitter through a few scenes before being dismembered
by some new force of evil. Jack is pursued by a series of beautiful
women but he's not to be diverted from his main quest, which is to return
to his 21st century girlfriend, Ruth.
Chadbourn evokes a rich fantasy world, criss-crossed by ley-lines and
populated by gods and monsters plucked from mythology. Symbolic weaponry
and talismans proliferate: swords, lamps and a crystal skull are gained
and lost; the forces of dark and light are pitted against each other
in a series of skirmishes of escalating intensity.
Yet, Chadbourn has a way of filling up his pages with a swirl of visual
impressions and action sequences that preclude any serious engagement
with his main character's predicament: there is never any doubt as to
the survival of Jack. Neither is the author interested in the niceties
of literary style; his fast-moving plot and cut-to-the-chase sequences
do not lend themselves to profound characterisation or nuanced descriptions.
At times, however, the writing can get a little plodding, with sentences
like: "Church, Lucia, Aula, Secullian and Joseph were shocked by
the ferocity of the battle along the front line..." The vivid and
gory descriptions of the battle which follow, make such sentences redundant.
After a description of a murder we get: "Church was rooted in shock
at the brutality he had witnessed..." And, in describing a tortuous
journey into catacombs below the Thames, the author feels compelled
to remind us that it's 'oppressive' and 'claustrophobic'. Chadbourn
should trust more to the power of his writing to evoke moods and settings
rather than spelling it out for his reader.
But, stylistic nit-picking aside, Chadbourn moves his characters with
admirable swiftness through Iron Age, Tudor and Victorian times; from
London during the Blitz to San Francisco at the height of flower power.
The story culminates in 21st century Cornwall in a battle between the
forces of good in the shape of his hero, Jack, together with a gigantic
serpent and the forces of evil embodied by the Army of Ten Billion Spiders.
The hero is left in possession of a magic sword and the warning: "Dark
times lie ahead... you'll need [the sword] for what is to come..."
- I should say a trilogy at least!
Elsewhere in infinity plus:
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