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Impakto
by Richard Calder
(Earthlight, £6.99, 442 pages, paperback; published 3 September 2001;
ISBN 0-7434-0895-0.)
Richard Calder's eighth novel, Impakto, explodes  with
vivid contrasts. It is a work of beauty, yet its characters are revolting
in both appearance and behaviour. It is filled with spectacular action,
yet its pacing is almost painfully slow. It is blasphemous, yet it yearns
for religious transcendence.
Calder's previous novels -- all science fiction -- were set in strange
futures; Impakto, his first fantasy novel, is set in the present.
The author's peculiar use of language, a baroque blend of religious
imagery and decadent poetry, usually so suited to evoking his weird
settings, is somewhat undermined by present-day cultural references
(to popular video games, for example). The real world and Calder's imagination
do not mingle well.
Because of these jarring moments, Calder's ornate language does not,
in this case, always serve his novel. Instead of sensuously drowning
in his prose, I wanted him to get on with the story. This is only a
caveat, however. For the most part, Impakto is a fascinating
novel. Its premise is intriguing, its characters are unexpected, and
its twists are unpredictable.
Raul Riviera, orphaned in his youth, encounters a strange creature
on a plane flight to the Philippines: an Impakto -- a man grown from
an abandoned foetus. The Impakto's body is possessed by a legion of
demons who give him fearsome supernatural powers. The human soul and
the demons are at war for control of the body.
The encounter with this Impakto forever changes Riviera's life. He
will discover unwelcome truths about his own life, visit otherworldly
dimensions, wage war against gods and demons, suffer unwanted metamorphoses,
and be overcome by perverse lusts.
Impakto may be somewhat flawed, but it is still a bold and impressive
creation.
Originally published, in slightly different form,
in The Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 2 March 2002.
Claude Lalumière's Fantastic Fiction
is a series of
capsule reviews first published in the Saturday Books
section of The Montreal Gazette.
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