Overview
Once, there was a time when the line between imagination and reality was blurred, and when anything was possible ... the stuff of fairy tales. We were all told these comforting stories as children, tales filled with magical creatures, fantasy, and danger.For Thom Kindred, life holds nothing so spectacular. A stroke victim, Thom finds himself partially incapacitated and battling daily to regain control of his life. Moved by hunting dreams of his youth, he travels back to the wooded land where he grew up to recuperate. Surrounded by the comforts of Castle Bracken, Thom plans to rejoin himself to his roots, and to relive old forgotten memories.
His plans are forced to change when, one night, he awakes to discover mysterious flashing lights darting everywhere in the forested area surrounding his home. He follows them, only to find a beautiful creature and a world not meant for human understanding. Suddenly, it seems that Thom's return has stirred an ancient evil at Castle Bracken, one cloaked in the guise of a friend. His only chance for survival lies in a world he no longer believes in - but his time is nearing an end, and an unspeakable horror has plans for him that no children's tale would dare tell.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Pastoral fantasy and graphic grue congeal immiscibly in this peculiar fairy tale from British horror laureate Herbert (Others). Set on the grounds of Castle Bracken, a verdant woodland estate with a shady history, it follows the trials of Thom Kindred, who returns there to recover from a stroke. Thom's mother worked for Sir Russell Bleeth, the estate's owner, and the grounds hold fond memories of years spent with his mum before she inexplicably abandoned him. No sooner is Thom comfy in the natural surroundings than he is subjected to seemingly unnatural experiences: displays of multicolored lights in the foliage, an encounter with an ethereal young maiden in the woods and increasingly persistent advances by a Wiccan nursemaid. In time, Thom discovers that the estate is a refuge for the faerie folk, whose blood he shares, and that he'll play a pivotal role in saving them from an occult menace that's already infiltrated Castle Bracken. Herbert does nothing original with this familiar fantasy theme of the individual who discovers his faerie heritage. Rather, he dwells at tedious length on the society of the faeriefolkis, indulging in twee descriptions of their world and endowing some with proper names that are titles of his previous books spelled backwards. Prolonged erotic interludes, spliced in to alert readers that this is a fairy tale for adults, do little to relieve the monotony. Only in the final moments, when Thom battles a series of viscerally horrific assaults, does the book show a glimmer of the vitality and drive characteristic of Herbert's best fiction. (Apr. 23) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Kirkus Reviews
After ringing changes on Victor Hugo in Others, Herbert now takes us to a fairyland decidedly not out of James M. Barrie. Yes, the author does provide some sweetness-and-light and pitter-pattering fairy laughter, but only as they contrast with dark forces of wiccans married to the boiling and shapeless father of darkness. His object is to create a total environment in which the reader can at least half-believe in fairies, elves, undines, and so on, not to mention witches. So he sets before us the Bracken estate with its castle, acres of lawn, deep woods, and rough lanes: an absolutely idyllic landscape for fairies. Thom Kindred, 27, is recovering from a crippling auto accident that resulted from a stroke while driving. His mother worked for Sir Russell Bleeth at Castle Bracken until Thom was seven years old; then she . . . hmm, died? . . . without ever telling Thom who his real father was. Sir Russell, twice a widower and father to big, shapeless, greedy Hugo, lies dying as Thom returns to the estate and takes up life in his mother's abandoned old cottage. He finds himself attended mornings by Nell Quick, a pretty wiccan, it turns out, whose attentions cause dishes to fly off shelves while some kind of elf or goblin scoots about the floor just out of sight. Soon Thom hears strange musical sounds and sees eerie golden lights floating about, and later he finds himself sucked into the world of little spirits and an affair with beautiful Jennet, an undine. But as his mother would have warned him, affairs between mortals and undines can't end happily. Leaf-clogged suspense until a slashing succubus appears to add stress to Thom's recovery.From the Publisher
"Herbert's characters are compelling, and his characters . . . vivid and complex."-Kirkus (starred review)
"The king of British horror."-Publishers Weekly
"A new James Herbert novel is always a mesmerizing experience."-Fangoria