![]() ![]() It is an approach still unusual to my old eyes. The story is told in the present tense, even the backstory flashbacks. ![]() But still sparks of humanity and honour reside in the unlikeliest of places and can be kindled anew in a world where there is hope for all, and tears for those that fall. Things that were, or could have been human, have been corrupted beyond recognition. The people have been crushed by defeat, and by taint. Broken technology is cannibalised by desperate people as the Vagrant travels North past a barren landscape of twisted plastic and metal on a mission both personal and professional. There is that atmospheric journey through a shattered civilisation in which little islands of humanity strive to eke out some shadow of their former existence. My other reference point is a 1981 film Mad Max 2, the (original) road warrior. More an infection than an invasion, they corrupt as much as conquer. These demons are unlike any others, creatures of essence and desire rather than corporeal entities. Their power is constrained only by infighting between their factions and the necessity of finding ways to shield themselves from the toxic environment where they have won victory. Creatures of chaos flood north across a now benighted continent. ![]() A world infested with entities which enslave the humans from without and within. There is the world that was – a world destroyed, the advanced civilisation where ships sailed in the sky and tanks like armoured trains went to war with demons, where knights still wielded swords in harmony and the mysterious power of the Seven, with their great champion Gamma, stood ready and on ceaseless and unchanging watch against invasion from the Breach. The world building is broad and imaginative, in that not just one but two worlds are conjured up before the reader. That over-arching certainty guides the Vagrant’s footsteps and reassures the reader that there is purpose in the present and resolution in the future. At the Grim Gathering, the author said he always had a beginning and an end in mind, with a misty patch in between where pretty much anything could happen. However, The Vagrant is more complete and self-contained than the first instalment of the Dark Tower series. On a long walk, the protagonist acquires a staggering variety of both allies and enemies. This is a world not so much stalked as comprehensively mugged by disaster on an epic scale. In some ways, The Vagrant reminded me of The Gunslinger by Stephen King with its iconic mental image of an enigmatic hero on an unexplained journey through a blasted land. But it is the spare writing and the exoticness of the world building that carried me along. By the end, the latter has converged pleasingly on former to explain all things that need explaining. There is a storyline, and a back-storyline. Before the first page is turned, The Vagrant is challenging expectations. A ragged man with a sword in one hand and a baby in the other, walking a street of ruined buildings above a title set out in neon lights. I heard Peter Newman speak at the Grim Gathering II in Bristol, where he gave a short summary of his book: “A one parent family in a post-demonic apocalypse.” Look closely at the exquisite cover and you will see the key elements in this tale. ![]()
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