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Editorial Review Product Description
Plague strikes at the heart of Sarum and flesh-eating mawgs have been seen in the sewers.
As Governor Gen struggles to save the populace, the Abbey of Pardes is attacked by an army of undead and a piece of the legendary Sun Stone is stolen from the Grey Abbot.
The holy knight, Deacon Shader, is sent to the plague-city to retrieve it, but he is a man with conflicts of his own, and a destiny that will test his faith to the limits.
If Shader should fail, the Sun Stone will fall into the hands of a being from the mists of pre-history who will harness its power to unweave all of Creation.
“Rich and varied, touching, maddening, and addicting. Elegant, polished, and believable characters in an amazing world.”
Archelle Baker(eBook Alchemy)
“Ever-widening in its scope - fearless in its telling.
I cannot help but be reminded of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, not just in the interweaving of time epochs and worlds but also in the author's sheer fearlessness.
From earth to heaven to alternate worlds, the story is unrelenting in its incredible vision.”
David Dalglish (author of “The Half-Orcs” series)
“Complex and intriguing; intelligent and engaging; descriptive enough to invoke all senses.
The style is a nice mix--fast-paced and contemporary, yet with classical prose and imagery to satisfy those of us who love the 'old masters'.”
C.S. Marks (author of “Elfhunter”)
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Potential abounds
The Resurrection of Deacon Shader is a novel of gradually enlarging scope, so that while the beginning may stumble and stutter, nearing its end I was beyond impressed. Themes of Christianity are interwoven throughout, and conflicting with the ideals, desires, traditions, and actions of the many main characters. Deacon himself is often immature. He struggles with his desire for sex and his vow for abstinence, as well as his ability to kill while seeking a non-violent way of life.
Far more important to me, though, was the story. What starts out as an isolated series of events taking place in a single town slowly expands into entire nations, alternate worlds, the history of time, and heaven itself. I cannot help but be reminded of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, not just in the interweaving of time epochs and worlds but also in the author's sheer fearlessness. Under no circumstances was I able to predict the next chapter, let alone the end of the book, and for that alone I would recommend it.
Still, the book is not perfect. The book ends with a clear and obvious need for a sequel, and opens far too many questions to have a satisfying feel. The beginning is exceptionally rough compared to the later portions. It wasn't until about 20% in that everything settled down, the characters were in place, and the story finally kicked into high gear. Flashbacks can be confusing, especially in earlier portions where the story is still searching for firm ground. There's a few errors sprinkled throughout, like missing quotation marks and erroneous use of commas, but for the most part they never rise above nuisance level.
Early on, there is a scene where the author tells of the destruction of the old world by the unleashing of dreams. Prior to this, my optimism for the book was low. After a vision of dragons thrashing planes, buildings toppling to creatures of nightmares, and whole civilizations falling in the span of days, my whole outlook changed. No matter the flaws, a fascinating story of enormous potential awaited, and that taste kept me going. By the time heaven was under assault by demons and the villain had revealed his intentions of unmaking all of existence, there was no stopping my turning of the pages.
Compelling and addictive
The Kindle version of The Resurrection of Deacon Shader has been long overdue. I read the paperback prior to buying a Kindle and was profoundly influenced by the scope and philosophy of the book. When I got my Kindle I therefore had to add it to my library.
The Kindle edition retains all the nice touches of the paperback but the title pages suffer a little from a slight formatting issue (rather than being on separate pages, as they are in the paperback they run continuously). This wasn't a major issue as I tend to skip copyright and acknowledgement pages anyway. The actual text of the book reads perfectly.
Upon re-reading the novel I saw other themes emerging. Previously I had been drawn to the relationship between Deacon Shader and Rhiannon - unrequitred love that is cruelly thwarted by the whims of higher powers, as well as the inner conflict of Shader himself. Besides this compelling relationship - which is a fairly minor thread in the story - I noticed a more pervasive theme - that of the human "immortality project". many of the major characters seem to be obsessed with their own perdurance. Some ar ehonest enough to admit this (the necromantic Dr Cadman who lives off the life-force of others), but others (like the mysterious Grey Abbot) are deluding themselves by thinking their longevity is a symptom of sanctity.
Other themes that emerge are just war theory (found in Shader's own inner turmoil - there are lots of references to St Bernard of Clairvaux's advice to the crusaders that killing the infidel was not homicide but malicide!); there is also a subtle play with the philosophies of domination and the will-to-power (Nietszche)alongside the Christian ethic of non-violent resistance. None of this gets in the way of the plot - the action is fast-paced but interspersed with pauses for the characters to reflect. The themes are so unobtursive that I didn't pick up on them all the first time - it is a book that bears more fruit upon successive readings.
I also liked the transformations some of the characters go through - Gaston Rayn in particular; the surprising growth of Barek Thoms; the revelations of Zara Gen. There are redemptions and despairs; and Shader himself is always torn between his conflicting natures and the delusion of his own ability to change.
This is strong stuff - thoroughly enjoyable fantasy that contains themes of great relevance and characters with whom we can all identify.
The tone of the book is at times quite gothic - there are Lovecraftian demons and various unsavoury undead types. At times there are shades of Moorcock and a strong sense of Gemmell in the action scenes.
I would strongly recommend this novel to all serious fantasy fans - it is a worthy addition to the genre.
High class fantasy indeed
I have long been a distant admirer of the fantasy art of Mike Nash, more so since his recent Wizards of the Coast Work; and it is thanks to my following of Nash's artwork that I discovered this gem!
An entry on Mike Nash's blog mentioned a recent commission - the cover art for a book called The Resurrection of Deacon Shader. I took a look and immediately had to buy that book.
Like the best of fantasy art, the cover of The Resurrection of Deacon Shader aroused my slumbering imagination. It recalled those early Conan oil paintings in which the mighty Cimmerian would be towering above hoards of swarthy foes, hacking his way relentlessly through their numbers, but begging the question "how on Earth can he survive this?"
Needless to say I always read the book to find out and always referred back to the cover art once I had reached that climactic scene.
Deacon Shader was the same (except there were no semi-clad and manacled maidens behind our hero!) The cover depicted Shader, a holy knight-monk, desperately trying to hack his way clear of a roiling mass of black metamorphosing chaos stuff - the Dweller.
The book opened with an enigmatic sailor swept into a watery vortex, a portal between worlds. It immediately cut to a woman rushing through council chambers, a meeting with a mysterious hermit, and the appearance of an obese (Chestertonian!) librarian who turns out to be...(I won't spoil it).
The book is so well structured and beautifully written that I couldn't put it down. The chapter lengths are cleverly varied to allow for fast cut action and then long passages of reflection and inner dialogue.
Prior has studied theology, classics and philosophy - all of which are effortlessly woven into the tail and placed in the actions of the characters. Like all classics, it can be read on any number of levels and it can be read repeatedly to the benefit of the reader.
The neo-Darwinist conflict with religion (so clumsily attempted by Dawkins) is handled deftly and with great intelligence. Shader, a religious knight, comes face to face with the would-be architect of a new creation, Sektis Gandaw, and more than holds his own in a fierce clash of words - and later swords!
The mise en scene is complex and multi-layered; the action taking place in Sahul (the ancient land mass of Australia) and the dream world Aethir (the aboriginal dreamtime). The action takes place 3000 years in our future - the land mass having reverted to a pre-historic form. Technology is confined to the Vatican archives as the populace exists at a medieval technological level.
Artefacts from our "ancient" world occasionally surface and are put to extremely effective use by the diminutive assassin Shadrak.
Shadrak is one amongst a whole host of remarkable characters - any one of whom could warrant their own tale. But this is Deacon Shader's story - a complex man who wars with himself throughout the book and particularly with the paradox of a fighting monk.
The book ends with a few hints of what is to come next and a taster of the sequel The Archon's Assassin in which Shader returns along with Shadrak and the mysterious Nameless Dwarf who cameos in the first novel.
This is high class fantasy indeed. Prior succeeds in using the frame of the genre to broach big questions and arouse our deepest emotions. Mention must also be made of the clarity of the editing, something we have come to expect from Harry White-Dewulf of Densewords.
Fast, exciting and fun.
Exciting adventure through fantasy with surprises and conflicts that keep a reader anxiously turning pages to the end. P.D. Prior writes a good visual and makes you feel like more than an observer as the story pulls you in. Beautifully written I highly recommend "The Resurrection of Deacon Shader.
R.M. Putnam author of the Destiny's Warriors Series
Will Not Disappoint
The Resurrection of Deacon Shader`s setting is Earth, a few thousand years in the future, after magic has been released on the world by Huntsman, a Dreamer shaman. A few relics from the present day like handguns, flashlights, and street lamps still exist, but technology has regressed, and for all intents and purposes it's unrecognizable as the Earth of today. It's possible for people to become immortal, aided by talismans or dark magic, but not without side effects. Human nature, however, has not changed one bit, and no character in this story is as he or she first seems. A prominent theme is Christianity and Catholicism in particular. The Catholic church is still around, even after Huntsman's hat trick, though its members are mostly shunned or persecuted. Politics have an effect on this, also. Deacon Shader's conflicting feelings about what it means to be a Christian and how his actions fit with his own ideal form an important component of the story.
This novel is full of conflict. Each character has inner conflict, and conflict between characters and groups is the norm rather than the exception. Everyone is working on his or her own mercurial agenda. Idiocy, which irks me whenever and wherever I encounter it, is completely missing from this book. All the characters are intelligent, their actions and personalities are believable, and they do their best, which makes the bad things that happen to them that much worse.
Deacon Shader's epic story and the world created by the author are elegant and polished. They are rich and varied, touching, maddening, and addicting.
The only thing I think this book is missing is a map. A map might be hard to view on an ebook reader, but if it were online, it might be downloaded and put on the reader as a photograph. Not until about three-quarters of the way through the book did I feel even a little comfortable with the geography of Resurrection. I was more than able to follow the story and remember who hailed from where without much trouble but details like the distance between places had to take a back seat to that info.
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My review of the book