Shadowmancer

To the casual observer Obadiah Demurral is merely the rather unprepossessing fire and brimstone-preaching Vicar of Thorpe, determined to curb the wilder excesses of his parishioners. But in truth he is a profoundly evil sorcerer seeking to control the entire universe. He cheated his way into being the Vicar of Thorpe by persuading the real incumbent, Dagda Sarapuk, to take part in a foolish wager. He has managed to get his hands on a golden statue, the Keruvim, one of only two in the world, and aided by his cowed and terrified servant Beadle he plans to obtain the second statue. Then total power will be his. Ranged against him are two children, Thomas and Kate, Raphah, a thinly disguised Christ-like figure from Africa who is shipwrecked in a storm conjured up by Demurral, and the sinister Jacob Crane, a smuggler. The book recounts the battle of epic proportions as good and evil struggle for supremacy, with the innocent and helpless children powerless other than in their innate goodness while the evil Demurral is consumed by his wicked desires. The book has a dramatic denouement in a church near Whitby at midnight on Halloween. G P Taylor, who is an ex-policeman and now a vicar in Yorkshire, has said, 'the problem with the villains in children's books is that they aren't scary enough'. There is certainly plenty that is unpleasant in the descriptions in the book, but the portrayal of Obadiah Demurral is rather overblown and not entirely convincing. Much more intriguing is the character of Jacob Crane, who resolutely refuses to believe in witchcraft and who is motivated by the money he stands to lose or gain from his smuggling of brandy and tobacco. This is not a book for fainthearted parents who might be unwilling to discuss some of the issues of superstition and witchcraft that it raises. Ages 12+ (Kirkus UK)