An unexplained environmental disease has plagued the land of Sagamore for centuries. This invisible, invasive strain has devastated the overgrowth of the forest but the people hold out hope for a savior. Now Sandy Locksmith and her companion Dire are about to embark on a journey that could change the world forever. Guided by a book written by the mysterious Elsadore Spook, the two chart a course through the land and overcome numerous trials on a mission that they do not fully understand, nor do they yet realise that only they can halt the depletion of the overgrowth.
S W Curragh’s THE STORY ELSADORE SPOOK WROTE is a fantasy novel in the tradition of the quest or great journey. As Sandy and Dire travel through the Western Gate, the Sacred Forest, into the Land of Never Again and over the Valley of Ruins each new area reveals its own obstacles and enemies. Their guide and map is a four part book written by Elsadore Spook a magician of sorts whose very words can sometimes manifest as reality as seen when the first time they meet him he is struggling to contain a fire that has spontaneously broken out around him after he had been simply writing about fire. Elsadore’s book is incredibly detailed, including instructions for the duo that they are to follow exactly as they complete each section. Eventually it will lead them into the orbit of the evil sorcerer Witch Flanked who has emerged from the core of the planet to wreak destruction. And as demons swirl around the land the completion of their quest becomes ever more urgent.
Curragh’s world building is good and complex, his fantasy land made up of numerous distinct parts each with their own peculiarities and his characters are cleanly drawn with well-defined personalities. Such attention to detail is given to the characters and their environment that the plot sometimes takes a back seat. Though the characters are always moving, always traveling, the prose can be quite sluggish and convoluted rendering certain passages somewhat confusing. The literary device of having a book within the book guiding the story is interesting but is never fully exploited. There would perhaps have been an opportunity to extract elements of Spook’s book within the text so that the reader could see what Sandy and Dire were following and understand some of the decisions they make. As it stands, their following of the book as a guide robs them of some of the agency that a true questing traveler relies on to attain heroic status and somewhat diminishes their role as lead characters.
SW Curragh’s THE STORY ELSADORE SPOOK WROTE is an intriguing fantasy quest set in a world besieged by sorcerers and demons.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader