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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2004, 304 pages
Paperback:
May 2005, 288 pages
An apocalyptic battle between good and evil is vigorously, violently fought in British author G.P. Taylor's suspenseful, action-packed fantasy.... a pageturner bursting with magic and myth. (Ages 11 and older).
Vicar Obadiah Demurral no longer wants to worship God--he wants to be God! Obadiah Demurral may be a vicar, but knowing what master he truly serves would come as a shock to the villagers of Thorpe. Craving power and filled with insatiable greed, he has welcomed a darkness into his life that enables him to do terrible things, in the hope of harnessing control over the universe. He will stop at nothing, and as a shadowmancer--a sorcerer who speaks to the dead--he even commands restless souls to do his bidding.
Who will stand against him? Young Raphah has come from another continent to reclaim the precious artifact--dangerously volatile in the wrong hands--that Demurral has stolen. Even younger and less experienced in the ways of battle are Thomas and Kate, accidentally drawn into this war between good and evil, this struggle against Demurral that brings them face-to-face with the powers of darkness in an epic battle.
The Dark Storm
It was a still October night. On the cliff top the harvest was gathered in and sheaves of corn were stacked together to form peculiar straw houses. A bright silver moon shone down on a calm sea. In the distance the silhouette of the Friendship, a collier brig, could be seen picked out against the waves. The sails of the ship looked like the flags of a small army preparing for war.
The brilliance of the full moon penetrated the darkest depths of the wood that gripped the tops of the cliffs. A small, darkly clad figure in a frock coat and knee boots stumbled along, carrying a long black leather case, timidly following a tall, confident man with long flowing white hair.
Nearby, a fox lay hidden in the undergrowth, dreaming of fresh rabbit, when suddenly it was woken by the panic of a deer bolting from the cover of a holly bush and running deeper into the darkness of Wyke Woods.
"What was that?" The small man was startled and his voice jumped and quivered. ...
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