The Great Adversary makes another bid to overthrow God in this Pullmanesque fantasy, set on the haunted Yorkshire coast. In a bid for supreme earthly power, vicar-gone-to-the-bad Obadiah Demurral receives a stolen golden figurine, one of two conduits to control of all Nature. The arrival of Raphah to reclaim it sets in motion a succession of sneaks and chases, involving two young local folk, ruthless, but not irredeemable smuggler Jacob Crane, and a host of supernatural thugs. Taylor changes names, but the major players are still recognizable: Raphah prays to “Riathamus,” who puts in several appearances in various guises to utter such familiar lines as “I will be with you always, even to the end of time,” and dispatches angelic Seruvim at need, while, preceded by fallen angels called Glashan, the radiant Dark Lord Pyratheon appears in time for a climactic but indecisive showdown. Loaded down with meditations on inner faith, and diatribes against human society (particularly organized religion), this doesn’t quite achieve the cosmic sweep for which the author is plainly reaching—but that may come in the sequels. (Fiction. 12-15)
