An evil vicar-turned-sorcerer tries to bend the powers of darkness to his own will, summoning a legion of unholy creatures, a fallen angel and an ancient source of divine power in his attempt to overthrow God and become the ultimate ruler.

Opposing him are two children, a notorious smuggler - and a mysterious, dark-skinned visitor from Ethiopia who carries within him a strange power.

Setting

The wild, lawless Yorkshire coast of the 1700s around Robin Hood's Bay (Baytown in the book) - a place of windswept cliffs, wild woodlands, bleak moors, boggle holes and smugglers' caves. Plus a hellish alum mine where debt-slave workers groan out their lives, and a satanic, battlemented vicarage perched on a crag overlooking the sea.

Main characters

Obadiah Demurral, the evil Vicar of Thorpe: a man twisted and corrupted by greed and the lust for power; Kate, tomboy daughter of a local customs official; Thomas, orphan and young rebel; Raphah, a mysterious Ethiopian shipwrecked on the North Yorkshire coast; and Jacob Crane, murderer, smuggler and villain, who still has a seed of humanity inside him.

Magical creatures

The Thulak, invisible creatures who smother their victims in a dark mist and steal their will to live; the Varrigal, long-dead Nordic warriors summoned by dark powers from another dimension; the Dunamez, a shadowy, opaque spirit which slips into men's bodies and takes over their minds; and the Glashan, fallen angels turned to evil.

Verdict

A dark, often genuinely scary fantasy, with, at its heart, a quest. Thomas, Kate and Raphah seek to stop Demurral from seizing the two Keruvim, twin sources of divine power that when brought together will give their holder unlimited power. Demurral has one - a small, golden statue in the shape of an eagle. But where, and in what form, is the other?

As well as being a rip-roaring children's fantasy, the book grapples with questions such as the nature of good and evil. More Philip Pullman than JK Rowling, except that here God is unquestionably good. GP Taylor is North Yorkshire vicar Graham Taylor, so that is hardly surprising.

Occasionally he can't help throwing in a religious message. But that never gets in the way of the story and the central character of the priest turned to evil speaks volumes about the potential for corruption and vanity among even the apparently pious, and how real goodness is more than dog-collar deep.

The story zips along, and while Kate and Thomas are muted characters, Jacob Crane is a joy. Shadowmancer should leave children and adults alike asking for more. They shouldn't have to wait long: the author has signed a three-book deal.

Updated: 09:14 Wednesday, June 25, 2003