London Revenant

By Conrad Williams

Book Overview

London Revenant is a dark and magical exploration of London and the tenebrous world that lies beneath it.

A madman is pushing people in front of Tube trains. Adam Buckley has a feeling it might be someone he knows. But that is the least of his worries. His narcolepsy is worsening, sucking him into an uncertain, twilight state. He sees people at parties he has no memory of, but who seem to know him.

Deep within London's sprawling Underground, he sees shadowy figures beckoning him into tunnels not shown on any map. His friends are drifting away, intent on chasing down insane, uncharted zones hidden within the capital, and they seem to be succumbing to a strange wasting disease. The suggestion of a half-remembered life and the encroaching shadow of violence threatens to engulf Adam and everyone he knows, unless he can unveil his true identity and that of his stalking nemesis.

Conrad Williams' masterful novel peels back layer upon layer of the city's skin to reveal the grinning skull that lies beneath.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597800759
• ISBN13: 9781597800754
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Night Shade Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Like Ulysses on an acid trip, with monsters.

This author is a little challenging for two reasons: when you start reading, it becomes apparent that there is a rhythm to his English, that is not quite the English we speak in the States. That's not to say it's not very well written; it's just that if you read a lot, you are expecting the next word to be a certain one, and in this author's writing, the next word isn't there. If I had to guess, I would say the author had exposure to a fair amount of Cockney Rhyming slang, because it has that cadence. The second thing that makes this challenging, is that it's like reading Ulysses set in the London Underground, although it's leprous in a way that Gaiman's Neverwhere never dreamed. Elliptical, existential, depressing, and more than a little nightmarish, this is a work of literature. It's not just a book; it's a small, terrible pub in the Cotswolds and something out there is eating people, or possibly cutting them up and adding them to the soup. Reviewers say about books, all the time, "I couldn't put it down." This, you won't be able to put down, because it's like a bad dream that you can't wake up from. I hated the ending. If you miss this book, you've missed one of the most original entries in the apocalyptic fantasy genre in the last decade. Read it, but definitely not in the dark.