Mark Chadbourn’s World’s End might be one of those books that I could just leave lying around for ages after reading about 300 pages. The lack of immersion just keeps me from diving into the story. Funnily enough I bought an British omnibus edition that has the whole Age of Misrule trilogy.
Idea of World’s End is that dark sort of fairie is coming back to the modern world and with it technology is slowly breaking down. Magic is coming back and science is on back pedal. Nothing wrong with that except that it’s really irking me that for example computers quit working, cars break down and yet gravity seems to be in working order. Somehow I don’t consider internal combustion engine to be scientific mumbo jumbo invention that would have hick ups when science goes. It seems to me that the idea hasn’t been quite thought through.
The story starts by introducing couple of classical protagonists, Ruth and Church, people who live rather shallow and uneventful lives, Ruth ruing the death of his father and Church the suicide of his girlfriend. Their paths cross when they both happen to witness the same brutal murder. The incident haunts them and after couple of meetings and twists and turns they realize that everything isn’t quite as simple and hunky dorey as they first thought. Their struggle to try to explain all the unnerving occurrences is delightful as an idea, but also kept me from engaging the story wholly. When the characters had doubts of the reality of it all, so did I.
Chadbourn does have some good ideas. The idea about fairies being devious rather than good and the whole myths are based on truth thingamajick is interesting, though not that unique. Author juggles all the different myths with care, creating interesting combinations, though I groaned when the hints to Arthurian legend started to appear. Talk about beating a dead horse. The whole setting is delightfully dark and gritty, though at times it is a bit overwhelming.
Funnily enough, after writing about the book I start to feel like I should continue to read it. At the least it’s interesting to see on which side the Village People does its comeback.