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Realmshift

by Alan Baxter (Goodreads Author)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 64 ratings · 32 reviews

Isiah is having a tough time. The Devil is making his job very difficult. Samuel Harrigan is a murdering lowlife. He used ancient blood magic to escape a deal with the Devil. Now hes on the trail of a crystal skull that he believes will complete his efforts to evade Lucifer. But Lucifer wants Samuels soul for eternity and refuses to wait a second longer for it. Isiah needs...more

Paperback, 372 pages

Published October 17th 2008 by Blade Red Press (first published 2006)

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Mar 21, 2009 Brenton rated it 3 of 5 stars

RealmShift

Self published in 2006 by Alan Baxter (AHWA Member and all around nice guy) and rereleased in 2008 by Blade Red Press
ISBN-13: 978-0980578201

On starting to read this offering I was filled with dread as deus-ex machina seemed ingrained. In a modern day setting, gods, devils, and characters with superhuman powers were everywhere, with our protagonist, Isiah, chief among them.

A 400 year old tool of a vaguely described entity called “The Balance”, Isiah struggles to maintain the status quo...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Leticia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-fantasy

RealmShift is the first of Alan Baxter‘s novel-length works that I have read. Having previously published his short fiction, I knew first-hand how talented he is. RealmShift confirmed to me that his abilities in long fiction are equally tight.

Not generally a big fan of dark fantasy, I put all my prejudices aside and dived in. It was a gripping and interesting tale right from the beginning; and the construct was nicely delivered.

RealmShift tells the story of Isaiah and Samuel Harrigan, in a race...more RealmShift is the first of Alan Baxter‘s novel-length works that I have read. Having previously published his short fiction, I knew first-hand how talented he is. RealmShift confirmed to me that his abilities in long fiction are equally tight.

Not generally a big fan of dark fantasy, I put all my prejudices aside and dived in. It was a gripping and interesting tale right from the beginning; and the construct was nicely delivered.

RealmShift tells the story of Isaiah and Samuel Harrigan, in a race against time – and Satan! – to make sure that events occur as they should, to retain the ‘balance’ in the universe. I’m not going to write anything more about the story itself because you have to read the book for that; suffice it to say that other characters get drawn into the struggle, and that, for a while, you are not sure which way the story will fall.

Baxter handled the multiple storylines with aplomb, and brought them together in the ‘home run’ of the story admirably. Like many other great writers before him – like Le Carre and Iain Banks – the final portion of Alan’s book was the best part.

For me personally, I found, despite how good this book was, that Baxter’s grip on his characters was with a light touch, as though his ink wouldn’t render them as completely as I personally need to engage with them. They weren’t one-dimensional, but they were lightly sketched. It felt to me that Baxter had to work to portray them.

Except for the character of Samuel Harrigan, that is. Harrigan, in contrast, to the other cast, completely leapt off the page. I suggest that Baxter enjoyed writing this character far more. Harrigan had a density and dimensionality that the other characters lacked.

As an editor, some superficial glitches (of which there were a lot!) annoyed me: missing apostrophes, misused apostrophes, verb-noun sequences that didn’t agree. These could have been fixed with a solid copy edit. I *really* struggle with books that contain unnecessary errors, but with RealmShift I was able to overlook them and just enjoy the story. Kudos indeed!

This is a fabulous book, I’m sad it took me so long to find the time to read it (took me a year to finish it, thanks to other things – though I never had to go back and re-read passages, which is a feat in itself on the author’s behalf!!), and I’m sad it’s over.

Now. Where’s the next one, MageSign… I think I need another fix.(less)

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Dec 01, 2009 Colleen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, horror-esque

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2 1/2

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It had the elements of a good chase story, mixed with with copious amounts of multiple mythologies, and a philosophy which I, essentially, agree with. But I just can't elevate this book to "really liked it".

So, where to start?

I think part of the problem I had is that I never really connected with any of the characters. There were moments where I liked Isiah (and I'm glad that the spelling of the name thing was commented on, 'cause it was driving m...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Jen Brubacher added it

While journalist Katherine Bailey investigates a crystal skull discovered in Guatemala, a psychopath is intent on killing her companion, and Isiah--an immortal of sorts, an angel of sorts, and also slightly human--must save a blood mage's life so he can fulfill his destiny and save Katherine's life.

There's a depth of mythology in this book and a lot of great action. All realms are covered, from earth to Hell. Satan makes an appearance (not slick and clever but a real demonic Beelzebub) as do man...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Kylie Fox rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Imagine if everything you believed in, everything anyone believed in was real. All of the Gods and Goddesses; heaven and hell, all of it. Imagine that if you believed it enough, the tooth fairy and the Grinch and a pink, fluffy Easter Bunny existed.

Imagine that they were real because you believed in them. Such is the world created by Alan Baxter in RealmShift.

Baxter creates an original, but very plausible, alternative to how we view religion. Everybody’s right! There is no one true god, only the...more

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Apr 04, 2010 Tracy Riva rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-fiction, thriller

There are some people’ whose heads you really don’t want to be inside and dark fiction author Alan Baxter is one of those people. In Realm Shift Alan Baxter takes you from blood sacrifices to the varied realms of hell and back again, battling demons, gods and Lucifer himself in a gore fest that makes your head spin.

Not only does Baxter spin a tale of life on the dark side, he questions, quite soundly, the basis for all religions, modern and ancient, treating all with the same irreverence and off...more There are some people’ whose heads you really don’t want to be inside and dark fiction author Alan Baxter is one of those people. In Realm Shift Alan Baxter takes you from blood sacrifices to the varied realms of hell and back again, battling demons, gods and Lucifer himself in a gore fest that makes your head spin.

Not only does Baxter spin a tale of life on the dark side, he questions, quite soundly, the basis for all religions, modern and ancient, treating all with the same irreverence and offering an alternate viewpoint that is so valid it’s almost frightening. It’ll challenge your deepest held beliefs. Belief creates reality and Baxter’s reality is full of magic and darkness, evil and good, but a good that lies easily to serve its own purpose and with the full backing of the universe and all the power behind it.

Baxter’s fight scenes are intense. They get your heart pounding, leaving you on the edge of your seat. With Baxter’s own martial arts training the scenes are realistic, sometimes so much so that you find yourself wondering if Baxter himself has ever crushed someone’s head or slit a throat and heard the blood gurgle and the breath hiss as his victim lie dying. Baxter draws you along a knife's edge of tension from the first page to the last, leaving your heart thumping and sweat on your brow.

A good example of the supernatural element in Baxter’s writing, his use of imagery and his ability to write a good fight scene follows:

“Samuel could do nothing but watch helplessly as the battle began. Isiah’s fingers were pressing with immense force into the devil’s face. Samuel could hear the creak and crack of bones fracturing, Isiah’s middle finger and thumb slowly sinking into the hollows of Lucifer’s temples, dark black blood leaking out, running down his cheeks. Satan’s own nails were drawing blood from Isiah’s forearm, Isiah’s skin taut and white under his grip. The devil lashed out with his other hand, clawing for Isiah’s face. Isiah caught his hand with lightening reflexes, his hand wrapped around the devil’s closed fist, squeezing. More of Lucifer’s bones began popping.”

RealmShift is phenomenal. If it's not already on your bookshelf it should be.

RealmShift First Published 2006 by Alan Baxter, Second Edition, 2008 by Blade Red Press. ISBN 978-0-9805782-0-1, Third Edition 2010, by Gryphonwood Press. ISBN 978-0-9825087-4-9, release date April 27,2010 available online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, other online bookstores, as well as local book retailers. For more information see the author's website at http://www.alanbaxteronline.com
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Mar 05, 2011 Sean the Bookonaut rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-spec-fic, ebook

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Realmshift by Australian author Alan Baxter is available as an ebook and in print from Gryphonwood Press. This review is based on an epub version presumably generated by the Smashwords meat grinder.

I read Alan's Blog and converse with him regularly on twitter. When he asked for reviewers I put up my hand as , Realmshift falls within my reviewing guidelines ie Australian Speculative Fiction.

So this book is a review copy provided free of charge.

The Story
Isiah is a centuries old servant of The Bal...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Eliza Bentley rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book on the train. For some reason, it really suits train reading. It's about an immortal-ish being, Isiah, who goes about fighting demons and trying to restore balance to the belief systems of the world. I really Ike the ideas of religion in this book - humans believe something strongly enough, and it is real. Your deity, whatever that may be, exists because you believe in it. As an atheist myself, I don't believe in any deities. But I do believe in having faith. Believing in someth...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Phillip Berrie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A while ago Alan Baxter gave away eBook versions of his Isiah duology as part of a promotion for the Thrillercast podcast that he hosts with American thriller author David Wood. In preparation for reading Magesign I decided to re-read Realmshift (I'd already picked up and read a physical copy of Realmshift at local Australian con).

It's still a damn good read and more so when in retrospect you start to think about what the author tries to achieve with his main character, Isiah.

Isiah is an immort...more

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Nov 24, 2009 Karen Field rated it 3 of 5 stars

RealmShift is a mixture of genres, but it’s mainly horror. It reminded me of some of the Anne Rice books I read years ago – as in theme, not actual storyline. There are vampires, immortals, evil humans and tons of killer instinct, which always means blood and guts are sure to follow. Luckily, that doesn’t bother me.

Of course, there’s lots of swearing too. I’m not one for swearing, but I found I didn’t really have a problem with it in this setting. The characters are mainly male and they swear li...more RealmShift is a mixture of genres, but it’s mainly horror. It reminded me of some of the Anne Rice books I read years ago – as in theme, not actual storyline. There are vampires, immortals, evil humans and tons of killer instinct, which always means blood and guts are sure to follow. Luckily, that doesn’t bother me.

Of course, there’s lots of swearing too. I’m not one for swearing, but I found I didn’t really have a problem with it in this setting. The characters are mainly male and they swear like troopers, which I find is true in real life so I guess that’s why I didn’t have much trouble accepting it in the story. The female character was much more reserved but when she resorted to more powerful words I accepted it because of the situation she was in at the time.

I was pleased to find characters with depth, characters I could relate to. Strangely, I could even understand why the bad characters were bad, which means they were well written and fully developed.

The story itself is fast paced. Something is always happening, or about to happen. There’s no holding back either. If someone has to die, the reader knows every detail. It certainly gets the imagination going in that regard. In fact, I feel as if I’ve tasted the life of a killer!

RealmShift also had a theme that I found was thought provoking. Yet at the same time, this same theme slowed the story down in sections because of the amount of explaining needed to get a point across. Yet it was important to the overall story and as it was religious based I understood how difficult it was for the author to make sure the reader understood something that is quite complex. The story put a different spin on the whole religion thing which I found quite fascinating. Ultimately, the message was to believe in oneself and stop relying on others and I think that’s a good message to give.

If you want to read a fast paced, action filled story, then you should definitely give RealmShift a read.(less)

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Oct 26, 2010 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

RealmShift is a difficult story to classify. It is a well-written dark fantasy with a detailed cosmology that feeds heavily into the plot, but the characters populating the story are less important than their purposes to facilitate plot continuity, which makes me hesitate to recommend it.

The plot revolves around Isiah, an immortal tool for the Balance, which facilitates change within the world by maintaining order between good and evil. Humans unknowingly create their own realities with faith,...more RealmShift is a difficult story to classify. It is a well-written dark fantasy with a detailed cosmology that feeds heavily into the plot, but the characters populating the story are less important than their purposes to facilitate plot continuity, which makes me hesitate to recommend it.

The plot revolves around Isiah, an immortal tool for the Balance, which facilitates change within the world by maintaining order between good and evil. Humans unknowingly create their own realities with faith, which brings all manner of gods and religions into the cosmology who exist because of the humans who believe in them. Isiah is tasked with rescuing recently-deceased occult-practitioner Samuel Harrigan from Hell after he reneged on a deal with Satan. The Balance wants Samuel to complete a trip he had planned to Guatemala (for purposes of acquiring a crystal skull) so that Samuel can kill mercenary-sociopath Carlos Villalopez, who in turn would have murdered American eco-journalist Katherine Bailey, whose presence will convince a tribe to receive inoculations and prevent the death of a god when the tribe dies out. (This isn't a spoiler, as the Balance tells all of this to Isiah within the first couple of chapters.)

I prefer character-driven stories. This is primarily why I found the characters in this novel--with the exception of Isiah--to be predictable and somewhat monotonous. The story shifts point-of-view between Isiah, Katherine, and Carlos as they all travel separately for different purposes to Guatemala where they will eventually intersect. Isiah is the most well-developed "gray" character who is neither good nor evil. Katherine represents the "good" journalist with noble intentions while Carlos is the "evil" mercenary out to kill/rape/torture anyone he comes across, and after the first few chapters in their p-of-v, I found myself becoming impatient to get back to the chapters featuring Isiah. The chapters of Katherine and Carlos were well-written and descriptive; I just found myself growing bored with these human caricatures. There's only so much murder and mayhem you can read before it all runs together. Likewise, I found myself wanting to roll my eyes after a few chapters of Katherine's good will toward men ideals.

The tone of the omniscient narrator is extremely distant and unemotional, almost as if the events are being relayed by a bored entity. I can see where this might have been deliberate on the author's part, but this style made it very difficult for me to become invested in the story, and easy to set the book down and pick back up as opposed to reading straight through.

The pacing was noticeably faster during the chapters featuring Isiah, as those are the only ones containing fantastical elements (fight scenes with Satan and his minions, dealing with archangel Gabriel and a group of vampires); particularly engrossing was the scene when Isiah journeys into Hell to steal Samuel's soul from the devil. Carlos and Katherine chapters are mired in reality. I honestly think this story could have benefitted from cutting some of the chapters focusing on those two characters as they don't seem to serve any purpose other than representations of opposing forces. Had the novel focused solely on Isiah's journey with Samuel--a wretched human being who Isiah is forced to protect from Satan--I probably would have enjoyed it much more. One irritation I had was the manner in which Isiah dealt with Samuel: a murdering scum who kills two people right in front of Isiah during their mad rush to escape the devil. Isiah kept threatening Samuel with dire consequences but never followed through when Samuel called his bluff. As an immortal being, surely he could have enacted some kind of psychic smack-down without killing him? I was also mildly disappointed by the very Christianized physical description of the devil and Hell when the cosmology of the novel encompasses so many different religions.

Aside from these, I enjoyed the story for what it was. The plot was interesting and the ideas suggested have a very "Matrix" feel to them, questions upon questions upon questions type of thing. There is a sequel advertised on the last page, and honestly, I have little or no interest in reading it. Isiah was an interesting character, but the end of the story had a very "pat" wrapped-up feel, and I would have preferred a less predictable close to a dark fantasy novel.

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Dec 24, 2010 Joanna (J.F.Penn) rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read fiction to relax and escape, and prefer a rollicking, fast paced adventure novel, and Alan delivers on that in RealmShift. I enjoyed the supernatural themes and religious comment that was intertwined with the gory action. The character of Isiah is complex and I love the idea of the gods being sustained by faith.

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Sep 17, 2012 Jenn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pretty good dark fantasy/horror. If it had been cut down a little, I'd have liked it more. I did like that the villain was bad, unredeemable. I liked some things about him, but Sam was bad to the core. Some authors would be tempted to make him a likable guy, but he wasn't. Sometimes it is black and white.

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Jun 10, 2010 Alan Baxter added it · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Shelves: dark-fantasy, horror, urban-fantasy, thriller

This is the new Gryphonwood Press edition of RealmShift.

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Jan 07, 2010 Mike Bond rated it 3 of 5 stars

Simple yet entertaining fantasy.

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Mar 24, 2013 Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: demons, magic, paranormal-fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was not only an enjoyable and exciting read but also raised some fascinating theological questions which really gave me food for thought.

The concept of this book is well thought out, with just enough explanation to let the mind wander and question character actions, but there isn't so much explanation you feel spoonfed and bored.

I would love to see a follow up to this book with more character development. This really is a must read if you like some dark parano...more

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May 10, 2013 Legato Darksummers added it · review of another edition

Shelves: daddy-dark-s-baby-warrior-list

May 03, 2013 Jonathan Pettit marked it as to-read

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Apr 12, 2013 Tressa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mar 28, 2013 Raven Paramour is currently reading it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-to-read-next

Mar 22, 2013 Misha is currently reading it

Mar 21, 2013 Soo marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Shelves: priority-reads

Feb 28, 2013 Infrasonic Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Feb 05, 2013 J.S. Morin marked it as to-read

Jan 16, 2013 Sheyunda Nesbitt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jan 03, 2013 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dec 24, 2012 Cindy added it · review of another edition

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About Alan Baxter

Alan Baxter is a Ditmar Award-nominated British-Australian author living on the south coast of NSW, Australia. He writes dark fantasy, sci-fi and horror, rides a motorcycle and loves his dog. He also teaches Kung Fu. He is the author of the contemporary dark fantasy thriller novels, RealmShift and MageSign, and over 40 short stories which have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies in A...more

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