The Hidden World

Watchers #2

by Stuart Gordon

Genres: Fantasy

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

About the author

Stuart Gordon is the pen name for Richard Alexander Steuart Gordon. He also published as Alex Stuart and Alex R. Stuart.

Reviews

[Richard Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, the second part of a trilogy is always the problematic bit and, to be honest, this one didn't captivate me to the extent its predecessor, 'Archon' managed. Still good, though and, hey, as someone who discovered Stuart Gordon/Alex R Stuart when I was 16, there was never any danger I'd fail to love this millennia-spanning, mystico-psychedelic freak out. I think we see a bit too much of the world-shaping super beings for them to retain their mystique and their ability to inspire awe; it's a bit like, when we actually get to meet Sauron in Tolkien's 'Silmarillion', he turns out to be just another moustache-twirling, tie-the-heroine-to-the-railway-line-style villainous nobcheese, rather than the tortured, Miltonic fallen angel we were hoping for.

Still, the description of the mass-murder of the Cathars - apparently based on historical truth - is the most moving and brutal treatment of this sort of thing I've come across this side of Shaw's 'Saint Joan' - which is high praise indeed - and Sam Joyce and his daughter remain a deeply likeable pair of protagonists. I look forward to the third chunk of the tale, which I'll be tackling in the summer,all being well.