WANDERERS & ISLANDERS
By Steve Cockayne
Orbit (Little, Brown) - February 2002
ISBN: 1841491209 - Paperback
Fantasy
Teen to Adult

Reviewed by: Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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Much as I enjoy reading Tolkeinesque fantasies replete with dungeons and dragons, elves and goblins, it is always a treat to be reminded that this is not all the genre consists of and to find an author who has turned away from the usual and is instead mining the rich veins of earlier authors. Such a one is Steve Cockayne who has drawn on early fantasists and folklore to produce something that is very English and enjoyably original. Three people exist poles apart in a world that is slightly removed from our own; first there is ex-soldier Victor Lazarus who is helping to restore a house for the return of its unknown owner but is watched by an unseen being. Then there is young Rusty Brown who meets a strange girl during his childhood in a rural village and is given custody of a powerful secret, and finally, Leonardo Pegasus, a powerful magician and advisor to the king who is inventing a machine that will allow users to experience the whole world through the eyes of all its inhabitants at the same time.

The world they inhabit is reminiscent of children's literature (Pegasus), fairy tales (Rusty) and at the same time almost akin to our own (Lazarus), and slowly their individual strands all combine to become one in an intricate and fascinating way like the steps of some arcane and elaborate dance. Cockayne has managed to produce a fantasy that isn't overlong and he manages to tell what is rather a complex story in a simple and direct way - no mean feat. I look forward greatly to reading the next part in the Legends of the Land saga and feel that this novel may well have appeal for all those people who think that fantasy is just all about dungeons and dragons, elves and goblins…

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