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To Build Jerusalem
One morning in 1995, Jonah Ransom, clothier, is going about his everyday business when he meets a beautiful demon in his storecupboard. At around the same time, the King of England with his entire court, vanishes abruptly before the astonished eyes of his public as he prepares to attend Mass. Even in an England where the Reformation failed, and magic has become a commonplace tool of the all-powerful Catholic Church, such events could be described as unusual. Before long, it is apparent that something very different is abroad - magic ceases to work in its accustomed way, instability and political unrest threaten to disrupt a society used to order and rigid social obedience. Eventually the Pope is sufficiently perturbed to send one of his beloved (by him) and dreaded (by the public in general) Sicarii to investigate the disturbance. Arriving late on the scene, Adam (he has no other name), Sicarii extraordinaire, sometime spy, sometime security officer, sometime assassin, discovers a mystifying, malicious power at work, a power that can twist not only souls, but his entire world inside out.
320 pages, Paperback
First published April 13, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 8, 2013
A great concept that is fairly well executed, with some really great battle scenes.
I was almost immediately reminded of the promising but ultimately disappointing Romanitas, in that it's an alternate history of England where things are radically different and yet still recognisable. In this world, the Protestant Reformation (Charles I/Cromwell etc) failed, and Catholicism regained footing in England, going on to be the major faith throughout the world. Most of what we know as modern history therefore did not happen, and many of our modern developments are unknown.
Where Romanitas gave Roman society modern technology with silly names, this world still thrives largely on gunpowder and armour, with Mother Church characteristically slow to 'allow' the use of new technologies such as steam power and railways. And magic.
The magic is really mostly science, very explainable and all about mental power, which brings it into the realm of understanding and takes this book away from where I thought it was going.
Our main character, Adam, is pretty bad-ass, although a little bit complacent in terms of storytelling - we never doubt he will win through because he has no doubts in himself. Everything is 100% known. Nevertheless, he is enjoyable to spend time with, and his perspective is refreshing in a very staid and ordered world.
There are absolutely NO women characters in this book, which is pretty poor really. The demon who causes all the trouble is female, for what that's worth, and she is a caricature and the worst possible thing that could happen to the world. Not much to recommend women, is it?
What really makes this enjoyable is the excellently paced last third - a constant struggle against said demon in her own strange world, at first Adam alone, and then returning with an army in a horrific bloody battle. Thoroughly enjoyable all round.
I was almost immediately reminded of the promising but ultimately disappointing Romanitas, in that it's an alternate history of England where things are radically different and yet still recognisable. In this world, the Protestant Reformation (Charles I/Cromwell etc) failed, and Catholicism regained footing in England, going on to be the major faith throughout the world. Most of what we know as modern history therefore did not happen, and many of our modern developments are unknown.
Where Romanitas gave Roman society modern technology with silly names, this world still thrives largely on gunpowder and armour, with Mother Church characteristically slow to 'allow' the use of new technologies such as steam power and railways. And magic.
The magic is really mostly science, very explainable and all about mental power, which brings it into the realm of understanding and takes this book away from where I thought it was going.
Our main character, Adam, is pretty bad-ass, although a little bit complacent in terms of storytelling - we never doubt he will win through because he has no doubts in himself. Everything is 100% known. Nevertheless, he is enjoyable to spend time with, and his perspective is refreshing in a very staid and ordered world.
There are absolutely NO women characters in this book, which is pretty poor really. The demon who causes all the trouble is female, for what that's worth, and she is a caricature and the worst possible thing that could happen to the world. Not much to recommend women, is it?
What really makes this enjoyable is the excellently paced last third - a constant struggle against said demon in her own strange world, at first Adam alone, and then returning with an army in a horrific bloody battle. Thoroughly enjoyable all round.
September 23, 2018
An alternative title for this one could be “Fear of a Protestant Planet.” English fantasy writer Whitbourn once described himself as a “Green Counter-Reformation Anarcho-Jacobite” (you can see why I made a point of tracking his books down). This was back in the eighties or nineties, before we would automatically assume such a person is just trying to find a way to avoid self-describing as fascist. Whitbourn’s ideas frame the worlds he writes, and they’re animated by a pulpy horror/fantasy sensibility with substantial Lovecraftian overtones.
This one in particular takes place in a world where the Reformation failed, the Catholic Church runs things in a manner reminiscent of the Emperor in Dune, and magic exists, mostly wielded by priests. Like I said when I reviewed the first book set in this world, “A Dangerous Energy,” if Whitbourn is trying to convince people that the world would be better without the Reformation, he’s found a funny way of doing it. The world is dark, cramped, and run by tyrants. It’s the late twentieth century and much of the world is unmapped and they’re just figuring out trains. To the extent Whitbourn can be said to pitch it as a “good” world, you could argue it’s more orderly- people know their place in the world and stick to it. Not my thing, but ok.
But Whitbourn is pleasingly non-didactic, and the actual point of the world seems to be that it’s a good jumping off point for horror and adventure. The main character is an enforcer for the Church, a sort of Catholic janissary named Adam. He’s sent to England because there’s a disturbance in the force- some kind of entity in the sphere of magic that is making the spells not work good. Wizards often summon demons, but it turns out, the demons they summon are small-fry compared to a big (and very horny) demon from a realm of evil beyond even the evil-realm the wizards can access. The many layers of unknowable and unholy power that exist beyond our ken are reinforcement for the idea that we need a stable order watched over by a perennial source of spiritual power…
Spoiler alert- the demon lord (never named) manifested itself to the Gideonites, the underground remnants of Protestantism in England. They bargained with it to kidnap the King and the papal legate and do a bunch of other mayhem. Whitbourn depicts the Gideonites as similar to (a conservative picture of) militant leftist movements in our timeline (including references to “democratic centralism” lol). Their overweening pride and desperation over being owned by the Church and its armies all the time leads them to believe they can use this demon-lord to bring about the End Times and hit the reset button on the whole thing. Not only that- but they’re getting into enclosure! The venal lords of England, never really faithful enough, start doing capitalism against the wishes of the church, kicking good pious peasants off the land and raising sheep for money. Both the demon’s antics and enclosure are treated as equally heinous, offenses against the sacred order of things.
The book’s a lot of fun. Naturally, our Leninist-Puritans can’t control the demon-lord, who does all kinds of nasty things. Adam develops a fun Holmes-Watson thing with a provincial English yeoman-soldier. Whitbourn throws in a lot of fun details and a real sense of place, namely Surrey and Sussex- apparently he has whole collections of macabre tales about them. The ending was kind of a cop-out. There’s some fun battles in the demon-lord’s own dimension, but they end with a literal deus ex machina (or deus ex coelum). It’s consistent with Whitbourn’s beliefs and with his vision of our world at the mercy of extra-dimensional powers above and below… but it kind of took the wind out of the book’s sails. Still, definitely worth checking out. Also, someone claiming to be Whitbourn commented on my review of his earlier volume. If you’re reading this, Mr. Whitbourn, thanks for getting in touch, and I hope your straits aren’t actually dire! I did go out and buy this book, and encourage others to do so if they like quality weird history/fantasy/horror fiction. Maybe we can do an interview? Let me know! ****’
https://toomuchberard.wordpress.com/2...
This one in particular takes place in a world where the Reformation failed, the Catholic Church runs things in a manner reminiscent of the Emperor in Dune, and magic exists, mostly wielded by priests. Like I said when I reviewed the first book set in this world, “A Dangerous Energy,” if Whitbourn is trying to convince people that the world would be better without the Reformation, he’s found a funny way of doing it. The world is dark, cramped, and run by tyrants. It’s the late twentieth century and much of the world is unmapped and they’re just figuring out trains. To the extent Whitbourn can be said to pitch it as a “good” world, you could argue it’s more orderly- people know their place in the world and stick to it. Not my thing, but ok.
But Whitbourn is pleasingly non-didactic, and the actual point of the world seems to be that it’s a good jumping off point for horror and adventure. The main character is an enforcer for the Church, a sort of Catholic janissary named Adam. He’s sent to England because there’s a disturbance in the force- some kind of entity in the sphere of magic that is making the spells not work good. Wizards often summon demons, but it turns out, the demons they summon are small-fry compared to a big (and very horny) demon from a realm of evil beyond even the evil-realm the wizards can access. The many layers of unknowable and unholy power that exist beyond our ken are reinforcement for the idea that we need a stable order watched over by a perennial source of spiritual power…
Spoiler alert- the demon lord (never named) manifested itself to the Gideonites, the underground remnants of Protestantism in England. They bargained with it to kidnap the King and the papal legate and do a bunch of other mayhem. Whitbourn depicts the Gideonites as similar to (a conservative picture of) militant leftist movements in our timeline (including references to “democratic centralism” lol). Their overweening pride and desperation over being owned by the Church and its armies all the time leads them to believe they can use this demon-lord to bring about the End Times and hit the reset button on the whole thing. Not only that- but they’re getting into enclosure! The venal lords of England, never really faithful enough, start doing capitalism against the wishes of the church, kicking good pious peasants off the land and raising sheep for money. Both the demon’s antics and enclosure are treated as equally heinous, offenses against the sacred order of things.
The book’s a lot of fun. Naturally, our Leninist-Puritans can’t control the demon-lord, who does all kinds of nasty things. Adam develops a fun Holmes-Watson thing with a provincial English yeoman-soldier. Whitbourn throws in a lot of fun details and a real sense of place, namely Surrey and Sussex- apparently he has whole collections of macabre tales about them. The ending was kind of a cop-out. There’s some fun battles in the demon-lord’s own dimension, but they end with a literal deus ex machina (or deus ex coelum). It’s consistent with Whitbourn’s beliefs and with his vision of our world at the mercy of extra-dimensional powers above and below… but it kind of took the wind out of the book’s sails. Still, definitely worth checking out. Also, someone claiming to be Whitbourn commented on my review of his earlier volume. If you’re reading this, Mr. Whitbourn, thanks for getting in touch, and I hope your straits aren’t actually dire! I did go out and buy this book, and encourage others to do so if they like quality weird history/fantasy/horror fiction. Maybe we can do an interview? Let me know! ****’
https://toomuchberard.wordpress.com/2...
June 30, 2020
Having now read and thoroughly enjoyed four of John Whitbourn’s works, namely The Binscombe Tales, A Dangerous Energy, BABYLONdon and The Age of the Triffids (you’ll need a kindly Canadian Aunt or Uncle to be able to read the latter), would To Build Jerusalem be of the same standard?
The second part of the Pevensey Trilogy is set in the same alternative history as A Dangerous Energy. It starts off very loosely as a supernatural Whodunnit, before moving increasingly towards the familiar themes of Theology, Politics, Wizardry and echelons of power. Some of the narrative is occasionally cleverly interplayed with the first book in the trilogy, although it works fine as a stand-alone novel and you wouldn’t otherwise know it was part of a wider set.
Like its predecessor, the battle and Demonology sequences are brilliantly written. The sharp humour is again well executed (while a few characters are again well executed with sharp humour). We even get a cameo appearance from an alternative history namesake of the author, who gets his pennies worth in. Some of the allegories are outside my limited sphere of understanding, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the story, and those I do get (or think I do) make for a rewarding experience.
Whilst being slightly different in style and arguably more conventional (relatively) to A Dangerous Energy, my personal opinion is that To Build Jerusalem is at least as good as it’s predecessor. However, for the first time in my experience with the author’s works, I feel I can level a justified criticism of something that isn’t great, the book’s front cover!
The second part of the Pevensey Trilogy is set in the same alternative history as A Dangerous Energy. It starts off very loosely as a supernatural Whodunnit, before moving increasingly towards the familiar themes of Theology, Politics, Wizardry and echelons of power. Some of the narrative is occasionally cleverly interplayed with the first book in the trilogy, although it works fine as a stand-alone novel and you wouldn’t otherwise know it was part of a wider set.
Like its predecessor, the battle and Demonology sequences are brilliantly written. The sharp humour is again well executed (while a few characters are again well executed with sharp humour). We even get a cameo appearance from an alternative history namesake of the author, who gets his pennies worth in. Some of the allegories are outside my limited sphere of understanding, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the story, and those I do get (or think I do) make for a rewarding experience.
Whilst being slightly different in style and arguably more conventional (relatively) to A Dangerous Energy, my personal opinion is that To Build Jerusalem is at least as good as it’s predecessor. However, for the first time in my experience with the author’s works, I feel I can level a justified criticism of something that isn’t great, the book’s front cover!
September 16, 2019
Great book, awful cover.
Another Catholic England within which the Church has come to terms with magic. Not necessarily a good thing. Set (later) in the same alt-Jacobean world as A Dangerous Energy.
Another Catholic England within which the Church has come to terms with magic. Not necessarily a good thing. Set (later) in the same alt-Jacobean world as A Dangerous Energy.
July 3, 2013
Another alternate world fantasy by the author of THE CHANGELING PRINCE, a self-proclaimed "Counter-Reformation green anarcho-Jacobite". He sounds like my kind of guy (although the book seems more Distributist than anarchist).
In United England of Charles IV, where St. Guy Fawkes succeeded in eradicating James the Unfilial and the "protestant" of the "dark days", the realm faces the threat of a horrifically amoral demon magnate, and the fanatical Levellers who think they can ride the tigress. Adam the papal Sicarius (whom the author insists on calling a "Sicarii"... 500 lines, Whitbourn!) must face the menace not quite singlehanded, while uncovering what is really rotten in the English state and church. Adam (who no longer has any other name) is fairly inhuman himself, but we are rooting for him nonetheless. I eagerly await the arrival of the previous volume, A DANGEROUS ENERGY.
In United England of Charles IV, where St. Guy Fawkes succeeded in eradicating James the Unfilial and the "protestant" of the "dark days", the realm faces the threat of a horrifically amoral demon magnate, and the fanatical Levellers who think they can ride the tigress. Adam the papal Sicarius (whom the author insists on calling a "Sicarii"... 500 lines, Whitbourn!) must face the menace not quite singlehanded, while uncovering what is really rotten in the English state and church. Adam (who no longer has any other name) is fairly inhuman himself, but we are rooting for him nonetheless. I eagerly await the arrival of the previous volume, A DANGEROUS ENERGY.
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May 1, 2017Edition: paperback / softback
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews