Customer Reviews

The Wanderer in Unknown Realms (Kindle Single)

The Wanderer in Unknown Realms is a well written and eerie short story. The plot spins around the search for a missing book collector, Lionel Maulding, and the mystery surrounding a rare 'Atlas' for which it appears he paid a huge sum of money. Into the mix arrives the character of Soter who has been hired to investigate the matter. Once Soter arrives at the crumbling, Gothic, Bromdrum Hall with it's seemingly 'ghostly' happenings the plot opens up into the world of alchemy, the frantic world of occult book collecting and ritual. I'm not going any deeper into the plot except to say the background of World War 1 with it's trenches full of mud and blood is beautifully worked and an ideal stage for this mystery to be set against. I'll also have to give great credit to John Connolly for his fantastic characters who are a mix of the likeable and the 'really not'.

Connolly has managed to produce a dark, extremely surreal, story which spins the reader from the impact of the Great War up into the realms of Alistair Crowley, Magick and the, possible, rebirth of someone not at all pleasant!. Plenty of brooding atmosphere and a slow building tension which is superbly done when you consider this is a short story. I'm trying so hard not to give spoilers.

My only word of caution; don't expect Charlie Parker or a host of gun slinging, demonic, anti-heroes. The Wanderer isn't a departure from what Connolly does best but it's written in a different style. He's put a complete spin on his usual themes and I was reminded of H.P. Lovecraft, travel through different realms, which I enjoyed. There's some gore and moderate violence with slight horror elements which are unlikely to shock but; The Wanderer in Unknown Realms is a decent short story for any fan of 'weird fiction'.

Loved it. Only downside was that it wasn't a full novel. Can't wait for his next books. I'm surprised there's not more reviews on here

The Wanderer in Unknown Realms is John Connolly's much publicised new Kindle Single, a horror story of novella length that should really be a novel. He's a brilliant writer, so I wasn't surprised to be engaged with a world of Dickensian characters (the lawyer Quayle, the sinister booksellers Dunwidge and Daughter) all caught up in a spine tingling plot. Soter - a world war one veteran, shell-shocked and bereaved, works as a private detective and takes on the case of missing Lionel Maulding, an elderly country gentlemen with a taste for antiquarian books.

Soters search takes him into the world of arcana and rare occult books. Soon he begins to experience the occult world for himself and has moments when he doubts his sanity. Lionel Maulding had been on the trail of a book so rare, so dangerous, that it has eluded generations of occult specialists. The Atlas of Unknown Realms has the power to change the space time continuum and re-write the nature of reality. Soter soon has reason to fear that the book has been found and opened when time begins to bend around him and horrific creatures materialise out of the darkness.

At this point I was really gripped. I wanted to know what had happened to Lionel Maulding and how the world was going to be saved - hopefully by Soter. But the novella's ending is a complete let-down and unfortunately ruined the whole for me. Maybe others will disagree. I'm not going to do a spoiler - but I think it was a cop-out!

There are wonderful, creepy illustrations by Emily Hall that make the production of this book a class act.

The read was good, but the ending was terrible, it made you feel that you wasted your time reading the book

John Connolly’s latest piece of longer fiction continues his previous adventures into the horror realm with a full blooded novella firmly in the weird fiction tradition.

We follow the trials of Soter, a first world war veteran as he tries to make some money by investigating the disappearance of Lionel Maulding. The quest soon takes him into the occult book world and the search for a fabled and feared missing tome.

That brief plot synopsis might lead you to believe that this novella has little new and in terms of the tropes you might be correct but what makes the book stand out is the strength of the writing.

Connolly builds on the tragedy of the great war, the suffering and abuse of the veterans, the overriding sense of evil pervading the world to build a fascinating and exciting, yet deep and literary tale, “It was the war to end worlds, to end this world….the world was made ready for the book, and the book was ready for the world.”

The writing is rich and vivid but with an eerie edginess reminiscent of Machen, James (M.R) or the ghost stories of Dickens. Fans of recent Weird fiction will also see similarities to the works of Thomas Ligotti and Mark Samuels and if that sounds like high praise it’s meant to be.

It has to be said that the ending may not be to everyone's taste, you could argue that a lengthier ending would have led the book into novel territory (and I wouldn't have objected to more) but I feel the rather sudden stop to proceedings actually works well.

Set sometime after World War I, Lionel Maulding, a rare book collector has gone missing. Former soldier Soter is tasked with finding him, leading to some exceedingly grim discoveries. It's one of the scariest books I've ever read. While some of the events in it are truly horrible and shudder-making, I was left with a nagging doubt as to whether Soter was having a nervous breakdown or everything was actually true. Connolly's talent for creating understated yet terrifying stories is pretty much second to none and even a couple of weeks after finishing this particular story, I had a sense of residual creeping unease. Other reviewers have criticised the ending but I thought it worked really well.

I'm a massive fan of John Connolly but this wasn't his best. Great story telling and characters but a disappointing end if it could be considered an end at all. Doesn't come close to the great Charlie Parker novels.

Not sure what it was about, felt it was creepy but not sure why. Possibly Will not read this type of book again.

I am a huge fan of John Connolly's Charlie Parker thrillers, and although all the stories have a similar arc, it is Connolly's ability to develop characters that make his work so appealing. It is much the same with this short story. There are interesting characters, and he sets a suitably gloomy atmosphere in which the events unfold. So, why, oh why, does it end the way it does? The story virtually stops dead in it's tracks. It left me feeling quite cheated, sadly.

Have read several of his books, ok for holiday reading on Kindle moves well and has established format, wich suits me.