Phoenix and the Darkness of WolvesShane Jiraiya Cummings
eBook ISBN: 9781615720552
Published by Damnation Books
A richly Australian piece which will strike a chord with any connoisseur of dark tales. This is not a story full of rendered body parts, impatient sex or chilling tension, but it does have a core of vast proportions which lingers with the reader long after the final page has been consumed. Like the country it’s set in, there is an epic scale to all the facets of this easy read.
A man schooled in an ancient art allowing control of the elemental forces shaping life, tries to live a normal existence with his wife and two kids. He has the same issues we all face: make ends meet, not become dinner for mysterious monsters, nurture a loving relationship with his wife, try to understand a teenage daughter, and be a role model to a young son, but when he is once more drawn into the world of runes, symbols and power, everything shifts.
An elemental goes rogue when a major summoning is interrupted. What was meant to be a weapon against an infestation of monsters turns against its masters and the very land it was supposed to protect. Echoes of Australia’s attempts to control other unwanted creatures by introducing a predator abound, as does the catastrophic effects these introductions have had on an ancient land: think cane toads or rabbits or Patterson’s Curse. As with these other introductions, the elemental sweeps across this wide brown land with a vengeance. Magic brings it into being, but the interruption, caused by the main character, Damon, warps it, and also warps the protection magic around him and his family. This sets up a classic tale of guilt that can only be purged through an arduous journey and self sacrifice.
Cummings goes a little overboard with imprinting the West Australian countryside into our brain using a flowing prose sometimes excessively thick with pictorial descriptive, but even this serves the purpose of reinforcing the hopelessness of the main character’s quest by mirroring his enforced repetitive days in the loopbacked landscape he travels through. Small things change, but the final goal, and many of the obstacles in his way, remain constant.
The character empathy is well developed, the settings are comfortingly familiar, the ending unexpected. This is different from other stories I’ve read from this author. If you’re expecting something shocking, visceral or graphic in its terror, this isn’t it, but it is all encompassing, full of emotion and moving. This is a good read.
Recommended.
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