A challenging, deeply evocative and poetic fantasy novel, The Vorrh explores a dark forest both mythical and tangible, one that contains demons and angels, and possibly even the Garden of Eden at its center. Entering the Vorrh from the colonial African town Essenwald is a spiritual journey as invaluable as it is unforgiving. An English soldier, Williams, with a magical bow infused with the soul of his lover, is determined to uncover the forest's secrets.
A fantastic cast of characters fills the novel, including Ishmael, a one-eyed young man raised by robots in a mysterious house and now loved by two noblewomen who together search for him when he runs away to the Vorrh. Tsungali, an aging yet powerful African warrior who protects the forest, travels to stop Williams from attaining the Vorrh's center. B. Catling (A Court of Miracles) even includes photographer Edward [sic] Muybridge--an actual historical figure--driven to record film images no one has shot before.
The Vorrh can be challenging; there are sections of clear action and plotting as well as scenes that seem only to hint at the events unfolding, as if peering into a cloudy mirror. Everything is anthropomorphized, all objects serve the mood--the mirror smirks, "the black bread and yellow butter had seemed to stare from its plate with mocking intensity."
B. Catling has written a novel that warrants close, repeated reading, building a compelling work of art around the sentient, magical forest at its core. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor