Strange Cargo FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
Strange Cargo, the third volume of Jeffrey E. Barlough's Western Lights saga (Dark Sleeper, The House in the High Wood), returns to his signature alternate 19th-century Earth, struck by a mysterious object and thrown into a new Ice Age. The last remnants of civilization have survived on a stretch of rugged coastline where Victorian society coexists with prehistoric creatures.
Like Barlough's two previous novels, Strange Cargo takes time to get rolling. With dozens of diverse characters -- both human and supernatural -- and convoluted story lines, the two central plots aren't revealed until well into the read. After his recently deceased grandfather willed a quarter of his fortune to a mysterious heir, Jeffrey Cargo and his witch of a wife vow to track down this man and somehow dissuade him from collecting his share. Armed with their trusted attorney, they travel many arduous miles to the town of Nantle where they begin their search�. Meanwhile, Lady Jane Wastefield has recently arrived in Nantle on a very different task. Haunted by the images in an ancient bronze mirror -- the same mirror that she believes killed her father -- Jane has traveled to Nantle in hopes of getting rid of the artifact once and for all.
Newcomers to this series need fear not: Although all three volumes take place in the same alternate Earth, they can easily be read as stand-alone stories. Alternate history fans who enjoy woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers with their afternoon tea and crumpets will welcome these fascinating novels, which could be described as Charles Dickens meets Jean Auel. Paul Goat Allen
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Nantle is the destination for the wealthy Cargo family. A mysterious heir has been named in their grandfather's will - and they have traveled a long way by sea to find him." "Mr. Tim Christmas journeys as part of his apprenticeship, seeking the mechanism behind a strange set of seemingly magical stones." "On her twenty-first birthday, Miss Wastefield is given an odd gift, which she keeps locked up in a giant chest at all times - a keeping place from which she receives dire threats. In Nantle, she hopes to find the one man who can rid her of this evil." It is in this old cathedral city that their paths will converge. And where they will find themselves at the mercy of a mighty and vengeful power.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Flying buildings, fortune-telling cooks and dwarf mastodons are the least of the marvels that spice Barlough's latest entry in the Western Lights series, another robust stew of fantasy, horror and SF themes that gives off the aroma of a 19th-century scientific romance. Like its predecessors Dark Sleeper (1998) and The House High in the Wood (2001), this sprawling saga is set on an alternate Earth where Ice Age wonders coexist alongside a fragment of Victorian society. Two converging plot threads center the action in Nantle, a coastal town full of magic and surprises: in one, ghost-haunted lawyer Arthur Liffey leads clients Jeffrey and Susan Cargo on a search for a mysterious heir who has claim to one-quarter of their grandfather's fortune; in the other, orphan Jane Wastefield seeks a mysterious correspondent who has offered to relieve her of a magic mirror that reflects disturbing images of an eerie alternate world. The complex development of both mysteries allows Barlough to introduce a large cast of eccentric grotesques whose decadent quirks he describes in lavish detail. Despite the narrative's shaggy-dog aimlessness, Barlough's eye for the nuances of Victorian life and his ear for the slang and idiomatic expressions of the era give the wildest events an authentic period flavor. Even readers new to the series will enjoy this leisurely tale in an original fantasy realm. (Aug. 3) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
On an alternate Earth still planted firmly in the Ice Age, where a quasi-Victorian civilization exists on a narrow strip of coast, the lives of three individuals converge in the cathedral city of Nantle. The fortunes of Frederick Cargo, who searches for a heretofore unknown heir; Tim Christmas, who seeks a strange and potentially dangerous magical mechanism; and Jane Wastefield, who flees an object that she carries with her at all times, reveal themselves in Barlough's latest novel set in a 19th century filled with magic, science, and Ice Age monsters. This elegant tale by the author of Dark Sleeper belongs in most libraries. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Another fantasy set in a world where a huge, mysterious object struck the Earth, causing the "sundering," a new Ice Age, and the reappearance of megafauna. Civilization, socially and technologically Victorian, clings to a narrow strip of coast. A dreadfully slow-footed introduction acquaints us with a mundane array of garrulous eccentrics and comic-opera scoundrels-and, more to the point, a number of people who are drawn to the cathedral city of Nantle. Assistant lighthouse-keeper Hake Jobberly beholds a flying coach-house-a story later corroborated by the Reverend Giddeus Pinches. Said levitating coach-house is the property of Malachi Threadneedle and his young assistant, Tim Christmas, who, utilizing a set of seemingly magical stones, have persuaded the coach-house to navigate the airways. Frederick Cargo, his wife Susan, her companion Aspasia Veal, and their lawyer, Arthur Liffey, seek a certain Jerry Squailes. To the fury of Mrs. Cargo and Miss Veal, Mr. Interloper Squailes inexplicably has been bequeathed a considerable sum of money in Frederick's late grandfather's will. Also arriving in this busy city is the beautiful Jane Wastefield and her clever monkey, Juga. Miss Wastefield's doom is an ancient bronze mirror. Not only does it show her tantalizing or horrifying scenes, but certain of the creatures lurking within view promise dire repercussions. Worst of all, Miss Wastefield is unable to rid herself of the object: no matter how she disposes of it, it returns the moment she sleeps. These not entirely auspicious plot elements unfortunately fail to cohere, and the separate resolutions, while apposite, will not fully gratify expectant readers. After the demented dazzle of DarkSleeper (2000), Barlough plummets back to Earth with an audible thump.
Home
