The book is, I would have to concur with Rhys Hughes’ perceptive and informed introduction, a classic, whether or not it finds the commercial success it rightfully deserves. It is literate, wise, intelligent, warm and absolutely leaking humanity. The only groups with any right to claim offence at its content are zealots and fanatics.

The prose is not forced or flowery or difficult but unexpectedly perfect. It is a long time since I’ve been swallowed up by a book and been sucked straight into the story, able to ignore the means the teller uses to relate it due to such skilled craftsmanship as Redwood displays.

Steve Redwood’s voice is friendlier than Robert Rankin’s and far fresher than Tom Holt’s. The only popular point of reference in the surprisingly large sub-genre of comic fantasy treatments of the Apocalypse I can happily compare Fisher of Devils to is the successful pairing of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. This culminated in the highly acclaimed Good Omens, but even judged against this titan in the field, Redwood easily comes out on top: his treatment is handled with far more tenderness and respect for the reader, and if I didn’t know any better I might suspect that Gaiman and Pratchett had got wind of Redwood’s work-in-progress (it took him almost four decades to finish and find a publisher) and attempted to bamboozle him.

Suffice it to say that Fisher of Devils is hands and forked tails above any other contenders for the crown of thorns for best in show. It is a travesty that no major UK publisher has yet signed him to its stable.

For a funny, enlightening, down-to-earth/heaven/hell/purgatory read, look no further. The only other thing I can add to this glowing report is BUY THIS BOOK!

Neil Ayres was born in East London in 1979. He left school with a handful of GCSEs when he was 16 and has worked at times (and in no particular order) as a warehouseman, a cattery hand, a copy-shop assistant, a barman, a professional dog trainer and a cheap alternative to a computer database. He currently works in publishing. He lives on the Surrey/Sussex border in a house without a resident cat, though if there was one it could live without fear of being swung, as there’s not enough room to do such a thing. Neil is project manager for the ‘Book of Voices,’ an anthology of short stories due to be published by Flame Books in March 2005 in an attempt to raise awareness of the work of the Sierra Leone office of International PEN. Neil is also a member of Godisin, the first TTA writers’ workshop. In between all of the above, he is trying to get round to finishing his second novel and finding a decent agent. To read Neil’s story, ‘Changeling’ on the Showcase section of this site, click here

© 2004 Laura Hird All rights reserved.