The cycle of power, from revolution to decline, is the bread and butter of
epic fantasy. E.R.R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros openly displaying the
idea in its title and Tolkien penning a vast epic to describe the end of the
Third Age, to say it is one of the most common tropes of the sub-genre (though
for some I realize it is genre) would
be selling it short. It thus takes a
special hand, an approach which make characters real and a method that invites
readers into the story, to make a story (or series) stick out from the
herd. So while Terry Brooks was doing
his best to assimilate in 1977, Richard Cowper was writing a story he hoped
would stand out. The Road to Corlay published in 1978, it opens with the novella The Piper at the Gates of Dawn as its
prologue, and expands from there. The
result: a novel that time has inexplicably forgotten—inexplicable as Brooks is
still remembered—but is deserving of renewed attention.
The Road to Corlay opens with the story of an elderly storyteller named Peter and his young
traveling companion, Tom. On their way
to York to enroll Tom as an apprentice cleric, the two strike up a special
friendship. Tom’s skills as a flutist
complementing Peter’s tales beautifully, the two rake in the cash on the
journey. Peter loathe to give up the boy
once they arrive in York, he plays off Tom’s strange visions and convinces him
to stay on the road for another half a year.
Trouble is, they never get a chance.
Events conspiring to prevent their road trip, a wrench is thrown into
the works of the kingdom on the eve of the fourth millennium as a wildfire of
belief spreads itself across the land.
Set in Britain 2999 AD, society has reverted to medievalism after an
environmental catastrophe, called the Drowning, melted the glacial ice caps and
flooded the Earth. A powerful theocracy
called the Church Militant has taken power and applies force in keeping a
fragmented society united under one banner.
With word of a strange new religion people are calling the Kinship
spreading under it nose, they send their knights and priests to suppress heresy
and get a better understanding of the practices of believers. Peter and Tom kindling a spark, the Church
soon finds a threat where they never thought one could appear.
For as epic as that last paragraph sounds, Cowper keeps events in The Road to Corlay rooted in a handful
of characters, and never tries to expand into territory too vast to fill with
story. Thomas, a man found floating in
the sea, anchors the main storyline after the prologue, and it’s his quest from
which the title of the novel is taken.
Meeting a young woman in the underground, Thomas receives help
fulfilling his goal by Kate, a young woman cut off from her family. Sent by the Archbishop to get a better
understanding of young Tom’s history, Bishop Francis traipses the countryside
and towns, gleaning information and making reports to the Church. And between and through it all, the falcons,
soldiers of the Church, hunt for heretics while delivering their own brand of
justice. These perspectives and few side
characters are the main threads of the novel, Cowper effectively jumping around
between them to tell the tale that feels big but is based on a small number of
elements.
Surprisingly not a work of fantasy, The
Road to Corlay is actually a work of science fantasy. A portion of the story set in contemporary
Britain (i.e. 1970s), Dr. Carver, a scientist doing work on the brain, is found
comatose at the outset. His colleagues,
after a series of tests, realize that his sentience has somehow been
transferred a thousand years in the future and now occupies Thomas’ mind, and
by attaching a monitor are able to see what he sees. Cowper barely scratching the surface of this
sub-story, it remains for the second two volumes in the series, A Dream of Kinship and A Tapestry of Time, to explain the
significance of the contemporary. Along
with Thomas’ storyline, the overall plot reaches a convenient resting point at
the end of the novel, but leaves many unanswered questions, Dr. Carver’s out of
body experience foremost among them.
It is thus somewhat early to determine with certainty what Cowper’s aims
are for the White Bird of Kinship
series. Certainly religion, cycles of
power, prophecy, socio-political upheaval (aka revolution), and other standard
epic fantasy motifs are present. But
given the contemporary storyline, as well as Cowper’s obvious willingness to
twist things in unpredictable fashion (see the climax of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn as proof), it remains to be seen.
In the end, The Road to Corlay
is the opening of a three part epic fantasy series that never has pretensions
for size. Set in far future Britain, the
scope is limited to a small number of key figures as they try to stay one step
ahead of a repressive religious order while protecting their own in a land gone
medieval. I have seen comparison to
Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book, and
while there are some similarities, I think there are better parallels. Cowper’s intention is not to show off
knowledge of the Medieval Ages, rather provide a broader view of transitional
moments in history—or at least so it seems, a religious agenda even possible. Robert Silverberg’s Lord Valentine Castle, Keith Roberts’ monumental Pavane, and several of Moorcock’s novels
thus have more concepts in common despite the differences in setting. That Cowper is as lyrically smooth as
Silverberg, Roberts, and Moorcock makes the comparison all the stronger. If someone is interested in the book but
still uncertain whether it’s worth the purchase, I would suggest reading the
prologue (published separately as) The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. If it is
liked, then so too will be the novel.
Oddly enough, the last two books in the series don't even touch on the experiment of Dr. Carver. Thus, it takes on a very fantasy-like direction until the end. Strange.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's concerning. It makes me lose a little bit of trust in the author, like they didn't have a clear vision for the project and abandoned what is a major part of the book...
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