23 Jun Book review: ‘The Vorrh’ by Brian Catling

This book is quite an uncommon example of the genre it supposedly represents. Fantasy? Yes, but so far from the canons we are used to that it almost needs to be classified by its own. I don’t have the slightest idea about the name we could give this new species of book. It is without a doubt a unique piece, strange and fascinating in equal parts.

“The bow I carry with me into the wilderness, I made of Este. She died just before dawn, ten days ago. She had seen her death while working in her garden, saw the places between plants where she no longer stood, an uncapping of momentum in the afternoon sun.”

This narrative reaches us through multiple voices, some of them apparently disconnected, although we may suspect from the beginning that in the end it will not be so. From a wise and sacred woman who becomes a powerful object after death, to mysterious mythological beings reminiscent of angels, mediums, healers and even Adam himself. It is difficult for me to define a shape for all of those stories but that hasn’t prevented me from enjoying this read immensely. The wonder of this book arises from the number of amazing visions and extraordinary situations it presents us with. The limits of what is possible do not exist inside these pages. Everything fits in: finding your family’s ancestral heirlooms inside a natural history museum thousands of miles away from home or a dog’s vivid dream in the middle of the story.

The author’s language paints these images in dimensions that reach far beyond the physical. Everything has an extrasensory background and an anchor in the subconscious. When seeking to convey an idea, sometimes he reaches to the depths of our own experience.

I am left with a strong feeling of this reading having only been the first part of my relationship with this book; a mere introduction to what it wants to transmit. I will impatiently await the translation of the following parts that make up this trilogy, which will probably shed light on many of the shadows and recesses of the Vorrh.

Would I recommend it? It is definitely a book for adventurous minds who are willing to suspend their disbelief for a few hours and ask the most unusual questions. If that suits you, you should give it a try.

“So vast was its acreage, it also made its demands of time, splitting the toiling sun into zones outside of normal calibration; a theoretical traveller, passing through its entire breadth on foot, would have to stop at its centre and wait at least a week for his soul to catch up.”

My version of the cover:

I translated this piece from my book review blog (originally in Spanish).

This journal is intended to be a collage of topics that inspire me. If you would like to get notified whenever I post new content, feel free to subscribe to my email list. Thank you for reading!