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Review
'It's a beautifully written tale - the first in a trilogy - which in one sense feels like a return to old-fashioned storytelling, yet manages to be utterly fresh.'
(Bookseller )'The first in a trilogy, this is an interesting and original tale, bringing a fresh outlook to old stories, and the characters are well-realised . . . clever twists keep you hooked, and the ending and coda make it well worth the read.'
(SFX )'Myth and magic in the modern world. A traditional quest tale beautifully told . . . The human characters are realistic and sympathetic, even those who are by any definition, downright odd. The uncanny creatures are sufficiently spooky, horrible, vile and violent. The landscape is alive.'
(www.thebookbag.co.uk )'There is something profoundly different about ADVENT. Perhaps it is the atmosphere of history, magic and mystery it exudes, or maybe the curiosity of the characters. Or it could even be the beauty, the manipulation of the English language that James Treadwell so clearly is a master of. Either way, you know you have something special in your hands even before the story begins . . .'
(www.thirstforfiction.com )'James Treadwell's debut fantasy novel, ADVENT, is nothing short of magical. It is a rich tapestry of light and dark which has been spun deftly thanks to some delicately intricate - yet nonetheless accessible - prose that stimulates the senses magnificently and so begs the reader to learn more, whether aficionados of the genre or not.' (www.welovethisbook.com ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Review
'The first in a trilogy, this is an interesting and original tale, bringing a fresh outlook to old stories, and the characters are well-realised . . . clever twists keep you hooked, and the ending and coda make it well worth the read.'
(SFX )'This epic debut tale wowed us with the concept of ancient magic returning to the modern world 500 years after its disappearance . . . The first in a trilogy, it's ambitious and echoes Philip Pullman.'
(Stylist )'This mesmerizing fantasy draws aside the thin veil between the magical and the mundane to reveal the chaos that might be unleashed if we had to share our world with creatures long dismissed as legends. Told with great warmth and insight, ADVENT is an epic tale that will linger in your mind long after you turn the last page.' (Deborah Harkness, author of A Discovery of Witches )
'Myth and magic in the modern world. A traditional quest tale beautifully told . . . The human characters are realistic and sympathetic, even those who are by any definition, downright odd. The uncanny creatures are sufficiently spooky, horrible, vile and violent. The landscape is alive.'
(www.thebookbag.co.uk )'There is something profoundly different about ADVENT. Perhaps it is the atmosphere of history, magic and mystery it exudes, or maybe the curiosity of the characters. Or it could even be the beauty, the manipulation of the English Language that James Treadwell so clearly is a master of. Either way, you know you have something special in your hands even before the story begins . . . '
(www.thirstforfiction.com )'A beautifully written novel. Treadwell has the mother of all graphs on the English language! A perfect depiction of the perfect setting . . . Classic and unbeatable formula . . . This isn't just any YA novel, this is an astoundingly intelligent YA novel. This is a genuinely gorgeous read, and I can't wait for book two.'
(www.fantasynibbles.com )'James Treadwell's debut fantasy novel, ADVENT, is nothing short of magical. It is a rich tapestry of light and dark which has been spun deftly thanks to some delicately intricate - yet nonetheless accessible - prose that stimulates the senses magnificently and so begs the reader to learn more, whether aficionados of the genre or not.' (www.welovethisbook.com )
'It's a beautifully written tale - the first in a trilogy - which in one sense feels like a return to old-fashioned storytelling, yet manages to be utterly fresh.'
(Bookseller )'The writing in this book is particularly beautiful and descriptive and captures the allure of the Cornish countryside . . . The darkness, chilling characters and states of abject terror are vivaciously described in this richly filled world . . . a remarkable first novel . . . inventive and innovative' (www.bookgeeks.co.uk )
'Treadwell makes marvels from the simplest materials . . . and brings his landscape to frightening and fascinating life. Readers of Susan Cooper and Alan Garner will rejoice'
(Publishers Weekly starred review )'This is the fast-paced first instalment of a new fantasy trilogy and an extraordinary adventure that should not be missed.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Most fantasies for older children/YAs are stories of the protagonist being drawn into another world, where magic reigns and natural laws do not apply. That is the template of the Hero's Journey, from Star Wars, to Lord of the Rings and many more. Usually, the hero eventually returns to the everyday world, transformed.
But this is a different story, a story of the terrifying, elemental power of magic re-entering our everyday existence, transforming not only the main character, but everyone and everything. Treadwell's keen ear for contemporary speech patterns and behaviour makes this a powerful and unsettling concept, and suggests that, even at the end of his projected trilogy, there will be no return to order as we now know it.
Cornwall is a natural setting for such a story to begin, and when Gavin, a disaffected teenager banished from boarding school and alienated from his parents, is packed off on a train to Truro to stay with an eccentric aunt that he barely knows, the scene appears to be set for a formulaic English fantasy. But what happens after he arrives and there is no dotty aunt to meet him takes us into very different territory.
Like many writers of fantasy who have created their own inner worlds, Treadwell writes haunting and beautiful prose and has a deep feeling for landscape and the way it is shaped by local history and topography. I've never seen Cornwall captured better, even by Daphne Du Maurier. But the familiar Gothic scenario of a mysterious, remote country house with its occupants marooned in time and menaced by supernatural forces develops into something equally influenced by classic science fiction narratives of a menacing alien presence invading the charmed world of faerie and the banality of everyday life. A sort of Rebecca meets Day of the Triffids meets Doctor Who (but without the lightness of touch).
The book certainly has its weaknesses. Treadwell is an academic and can't resist complicated sentences filled with qualifying subordinate clauses and abstract nouns. He adopts the voice of the omniscient narrator and, while this certainly suits the story's epic quality, this limits his ability to capture his character's language and thought proccesses in a gripping way. It takes about 150 pages of dense and repetitive exposition and worldbuilding to get to the point where things begin to hot up. But that doesn't necessarily preclude him from being the next Tolkien: plenty of people struggled to get as far as "The Council of Elrond" in LOTR. It's notoriously difficult to predict what the next cult fantasy phenomenon is going to be. Hodder just might have hit the jackpot and, while I'd have preferred a little more hands-on editing, the lack of it never seemed to do JK Rowling any harm.
But this is a different story, a story of the terrifying, elemental power of magic re-entering our everyday existence, transforming not only the main character, but everyone and everything. Treadwell's keen ear for contemporary speech patterns and behaviour makes this a powerful and unsettling concept, and suggests that, even at the end of his projected trilogy, there will be no return to order as we now know it.
Cornwall is a natural setting for such a story to begin, and when Gavin, a disaffected teenager banished from boarding school and alienated from his parents, is packed off on a train to Truro to stay with an eccentric aunt that he barely knows, the scene appears to be set for a formulaic English fantasy. But what happens after he arrives and there is no dotty aunt to meet him takes us into very different territory.
Like many writers of fantasy who have created their own inner worlds, Treadwell writes haunting and beautiful prose and has a deep feeling for landscape and the way it is shaped by local history and topography. I've never seen Cornwall captured better, even by Daphne Du Maurier. But the familiar Gothic scenario of a mysterious, remote country house with its occupants marooned in time and menaced by supernatural forces develops into something equally influenced by classic science fiction narratives of a menacing alien presence invading the charmed world of faerie and the banality of everyday life. A sort of Rebecca meets Day of the Triffids meets Doctor Who (but without the lightness of touch).
The book certainly has its weaknesses. Treadwell is an academic and can't resist complicated sentences filled with qualifying subordinate clauses and abstract nouns. He adopts the voice of the omniscient narrator and, while this certainly suits the story's epic quality, this limits his ability to capture his character's language and thought proccesses in a gripping way. It takes about 150 pages of dense and repetitive exposition and worldbuilding to get to the point where things begin to hot up. But that doesn't necessarily preclude him from being the next Tolkien: plenty of people struggled to get as far as "The Council of Elrond" in LOTR. It's notoriously difficult to predict what the next cult fantasy phenomenon is going to be. Hodder just might have hit the jackpot and, while I'd have preferred a little more hands-on editing, the lack of it never seemed to do JK Rowling any harm.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For centuries it has been locked away
Lost beneath the sea
Warded from earth, air, water, fire, spirits, thought and sight.
But now magic is rising to the world once more.
Gavin has given up on the adults in his life, and they've given up on him. His father appears to hate him, his mother is scared of him, his teachers think maybe he should be in a different school. What he has is a gift - one he neither wants nor understands. At fifteen, his closest friend and confidante is the mysterious Miss Grey, although he has given up trying to talk to people about her as it only seems to upset them. Turned out of school, and not included in his parents' holiday plans he catches a train to what may be his last haven; his aunt Gwen in Cornwall.
However, she is not there to meet him. Instead the weather is turning bad, and unnerving things are stirring.
Gavin is at that difficult age between childhood and being an adult. He is filled with uncertainty and he doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. When the reader is first introduced to him you aren't given a great deal of detail about what is going on but as each new chapter unfolds a little bit more of a larger puzzle is revealed. There are secrets everywhere you look in Advent. Conversations occur and it is not until later on in the book that their relevance suddenly becomes clear. Gavin's journey is a voyage of self-discovery as he uncovers the truth about his family and the secrets that have surrounded him since birth.
As the main narrative follows Gavin the reader only discovers information as Gavin discovers it. I did start to panic at one point that I just couldn't get my head around what was going on but it turns out that I needn't have worried. Once Gavin starts to find answers to his questions I very quickly had my own epiphany moment, at around page three hundred, everything just started to click and it all suddenly made a wonderful kind of sense. I'm glad that I persevered and I should stress that it is entirely worthwhile sticking with the story.
The other characters that the reader encounters are just as intriguing as Gavin. It seems that everyone that lives in this tiny little corner of Cornwall has his or her own secrets. There is the `nutty' professor Hester Lightfoot who has left academia under a cloud, the Uren family who live at Pendurra itself and a whole cavalcade of other slightly odd types. I haven't even mentioned the mysterious John Fiste, the greatest magus the world has ever seen.
The author has taken key elements from various mythologies and deftly woven them into his story. Arthurian legend, classic Greek myth and Celtic folklore are represented amongst others. It's a strength of the narrative that these have all been blended together seamlessly to create a modern day fable.
The thing that really captured my imagination was the main location used in the novel. I've been fortunate enough to have visited Cornwall in the past and Treadwell's writing vividly captures the isolated house, Pendurra, where Gavin finds himself. It's easy to believe that if magic was going to return it would be to somewhere so remote like this.
Acting as a preview to the next novel the final chapter moves the story away from Cornwall, to somewhere completely different, and offers some tantalising hints that the scope of this trilogy is going to get much larger when the sequel does arrive. Advent is a compelling debut that mixes fantasy with reality to create the first part of what promises to be an extraordinary tale. I'm already looking forward to reading the rest of it.
Lost beneath the sea
Warded from earth, air, water, fire, spirits, thought and sight.
But now magic is rising to the world once more.
Gavin has given up on the adults in his life, and they've given up on him. His father appears to hate him, his mother is scared of him, his teachers think maybe he should be in a different school. What he has is a gift - one he neither wants nor understands. At fifteen, his closest friend and confidante is the mysterious Miss Grey, although he has given up trying to talk to people about her as it only seems to upset them. Turned out of school, and not included in his parents' holiday plans he catches a train to what may be his last haven; his aunt Gwen in Cornwall.
However, she is not there to meet him. Instead the weather is turning bad, and unnerving things are stirring.
Gavin is at that difficult age between childhood and being an adult. He is filled with uncertainty and he doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. When the reader is first introduced to him you aren't given a great deal of detail about what is going on but as each new chapter unfolds a little bit more of a larger puzzle is revealed. There are secrets everywhere you look in Advent. Conversations occur and it is not until later on in the book that their relevance suddenly becomes clear. Gavin's journey is a voyage of self-discovery as he uncovers the truth about his family and the secrets that have surrounded him since birth.
As the main narrative follows Gavin the reader only discovers information as Gavin discovers it. I did start to panic at one point that I just couldn't get my head around what was going on but it turns out that I needn't have worried. Once Gavin starts to find answers to his questions I very quickly had my own epiphany moment, at around page three hundred, everything just started to click and it all suddenly made a wonderful kind of sense. I'm glad that I persevered and I should stress that it is entirely worthwhile sticking with the story.
The other characters that the reader encounters are just as intriguing as Gavin. It seems that everyone that lives in this tiny little corner of Cornwall has his or her own secrets. There is the `nutty' professor Hester Lightfoot who has left academia under a cloud, the Uren family who live at Pendurra itself and a whole cavalcade of other slightly odd types. I haven't even mentioned the mysterious John Fiste, the greatest magus the world has ever seen.
The author has taken key elements from various mythologies and deftly woven them into his story. Arthurian legend, classic Greek myth and Celtic folklore are represented amongst others. It's a strength of the narrative that these have all been blended together seamlessly to create a modern day fable.
The thing that really captured my imagination was the main location used in the novel. I've been fortunate enough to have visited Cornwall in the past and Treadwell's writing vividly captures the isolated house, Pendurra, where Gavin finds himself. It's easy to believe that if magic was going to return it would be to somewhere so remote like this.
Acting as a preview to the next novel the final chapter moves the story away from Cornwall, to somewhere completely different, and offers some tantalising hints that the scope of this trilogy is going to get much larger when the sequel does arrive. Advent is a compelling debut that mixes fantasy with reality to create the first part of what promises to be an extraordinary tale. I'm already looking forward to reading the rest of it.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This novel, the first in a trilogy, introduces us to 15-year-old Gavin, a lonely and unhappy teenager who feels abandoned by everyone around him because he sees things that are invisible to others. Having been thrown out of school, his parents send him to spend a week with his eccentric aunt in Cornwall. But when he arrives in Truro there's no one there to meet him. Things then take a completely unexpected turn and set the scene for an absolutely fantastic book.
Without giving anything away, the book deals with the notion that magic was once abundant in this world but was forgotten and, as the blurb tells us, is now 'rising to the world once more'. This is a dark and eerie novel, full of mystery, more suitable for the young adult and adult market than the children's. It reminds me of some of the fairy-tales and legends of old, and certainly Gavin is a reluctant hero, embarking on a journey of self-discovery and destined to go on a quest. James Treadwell is a consummate and skilled storyteller, weaving a rich tapestry of words. He's got a wonderful feeling for language: his prose is hauntingly beautiful at times, his characters' speech patterns, but also his descriptions of everyday situations and places, have a very authentic ring to them, so that when he describes the arrival of mythical and monstrous creatures and spirits, and the existence of warlocks and magic in present-day Cornwall (where else?), I took everything at face value because it sounded so completely plausible in his words. Some of the plot developments are pretty intense and terrifying, with chapters ending on cliffhangers, so that I was compelled to carry on reading even though I felt as breathless and exhausted as Gavin. The long chapters build up the atmosphere and tension, posing more questions at first than answers are forthcoming, and the reader has to put their trust in the narrator for it all to come together and make sense. If you're someone who just dips in for a couple of pages at night time, this book might not work for you, but then I dare you not to be swept away by the author's flight of the imagination and read on for hours. The worst thing about this book: that I will now have to wait for about another year for the next volume to come along.
Rarely has a book entranced me as much as this one: well done and thank you, Mr Treadwell.
Without giving anything away, the book deals with the notion that magic was once abundant in this world but was forgotten and, as the blurb tells us, is now 'rising to the world once more'. This is a dark and eerie novel, full of mystery, more suitable for the young adult and adult market than the children's. It reminds me of some of the fairy-tales and legends of old, and certainly Gavin is a reluctant hero, embarking on a journey of self-discovery and destined to go on a quest. James Treadwell is a consummate and skilled storyteller, weaving a rich tapestry of words. He's got a wonderful feeling for language: his prose is hauntingly beautiful at times, his characters' speech patterns, but also his descriptions of everyday situations and places, have a very authentic ring to them, so that when he describes the arrival of mythical and monstrous creatures and spirits, and the existence of warlocks and magic in present-day Cornwall (where else?), I took everything at face value because it sounded so completely plausible in his words. Some of the plot developments are pretty intense and terrifying, with chapters ending on cliffhangers, so that I was compelled to carry on reading even though I felt as breathless and exhausted as Gavin. The long chapters build up the atmosphere and tension, posing more questions at first than answers are forthcoming, and the reader has to put their trust in the narrator for it all to come together and make sense. If you're someone who just dips in for a couple of pages at night time, this book might not work for you, but then I dare you not to be swept away by the author's flight of the imagination and read on for hours. The worst thing about this book: that I will now have to wait for about another year for the next volume to come along.
Rarely has a book entranced me as much as this one: well done and thank you, Mr Treadwell.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Somewhat disappointed by this.
I love mythology. I've always enjoyed reading about the myths and legends of various different cultures and Treadwell blends bits and pieces of some of my favourites up in a... Read more
Published 2 days ago by L. Williams
Interesting but just wasn't my cup of tea
The premise for this book sounded like it had some real promise for me and even though I'm not a usual big fan of the very high fantasy genre (just because I lack the attention... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sisterspooky
Excellent read
Excellent read, nicely written, difficult to put down... what more can one say? I look forward to his second book.
Published 1 month ago by Peter Jackson
Captivating fantasy in the Garner/Cooper tradition
Set in Cornwall and steeped in a strange concoction of folklore from Greek myth to Faust via Arthurian legend, James Treadwell's Advent is an eerie fantasy in the tradition of Alan... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Joanne Sheppard
Advent
AdventTHIS IS A BOOK WHEN YOU START TO READ YOU CAN NOT SEEM TO GET IT THEN JUST AS YOU GIVE UP IT WILL HIT YOU THEN YOU HAVE A BOOK THAT YOU CAN NOT PUT DOWN UNTILL THE END SO DO... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mr. Wesley Uprichard
Magic!
Took a little time to get into the plot, but then well worth the effort as the seemingly unrelated story lines snap together for the climax. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. E. A. Bloxham
Harry Potter for adults?
A TV interview with the author suggested that "Advent" was Harry Potter for adults, stating that children would have difficulty following the story. Not only children! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Localpreacher
Review of James Treadwell's Advent
I bought this book after falling asleep watching late night BBC news and 'meet the author' was filtering into my dreams. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tiger Flanagan
Gripping.. can't wait for the next one
I loved this book, its well written, and the characterisation is very good. Its quite dark, and I did find myself desperate for a bit of a breather at times.. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Clare de la Lune
Excellent read
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. It is very desriptive and the blend of historical fact with creative fiction makes for a story that I just couldn't stop reading once I had... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. T. Holton
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