heklas-children-finalBy James Brogden

Titan, out now

Four teenagers disappear ten years ago – only one has been found… until now.

As a result of reviewing material for this site as well as my day job, editing at various levels for assorted SFF publishers, I come across a lot of fantasy novels, and I’ve not been as surprised by a story in many years as I was by James Brogden’s Hekla’s Children. It starts as one thing, then takes various sharp turns along the way, making you jettison any ideas you may have as to how it’s going to progress, yet developments always feel totally logical within the rules that its author sets up. At its heart it’s a portal fantasy but Brogden plays considerably with what you expect from such things, with grimdark, time travel, visceral horror and possession all featuring.

Brogden also pulls off the difficult trick of building empathy for various characters and then pulling the rug out from under you in such a way that you can’t quite believe that you felt that way about them originally. It’s the sort of story that you need to be unspoiled going in but rest assured you’re going to be drawn into the tale very quickly – Brogden understands the lure of the darkness within humanity and crafts his novel accordingly. If you find stories like Picnic at Hanging Rock intriguing, then Hekla’s Children takes a similar idea and twists it mercilessly.

Verdict: A very well crafted and engrossing tale. 9/10

Paul Simpson