The Devil in Green takes place shortly after the end of Always Forever, the final book in Mark Chadbourn's Age of Misrule trilogy, which described the return to our lands of legendary creatures and gods, so old and powerful that their memories became the basis for many of our myths. Now the final battles are (seemingly) over, and humanity slowly tries to come to terms with the realities of the new Dark Age, society as we know it is practically gone: electricity, fuel and communication are virtually non-existent, and the Tuathe De Danaan are still abroad.In this fractured version of more or less present-day U.K., the old faiths have lost much of their allure and power, but remnants of Christianity have banded together to provide a bastion of light, with a reformed Knights Templar serving as the muscle to protect the brethren and help spread the word across the land. It's towards this military-religious group that two of the novel's protagonists, Miller and Mallory, are both running, each for their own individual reasons that are revealed later in the novel.Aside from a few info-dumps here and there (e.g. a quick lecture-summary of the history of the Knights Templar), The Devil in Green is a well-paced and enjoyable story. We're thrown right into the action from page one with a truly hectic chase scene, and as soon as the characters get a chance to catch their breaths, Mark Chadbourn does a good job illustrating their distinct personalities and styles with a few deft strokes. As they enter the military-style training of the Knights, we get a good bit of soldierly camaraderie between Mallory, Miller and their new mates Gardener and Daniels — including an unauthorized excursion to a nearby Travellers' camp, where we meet Sophie, the novel's spiritual parallel to the Age of Misrule's Ruth. Mallory quickly emerges as an authority-averse cynic in the vein of Bill Murray's character in the movie Stripes (with the Knights' captain Blaine being a much less good-natured version of the movie's Sergeant "Big Toe" Hulka). While this first novel in the Dark Age trilogy can technically be read independently from the Age of Misrule books, readers who are familiar with that earlier trilogy will have a decidedly different perspective on the activities of the Knights and their leadership early on. To get the full experience of The Devil in Green, I recommend picking up World's End, Darkest Hour, and Always Forever first. This way, you'll also be treated to John Picacio's gorgeous cover illustrations for those novels, which seem to be echoed, book by book, in the new Dark Age trilogy, with the cover of The Devil in Green thematically connected to World's End. If only all fantasy novels were published in such handsome, thoughtful editions.Mark Chadbourn initially does an excellent job balancing the different faces and facets of religion, from simple, heartfelt spirituality to the unbalanced prejudice of strict dogma, but as the novel progresses, the latter comes more and more to the forefront. With all the brethren and knights trapped inside their compound, almost as if stuck on an island, the novel increasingly reminded me of Lord of the Flies with adult Christians. Let's just say that, if you took offense to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, The Devil in Green is probably not for you. Regardless of your (or Chadbourn's) feelings about organized religion, The Devil in Green, like the Age of Misrule trilogy, is an enjoyable and fun (if dark) read, once again filled with realistic, current, eternally bickering characters, interesting mythological and historical tidbits, and a gripping, edge-of-your-seat story. Unfortunately the final few chapters take a turn for the worse, with a couple of deus ex machina escapes and a chaotic and rushed resolution. Despite the ending, which mars what would otherwise be an excellent read, I definitely look forward to the second book in the Dark Age trilogy, The Queen of Sinister, due out from Pyr in June 2010.(This review was also published at the Fantasy Literature website: www.fantasyliterature.com --- come check us out!)
One of the things that annoys me about narratives based on a painful and bloody struggle against terrific odds and powerful opponents is that after several hundred pages, or even a thousand, of grim, back-against-the-wall situations, the authors wind everything up in three pages of happy ending. So after hours of reading about pain and suffering, readers are given only two or three minutes of pleasure as a reward, which hardly seems fair.Mark Chadbourn, however, has sunk to new depths in his series The Dark Age. The three books (“The Devil in Green,” “The Queen of Sinister” and “The Hounds of Avalon”, all published by Pyr and all $16) chronicle an Earth in collapse, as suddenly all the demons and devils of myth and magic have come to life, destroying the world as we know it.The various heroes battle their way through plenty of blood and trauma, with minor characters sacrificing themselves left and right to save humanity, and the protagonists going through torture and despair. Chadbourn does toss in a few pages of respite here and there, but for the most part, it’s the overpowering forces of evil crushing tiny sparks of good for three straight books.But then, as we finally wind down in the last great battle, with the icy winter of the last days combining with millions of undead intent on destroying all human beings, Chadbourn shows us the door to redemption – but never walks through it. That’s right, after three full books, there is not a single moment of triumph. There is the promise of some (and it’s conceivable Chadbourn will write about it in another trilogy), but it’s never delivered. So readers, after suffering along with the several heroes (some left over from the previous trilogy, The Age of Misrule), get nothing for their efforts but a doorway full of light – and that’s not close to being enough reward for me.
What do You think about The Devil In Green (2004)?
The protagonist spends almost the entire book hanging out with a bunch of Christians in a cathedral and complaining about how foolish their dogmatic approach to religion is... unsurprisingly, even though I'm sympathetic to his viewpoint, this was a real drag to read & I was constantly wondering why he didn't just skip out to go join the hippie camp with the people he actually liked - there was only a very brief & vague explanation about duty/ redemption that really didn't make up for the majority of the book being incredibly dull and painful.
—Matthew
I was so excited to read this book based on the cover and the description and while it is a decent book, it really didn't live up to my expectations. This could have been an amazing tale, but to me it spent way too much time pondering the nature of good and evil and the role of religion. I wanted to see more of the mythical figures that came into being in this world. More background on those and the landmarks they inhabit would have made it wonderful.Can there be evil within in a religious order? Of course. So why did half of the book deal with the question of whether it was possible or not? Maybe if I was still a kid and this was a new concept, it would have been more interesting, but instead it was just boring. I wound up skimming a lot and did find some interesting parts, but overall it was a let down.
—Susan Weller
'The Devil in Green' is the darkest, most captivating adult fantasy novel I've read in a long time. It blends history and myth into a post-apocalyptic Britain setting. The main character Mallory is nearly an anti-hero, with an uncaring attitude that slowly transforms into true chivalry by the end of the novel. Filled with horror and hypocrisy of both mythological, and biblical proportions, this book brings the reader to a medieval realm of mysterious forces beyond the fragile advent of human civilization.I'd nearly given up on this mostly formulaic genre until I came across Chadbourn's trilogy. Read this if you have any inclination toward fantasy and science fiction novels.
—Tim Miller
