The Haunting Of Alaizabel Cray (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
I really enjoy reading Chris Wooding's novels. There's always something very dark and weird to the worlds he creates, and it makes the stories edgy and exciting. The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray is no exception. Set in an alternate universe of Victorian London, there are more than just famous serial killers (in this case, it's Stitch-face) to worry about. Ever since the city was bombed, wych-kin have been appearing in the Old Quarter. They kill, possess, steal babies, and just generally do bad stuff. They're the things of nightmares, of fairy tales, the things that go bump in the night. And they just keep coming.I unfortunately took a two month break before finishing the last 30 pages, but here are the basics:There's Thaniel, a teenage wych-hunter by birth, talented and powerful by training. His dad was a really famous wych-hunter, but they had kind of a strained relationship. And after his father died, he was raised by...Cathaline, his father's old friend. She finished his training and brought him up as her ward. She's way progressive. She even wears pants! Together they fight the wych-kin that threaten to overpower London. But one night, while hunting a cradle-jack, Thaniel comes across Alaizabel Cray. She's young and beautiful and totally possessed. He brings her home, and she snaps out of it at some point and is able to tell him her name. She can't remember much other than that, but the glimpses into the real Alaizabel have Thaniel falling for her. He vows to protect her, even though she appears to be a magnet for wych-kin.There's also an Inspector and his partner, who don't always seem to have the same interests, a doctor who runs the local asylum and who seems to know more than he lets on, Stitch-face the serial killer, a beggar king, a devil-boy, and of course, the spirit that is trying to take over Alaizabel's body - if only Alaizabel weren't so stubborn. And there's the Fraternity, but they're just a rumor...right? By finding Alaizabel, Thaniel is suddenly consumed by questions. Who is she? Where did she come from? How did she end up in the old district in the possession of a very powerful spirit? And then there is the nature of the wych-kin themselves - and why they seem to be increasing in strength and numbers. As carefully planned pieces fall into place around them, Thaniel and his friends must answer these questions and fight the coming darkness, which threatens to consume not just Alaizabel, not just London, but the whole world. This is a great creepy read. Chris Wooding's characters and writing style are fun and engaging, but he perfectly sets the sinister atmosphere of London's foggy streets with well-written detail. His stories are original and fresh, and when I'm in the mood to read something different, he's a good choice. If you've read Poison, I'd recommend checking this one out, too. (It's been too long since I read the first of Broken Sky for me to really comment on that.)
It's kind of strange that I would end up reading this book right after I finished playing Dishonored. Like Alaizabel Cray, Dishonored is set in a vaguely steampunky/Victorianish city, infested with hungry rats and being devastated by a mysterious plague. I couldn't help but picture parts of the Wooding's Old Quarter as looking like the Flooded District of Dishonored. But if the developers of Dishonored took any inspiration from this book, that's where it ended. In Dishonored, magic is very thin on the ground. But here, magic is everywhere. And it's wild, dangerous, and mysterious.It's a fantastic setting, and it's the main strength of the book. And Wooding can certainly set a scene. I don't think his characters are quite as compelling to read, not overall. Luckily, lead characters Thaniel (the wych-hunter) and Alaizabel (who is indeed quite haunted) are the best of the lot. And at least the characters tend to feel like real people, who have real reactions, even if they are shallowly defined. Wooding's prose can be heavy at times. But he keeps himself admirably in check here, providing vivid and often creepy descriptions, without going overboard with purple prose and a plethora of adjectives. I do like that there's a lot left unanswered at the end of the book. Wooding could easily write another in the same setting. But it doesn't feel unfinished or rushed, which is good.This is the second book that I've read by Wooding. The first, Storm Thief, was just barely shy of the mark, in many ways. Alaizabel Cray is a marked improvement, in all departments.
What do You think about The Haunting Of Alaizabel Cray (2005)?
Thank you, Chris. After the disappointment that was STORM THIEF, I definitely needed THE HAUNTING OF ALAIZABEL CRAY (THoAC) to redeem my faith in you. Not that I could ever give up on you after "The Braided Path," of course. Every writer has a stinker or two (or more) in their bib. But THoAC is definitely not a stinker; in fact, it's among your best, and a five-star offering as far as I'm concerned. You grabbed my interest with the young wych-hunter, Thaniel Fox, and never let up. I was fully invested in Thaniel's history, his relationship with Cathaline, his romantic feelings for Alaizabel, and the entire fog and gaslight, top hats and airships, post-war atmosphere of Wooding's Gothic Victorian alterna-London crawling with nocturnal wych-kin, serial killers, and clandestine cultists.The story zipped along and gave me the same feeling I got when I read HELLBOY or Tom Sniegoski's LOBSTER JOHNSON. It's a story full of fun and engaging characters with full-on dynamic personalities. THoAC is a very cinematic ghost/action story in quasi-pulp, superhero-hybrid form. I could easily see the "movie" as it played out in my mind. My only minor complaint is that Wooding can sometimes have a tendency to wax flowery in his prose, which can slow down the action a pace, but his descriptions are so vivid and poetic, I really can't say I mind all that much. I do wish the publisher had put a more riveting cover on this book, however. I'm sure the blah stock art and hideous typesetting impeded sales for this one on retail shelves. Too bad, because THE HAUNTING OF ALAIZABEL CRAY is definitely worth your time!--Five stars (out of five). Highly recommended! Especially to fans of Gothic supernatural, Victorian ghost tales, Hellboy, BPRD, witches, warlocks, and pulp-style Lovecraftian weird tales stuff.
—J.M.
The book is set in the mythical London of the Industrial Revolution with wych-kin, which are basically the legends of years and years made real. There are candle-jacks and ghouls prowling the abandoned and dark streets of all the major cities in the world. And there are Wych-Hunters who spend their nights hunting these horrid things down and killing them. Of course, there is also a secret society that is planning on summoning some sort of Lovecraft-esque old god, and our heroes must stop them. The premise appeals, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the romantic sub-plot or the how the heroes saved the day. There were a few pointless deaths that seemed to be added in just so someone died, and they didn't save the day with no casualties. But their deaths didn't affect me on any emotional level. I'd much rather read a book set in this universe just following the lives and the trials of the Wych-Hunters as they first started to realize what they were up against.I've owned this book for several years, and I must have read it before, but I couldn't remember the plot or the resolution at all, which might have been for the best as I doubt I'll ever read it again.
—Rebecca
15 Jan '12 Still shrieking, she saw the thing lurking in the shadows of the corner of the room, visible only in the murk of sleep-fogged eyes. Naked, twisted, an old, old crone with her long straggly hair cloaking her bent body, she crouched on all fours with hooves for feet and a long tail twitching behind her.If you liked the Bartimaeus Trilogy, or if you thought The Mortal Instruments was good - or, in my case, had good ideas but failed to deliver, then go give The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray a try.People! People, people, people!I am so distressed that not enough people are reading Chris Wooding! I really, really am.Or. I guess, maybe this genre isn't as popular?I remember the days The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud came out. I read it and loved it. I loved the humour, I loved the genre, I loved the plot -- the everything; and I thought it got better and better as the series progressed.I also remember bugging ALL my readaholic friends to go out and read it, but maybe two, three of them actually did (view spoiler)[and consequently bought the rest in the trilogy (hide spoiler)]
—Amanda
