THE WEIGHT OF SOULS by Bryony Pearce: reviewed by Gillian Philip

Bryony Pearce does a very good line in unstraightforward heroines. Her debut novel Angel's Fury featured the anything-but-easy Cassie Farrier, a tormented and difficult teen making what she could of a bad deal in life (and not always well); this of course is exactly what a lot of teenagers can relate to even when their lives aren't complicated by family curses, unfortunate bloodlines and tetchy gods. Pearce has pulled off the same success with Taylor Oh, the thoroughly imperfect heroine of The Weight of Souls.

Every teenager knows that there are things in life more important than school, homework or your parents' opinions. Taylor's problem is that having inherited a curse down her mother's bloodline, she's fated to avenge murder victims; this would be stressful enough in itself, but if Taylor ever fails to pass on the Mark (a kind of infectious Black Spot) within a certain time limit, the Darkness that's meant to swallow the murderer will come for her instead. (I've got three deadlines at the moment and I knew how Taylor felt.)

The book is interspersed with entries from The Diary of Oh Fah, the journal of the tomb-raiding ancestor who managed to inflict this fate on his own firstborn and every generation since. Oh Fah was the only survivor of an archaeological expedition that ended badly for everyone. What's more, Oh Fah only got away with it because the god Anubis was in need of a weapon in the mortal world. The curse seems to be all about divine vengeance; but never try to second-guess a god, because there may be mixed motives involved. This is the second time Pearce has made terrific use of mythology (Egyptian this time), in a modern context but without sacrificing any of the ancient horror.

Anyway, Oh Fah is not the most sympathetic character, but he's downright adorable next to some of the men in the story. I've got to say it: I wanted to slap Taylor's father, hard and regularly. Left in a wheelchair by the same accident that killed Taylor's mother – an accident directly related to the family curse – he spends his life bull-headedly denying said curse, telling his daughter she's mentally ill (and so was her mother before her), drawing blood from the girl's bruised arm, and taking everyone's side but hers. It's no wonder Taylor is a snippy verbal match for the bullies who torment her at school; her father's worse. It may be realistic parenting, and he may be showing his love in the only way he knows how, but really. *SLAP*

There comes a point, however, when the bullies do cause Taylor more harm than her father. And it starts when the worst of them, Justin Hargreaves, turns up at school dead. Unintentionally he passes the Mark to Taylor, which causes worse problems than usual... because Justin insists he wasn't murdered. It's at this point that the story spirals into an absolutely nail-biting tale of lies, peer pressure, and Truth Or Dare.

There's a lovely sinister heartbeat running through the book, and it belongs more to the malevolent V Club than it does to the god Anubis. The dares Taylor has to go through at the Club's bidding – because it's her only way of getting to the truth about Justin's death – are heartstopping, and I caught myself reading much farther into the night than I should have. Gripping too was the developing relationship between Taylor and the dead Justin. I do like an antihero, but I liked this one a lot. I grew very fond as well of Hannah, Taylor's long-suffering BF-possibly-not-F (though her ex-friend Pete was another slap-magnet. Really, the men don't come out of this very well).

The Weight Of Souls ends on a satisfying climax, but it hints very strongly at a follow-up. Taylor has tried never to wonder what exactly happens to the souls who are engulfed by the Darkness, but... oh, that would be spoilers. Go and read it. I'll certainly be reading the sequel.*

The Weight of Souls by Bryony Pearce; Strange Chemistry £7.99

www.gillianphilip.com

*(Tell me there's a sequel?)








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ANGEL'S FURY by Bryony Pearce; I AM THE GREAT HORSE by Katherine Roberts. Reviews by Gillian Philip

Everybody loves a villain, especially when you’re not quite sure who the villain is, and that’s one of the things that makes Bryony Pearce’s ANGEL’S FURY such an absorbing read. Who really is on the side of the angels? And would you really want the angels on your side?

Conflicted characters make a writer’s life worth living. OK, that’s hyperbole; maybe I should say conflicted characters make it fun to sit down in front of the laptop in the morning. There’s only one thing more fascinating than the villain with a touch of good, and that’s the hero with a touch of evil. And of course, what’s good for the writer is wonderful for the reader. Nothing keeps you turning the pages faster than wondering what the characters are up to, and why.

Bryony Pearce delves into myth and theology in her debut novel, and they are a rich vein of moral conflict and uncertainty. She keeps you guessing about the motivations of each and every one of her characters. Cassie Farrier suffers from insomnia caused by horrific nightmares; in desperation her parents send her for very unconventional therapy under the mysterious Dr Leaza Ashworth. Once confined at Mount Hermon with her fellow patients, Cassie has to try to unravel the ties between not just them and herself, but the lives of the long-dead. It’s a tense and occasionally horrifying journey that leads to the revelation of more than one spectacularly scary enemy.

When it comes to complex characters from history, one of my absolute favourites is Alexander the Great. There’s much about him that isn’t known – especially his motivations – and he tends to provoke wildly different reactions. Was he a thug and a tyrant, or an immensely skilful warrior, strategist and diplomat? Or a bit of all of those?

Alexander has been seen from the human perspective in fiction and non-fiction, from Mary Renault to Robin Lane Fox. Katherine Roberts’ sidelong approach gives an entirely new and enlightening angle – one alpha male on the quirks and foibles, the triumphs and disasters of another.

I AM THE GREAT HORSE is not just the story of Alexander’s war horse Bucephalas, though that would no doubt have been a terrific read in itself. Told by Bucephalas in the first person, it’s also his take on the humans around him – Alexander, but also the stable girl Charm who wins his trust by keeping away the ghosts of battle.

Bucephalas’s voice is completely convincing: arrogant, proud and all horse (and he’s funny, what with his habit of ‘dominating dung’ and the way he compares it to the behaviour of human kings). Yet somehow, through his eyes, Katherine Roberts tells a subtle and nuanced story of real human struggles. Mingling fact and fiction, myth and legend, the story manage to be completely convincing.

Bucephalas died before Alexander, and I wondered how Roberts would deal with that. But with only a minor tweak of history, she makes the ending convincing and moving. It was beautifully done.

ANGEL’S FURY Bryony Pearce (Egmont, ISBN 978-1-40525153-8)

I AM THE GREAT HORSE Katherine Roberts (Chicken House, ISBN 978-1-90529427-5)

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