Dreams and Shadows: A Novel
Imagine there are two worlds, the natural world and that of the supernatural. Further, imagine they are separated by a gossamer veil. Lastly, imagine two boys, Ewan and Colby, from the natural world who find themselves in the supernatural, and you have the premise of this epic fantasy. Shortly after the two boys meet, however, they are returned to the natural world where they grow up, Ewan to become a musician and Colby to become a bookstore clerk and something more: a wizard! In due course, the supernatural and natural worlds will mesh with, well, catastrophic results. Cargill’s first novel is replete with a bewildering variety of fairies and a sometimes bewildering amount of philosophizing that occasionally retards the action of an otherwise dynamic story. However, Ewan and Colby are both likable characters who invite the reader’s empathy, and the setting of the supernatural world is richly imagined. All in all, an auspicious debut, the closing pages of which seem to promise, duh, a sequel. --Michael Cart