Book review: Age of Misrule

Mark Chadbourn’s Age of Misrule trilogy is amongst my most prized and favourite books to read and read again.

I stumbled on this book series whilst on holiday in Turkey. There was a book swap corner in the lounge of the hotel I was staying at and I chose Darkest Hour from the pile of books on the table. At the time I didn’t realise that this was the middle book of a trilogy. The story held its own right until the end.

The plot

The tale of technological failures and the return of magic, mythical creatures and ancient gods was right up my street. This trilogy is based on Celtic mythology and the writing shows that Mark Chadbourn fully researched the topic.

As normal people struggle to come to terms with the loss of modern appliances, the heroes of the book, the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons fight to thwart the plans of the agents of darkness and chaos: the Fomorii.

It was an extremely satisfying read but It became apparent towards the end that the adventures of the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons were not over and furthermore, I’d missed an entire book. I soon rectified that when I returned home, I bought the first and third instalments World’s End and Always Forever and started the story from the beginning including re-reading Darkest Hour.

Brothers and Sisters of Dragons

The heroes of the trilogy are Jack Churchill, Ruth Gallagher, Shavi, Laura DuSantiago and Ryan Veitch. As the world goes to hell in a handbasket, mysterious forces draw together these five strangers. Jack becomes established as the leader of the group but they are all guided by Thomas the Rhymer, a traveller they meet along the way who seems to know a lot about what is happening and why.

Guided by Thomas, they travel across Britain searching for answers and discover things about themselves and realise that impactful incidents in their past seemed deliberately set in motion, binding them together as the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons.

Mark Chadbourn’s erudite writing, the research that went into telling this tale and the flow of the story makes this Age of Misrule a worthwhile read. If you enjoy fantasy and mythology, you should add this trilogy to your collection.