A review by jochno
The Erstwhile: The Vorrh (2) by Brian Catling

4.0

[3.5 stars] Similar sins to the first, perhaps at times more blatant in its sexism and racism. Does not feel wonderfully edited and could demonstrates how much of an old white man echo chamber the publishing world can be. How Catling has managed to set a book in Africa with barely any black characters managing to avoid writing about a single one past page 30 is beyond me (worse than even the first book). That being said as 'a feverish epic' (Alan Moore's words not mine) it does contain moments of pure magic of the kind I have never read before after a somewhat groan inducing middle (he describes newly formed breasts as 'budding womanhood' followed by the description of what I can only imagine is someone perhaps with the body of a 13-15 year old stripping naked for no real reason in front of a priest). The opening four pages is in a similar format to the first book: a cut scene only somewhat more contextualised but still, through his insertion of a mythologised William Blake, one is left with their mouth ajar. It really comes into its stride, just as the Vorrh did, in the latter stages of the book and by the end you are enthralled once again. Certainly a true work of art in terms of its originaltiy and scope of imagination but I think this could as a series age horrendously. At its best awe-inspiring at its worst gratuitous, sometimes even obvious (no great surprise when Ishmael went into forest he was going to be the only one to come out unscathed). Also as a Jew, reading his Alt-London description of the historical Jewish East End did slightly feel as if he had googled 'cool Yiddish phrases' and 'things Jews did in 1924', added in his favorite bits at random and then proceeded to ignore common sense (How would Schumman, a German Jew not understand Yiddish phrases despite hanging around with radical Rabbis for much of his professional life). It slightly felt a bit shoehorned into the plot for authenticity and therefore a paint by numbers job but would probably pass well to most.