Scan barcode
A review by ericderoulet
Contra Amatores Mundi: A Gothic Fantasy by Graham Thomas Wilcox
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
There's much that can be said about this book, its craft, its audience, and then some. But first and foremost is this: What Wilcox has accomplished here is transposing the historic genre of the chivalric romance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivalric_romance) into the modern novel—and from there, has then turned the chivalric romance into something gothic, dark, and self-reflective with themes and motifs of his own choosing.
[from this point forward: thematic spoilers, perhaps, but no plot spoilers]
As far as I understand it, the chivalric romance was a popular late medieval genre of knightly adventures (or knight errants' adventures) that decidedly glorified knightly valor and violence. As Wilcox mentions in an interview with Kevin Beckett (https://justtheaxemaam.substack.com/p/just-the-axe-maam-145-eleven-questions), many chivalric romances answer the question of “Why would you want to be a knight?” by again, valorizing violence as a way for knights to prove their worthiness, their manliness, and so on. Wilcox has spun this "why be a knight question" on its head, however, by plunging his knightly protagonists, Hieronymus and Prospero, into a hellish underworld and having them serve an order that glorifies fanatical violence so much as to take a great part of their individuality away from them. Hieronymus and Prospero revel in their strange quest through much of the book, yet they are also led to doubt the virtue of all of this killing-for-glory and killing-for-God.
Speaking of which, another accomplishment of this book is that despite having been published in the 2020s, it depicts fanatical zeal in a way that's neither predictably critical of religion nor culturally revanchist. Yes, the knight protagonists harbor traditional, Crusadery values, but only in a way that makes them feel like authentic characters for a late medieval-like setting. (There's also the trope in which love/lust weakens the warrior's resolve, but the nun-love interest in this story is a well-characterized protagonist despite being described to us entirely from Hieronymus' perspective.) The major characters go beyond taking their faith seriously: Walpurga, the nun, has clearly come to much harm to advance the aims of her religious order. Likewise, both she and the knight-protagonists employ what I can only describe as (vividly described) dark magic, rationalized in defense of their faith, in support of their quests and goals. I wish I could describe it better without giving away too much. Here, suffice to say that in an interview with Adam McPhee (https://adamsnotes.substack.com/p/against-the-lovers-of-the-world-an), Wilcox describes his knights as "my take on DnD paladins... rather intense, frightful dudes immersed in the sort of esoteric religious extremism you might expect from people who think themselves (literally) warriors of god." I honestly haven't encountered knightly characters, nor fanatical characters, nor dark religious fantasy world-building with such depth in a long while.
I can't finish reviewing this book without discussing prose-level craft. Despite its novella length, Contra Amatores Mundi isn't necessarily a fast read, as the prose is dense with archaic-sounding language and jargon related to arms and armor. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the novella is written in maximalist prose; readers might either be alienated by this or show great pleasure in the writing. Personally, I feel the prose style both stretches out (in a good way) the reading experience and immerses me in what feels more like a premodern tale; had Wilcox followed the customary advice for writers to show restraint and write approachable prose, the end result would've been less interesting.
Between the maximalist prose, thoroughly dark fantasy elements, and the fact that this book is again a chivalric romance, it's certainly not for everyone. Really, though, these qualities are what make it a unique (for the 2020s) and well-crafted story. It's definitely tailored to particular sets of interests, but readers who are intrigued by the concept of this book absolutely should throw themselves into it.
[from this point forward: thematic spoilers, perhaps, but no plot spoilers]
As far as I understand it, the chivalric romance was a popular late medieval genre of knightly adventures (or knight errants' adventures) that decidedly glorified knightly valor and violence. As Wilcox mentions in an interview with Kevin Beckett (https://justtheaxemaam.substack.com/p/just-the-axe-maam-145-eleven-questions), many chivalric romances answer the question of “Why would you want to be a knight?” by again, valorizing violence as a way for knights to prove their worthiness, their manliness, and so on. Wilcox has spun this "why be a knight question" on its head, however, by plunging his knightly protagonists, Hieronymus and Prospero, into a hellish underworld and having them serve an order that glorifies fanatical violence so much as to take a great part of their individuality away from them. Hieronymus and Prospero revel in their strange quest through much of the book, yet they are also led to doubt the virtue of all of this killing-for-glory and killing-for-God.
Speaking of which, another accomplishment of this book is that despite having been published in the 2020s, it depicts fanatical zeal in a way that's neither predictably critical of religion nor culturally revanchist. Yes, the knight protagonists harbor traditional, Crusadery values, but only in a way that makes them feel like authentic characters for a late medieval-like setting. (There's also the trope in which love/lust weakens the warrior's resolve, but the nun-love interest in this story is a well-characterized protagonist despite being described to us entirely from Hieronymus' perspective.) The major characters go beyond taking their faith seriously: Walpurga, the nun, has clearly come to much harm to advance the aims of her religious order. Likewise, both she and the knight-protagonists employ what I can only describe as (vividly described) dark magic, rationalized in defense of their faith, in support of their quests and goals. I wish I could describe it better without giving away too much. Here, suffice to say that in an interview with Adam McPhee (https://adamsnotes.substack.com/p/against-the-lovers-of-the-world-an), Wilcox describes his knights as "my take on DnD paladins... rather intense, frightful dudes immersed in the sort of esoteric religious extremism you might expect from people who think themselves (literally) warriors of god." I honestly haven't encountered knightly characters, nor fanatical characters, nor dark religious fantasy world-building with such depth in a long while.
I can't finish reviewing this book without discussing prose-level craft. Despite its novella length, Contra Amatores Mundi isn't necessarily a fast read, as the prose is dense with archaic-sounding language and jargon related to arms and armor. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the novella is written in maximalist prose; readers might either be alienated by this or show great pleasure in the writing. Personally, I feel the prose style both stretches out (in a good way) the reading experience and immerses me in what feels more like a premodern tale; had Wilcox followed the customary advice for writers to show restraint and write approachable prose, the end result would've been less interesting.
Between the maximalist prose, thoroughly dark fantasy elements, and the fact that this book is again a chivalric romance, it's certainly not for everyone. Really, though, these qualities are what make it a unique (for the 2020s) and well-crafted story. It's definitely tailored to particular sets of interests, but readers who are intrigued by the concept of this book absolutely should throw themselves into it.