A review by ghoulnextdoor
The Erstwhile by Brian Catling

2.0

Having adored Catling’s The Vorrh, I had high hopes for it’s successor, The Erstwhile… but even weeks after finishing it, I am still terribly disappointed and confused. I think perhaps it may suffer from middle story syndrome (I believe it is to be part of a trilogy?) Absent was the thrilling writing that so captured my imagination in The Vorrh, and which urged me to re-read the same beautifully crafted passages over and over again, as the exquisite prose invited second, and–sometimes–third looks. In retrospect, perhaps it is possible that The Vorrh was one of those experiences where a memory of a thing is so much richer and more wonderful than the thing actually was? The Erstwhile picks up somewhat where The Vorrh leaves off, and the continued story is so wooden and dull, I may have even skipped over entire passages just to hurry the book along. I realize I haven’t told you much about the book, but what can you say when it is ultimately so unremarkable? Many of the same characters return in book two, and I recall thinking that these characters were so gorgeously imagined and although flawed, they were so terribly fascinating the first time around. In this second book, they just seem downright terrible. The titular beings, the Erstwhile, are the angels that failed to protect the Tree of Knowledge, and they are reawakening. They are truthfully the most interesting thing in this book read about, with their reconstitution of themselves and their evolution…but to what end? Their story never seems to go anywhere. What was their point? What was the point of this book, even? Perhaps Catlin has some end-game in mind that will become clear with the third installment in the trilogy. I will hold out hope.