I purchased the novel Nightjar by Paul Jameson as an #IndieApril independently published book promotion. 

Nightjar is a dark, folkloric fantasy novel for adults. In a post-apocalyptic England, villagers fight their own fears of the unknown to mount a rescue mission. Two young boys, precious to their society’s future due to their genetic normality, have played hooky from school and are feared to be in danger. And they are, indeed, in the worst sort of danger. As the children, Cord and Tuppence, explore the lush green countryside, intent on childish adventure, they are lured far away from home by a powerful faerie of legend and nightmare, Nightjar. 

The book’s worldbuilding weaves folk beliefs about the fae with Christian mythology as well as with dark hints of environmental disasters, genetic mutations, and a world-wide plague. The story world is one in which society has returned to a feudal model. Although relics of the modern era (early 1800s, maybe?) abound, rising seas, disease, and who knows what else has wiped out much of the population as well as modern technology. 

The story is told in the present tense by an omniscient narrator, alternating mini-scenes between the boys’ and Nightjar’s games with the search-party squabbles. The story arcs of the boys’ adventures and the search party’s travels thus unfold more or less simultaneously.

The language is notable for its lyricism, evoking the beauty of the natural world, and its archaic style, referencing legend, ballad, and folktale of the feudal era. 

The story is dark and includes fiction tropes some people (like me) make a point to avoid. I’ll discuss spoilers at the end of this blog, if you want more warning than the book description provides. I’d love to hear what topics and themes are a no-go for my blog readers. Are there ways for the author to present such topics appropriately? Even if presented perfectly, would you prefer to not go there?

When the boys leave home one afternoon to explore the old Roman Road, they are quickly missed, and a search party sets out after them. The boys meet Nightjar, just as old Bourbon, leader of the search party feared would happen. A fae creature with powerful magic, Nightjar spirits the children away across the Shallow Sea to “look for treasure” in an isolated cathedral town, Sandye. 

The story arc consists of the various physical and emotional impediments the boys and Nightjar must overcome to reach their goal as well as the difficulties the villagers have in following them. As the action rises, even more searchers—the monks who rule the small town—are recruited to help. The religious order brings in a new, more specific source of conflict; they not only fear Nightjar, but also hate him as an evil entity opposing the Church. 

The climax is followed by a hint of redemptive denouement and resolution. I had some difficulty getting into this novel despite it totally sounding like my cup of tea, at least from the book description.  A day after finishing the book, I’m still feeling all the feels about the climax and resolution. 

Pros:

• Major points for originality. Nightjar is not the same old-thing-fantasy story. It challenges the reader intellectually as well as emotionally.
• Character development is first rate. There are actually quite a lot of people in this story, and they are all vivid and distinctly rendered. Their needs, motives, and actions all hang together and make sense. The ending is earned.
• Although I have some quibbles with the book design, the illustrations are lovely and informative, adding to the story experience. 
• Apparently, the story locale is a real place, so this is an alternative history/future forecast, which is fun.

Cons:

•  I personally find present tense awkward; it always takes me out of a story (but that’s totally a personal quirk), and the heavy use of semicolons and white space between paragraphs was distracting. 
• The archaic word patterns often placed words in an unusual order, left out words one expects to see, and swapped out adverbs for adjectives. (For example, “he does run to tree quick” rather than “he ran to the tree quickly.”) The method created some artifice and put this reader at a distance from the story, but the real problem came up with the occasional typographical error—or was it an error? Maybe it was just a particularly strange archaic construction? Anyway, I’d frequently leave the story’s “fictive dream” to think on these things. 
• It was difficult to tell whose story this was. For the first half to two-thirds of the book the kids seemed to be the protagonists, but what they wanted, besides adventure, was difficult to tell. Maybe it was Nightjar’s story? The book is named for him, after all. But his great age and force-of-nature status argued against him actually being able to grow and change. He comes off as a charming rogue, and one hopes his motives will actually prove pure. About two-thirds into the book, I felt like I finally knew who I was supposed to be looking at.

SPOILERS

TRIGGER WARNING. This story features the “on-stage” kidnapping and murder of two children. That theme is common, particularly in crime fiction, and requires finesse on the writer’s part. I think any plot is possible, but many plots are difficult to handle in a satisfactory manner for a wide audience. What the reader witnesses while reading the book is key to acceptability (as opposed to things that happen before the story starts or from a distance), as well as how close to the characters the reader is encouraged to become. These deaths were written with great skill, dignity, and respect, but still disturbed me beyond my own comfort zone.

 Personally, I avoid reading child-endangerment stories (although I have written one!) and would most likely have taken a pass on reading this book, if I’d known that was where the dark hints in the book description would ultimately lead. My sadness over the ending of the story shows the skill of the book in making the boys into real people, but this situation will always push my buttons.