The Cloven

May 14, 2018
Catling’s creative imagination is again very much on display, but newcomers to his Vorrh fantasy trilogy, and even those who haven’t refreshed their memories of the earlier books, are likely to be baffled by this concluding volume (following 2017’s The Erstwhile). The Vorrh is a vast and dangerous African forest that is reported to contain “the remains of paradise where the great tree of knowledge grew.” In Catling’s alternate creation story, humans were never intended to be more than tenders of the Garden of Eden, and divine knowledge was meant only for the trees. Adam eating the forbidden fruit initiated a struggle between trees and people that continues to play out in a very alternate 20th century. As the plants modify the gases they emit to increase human conflict, the Vorrh comes under assault from German soldiers. The portrayal of plants as the intended dominant life-form is intriguing, but the stories of myriad characters, including real-life South African naturalist Eugène Marais, are harder to engage with. The dense plotting and complex backstory make this installment inaccessible to all but devoted fans.

June 1, 2018
Catling concludes his Vorrh trilogy (after The Erstwhile, 2017) with a surrealistic and entertaining amalgamation of religion, philosophy, art, and nature. The Vorrh is a primordial and sentient forest in Africa rumored to be the home of the Garden of Eden, and the timber town of Essenwald sits at its edge maintaining a precarious balance of commerce and deference with the forest. Fallen angels, clockwork automatons, and a multitude of both mystical and mortal characters from the previous novels all seem drawn to the Vorrh for a final conflict. Catling draws a compelling picture of man versus nature in an impressive story of good and evil, environmentalism, and the will of man to conquer all. Set amid the emergence of the Nazi party just before WWII, the story follows several narratives of enlightenment, ignorance, and pragmatism. Fans of unique series like K. J. Parker's Engineer trilogy or Felix Gilman's The Half-Made World duology will be mesmerized by the originality of Catling's world building. Visceral, violent, and literary, this character-driven fantasy should be read from the beginning, starting with The Vorrh (2015).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)