TITLE - EQUINOX
A gorgeous monochrome cover with a touch of gold, vividly
depicting the contrasting night/day theme of the story, holds a breathtakingly
original story about witchcraft, war and magic. In the magical land of Reikova,
two souls inhabit each body, each “person” existing only by day or night
exclusively; a night-brother has a day-brother, each night-sister, a
day-sister, and vice versa.
In the city of Esteberg in the 18th century, Christophor and
his day-brother Alexsander are two people in the same body; the former lives at
night, the latter by day. Christophor, a Special Inspector, is called to a
grisly act of self-mutilation at the local prison in his city of Esteberg and
forced to investigate against his wishes. This leads him to the mysterious
neighbouring town of Drekenford where untold horrors await him.
In two parts, the first deals with events from Christophor’s
point of view and the second from Alexsander’s. (Trigger warning - This latter
section begins with a detailed description of the violent death of a horse,
following on from the end of the previous part). Alexsander is a totally
different person to his night-brother with whom we have spent the majority of
the book so far; thanks to Towsey’s excellent characterisation, this shift in
perspective adds a whole new dimension to the tale. The position of Special
Inspector is very much like a witch-hunter or demonologist, and Christophor has
a reputation of being cold and ruthless while Alexsander is a pleasure-loving
musician.
The concept of two people sharing the same body is original
and quite mind blowing. People chew a drug called “ettiene” to ease the
transition between their night and day selves. A small degree of communication
is possible between the two selves that doesn’t need to involve the more direct
act of leaving notes. This is in fact a clever literary device enabling the
narrative to continue outside of Christophor’s point of view when he is
“asleep” and Alexsander is “awake”. Also, each separate section of the
narrative is illustrated by a small sunrise or crescent moon.
When Christophor finds his investigation hampered by his
day-brother, the story becomes as much about Christophor’s war with himself as
it does the wider conflict. In fact my first reaction on learning that he would
have to travel to another town was to wonder how that would work with
Alexsander “in tow”. Proof that the concept is solid and that David Towsey an
excellent writer to pull me in to the story like that.
“Equinox” (such a clever title-the time of year when the day
and night are of equal length, and in this story of equal importance) can be
read as a more magic-y “Name of the Rose”, with a pseudo-policeman on the trail
of witchcraft and murder; there is also a library of restricted knowledge where
dangerous books have to be kept in the dark. The world has the feel of a
particularly dark fairytale; an Eastern European setting hinting at being part
of our world but at the same time, subtly different.
The story is sexy, scary and deep with an apocalyptic
ending, and the perfectly paced plot hooks you in without you even noticing.
Towsey writes vividly and richly, creating a living, breathing world that drips
with hidden menace. This is a magical world you will want to lose yourself in -
I loved it!
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