The Stormcaller – Tom Lloyd
Hachette Livre Gollancz, 2007 (reissue)
502 pages
RRP: AU$22.95
ISBN: 978-0-5750-7926-7

Review by Grant Watson

Fantasy is such an overloaded and overcooked genre these days that it’s difficult to see the forest for the trees – that is, to actually weave your way through the endless stacks of derivative and unimaginative books to actually find those rare enjoyable and relatively original ones. It’s a problem that drove me away from the genre for years. Today I only ever really return in fits and starts, hoping each time that I’m going to read something really special. Usually I don’t.

The Stormcaller, by British newcomer Tom Lloyd, is not going to win any points for originality. Taking equal measures of Tolkien, Moorcock and Howard, Lloyd mixes together a well-worn story of war and foretold destiny. It is, by and large, nothing that hasn’t already been written many times in the past. It even features both a dark lord and a dragon. Indiscriminating fantasy readers who measure their novels by weight rather than quality will also be reassured that The Stormcaller is one seriously thick and heavy novel.

Where Lloyd picks up a lot of points, however, is in the details. He’s created an uncharacteristically grim and realistic world in this book, and it’s one that I can see developing quite a devoted following as the inevitable sequels are released. The Stormcaller does not inhabit a very pleasant land, and Lloyd does an excellent job of exploiting this rough, difficult kingdom in his writing. His writing style itself is also good, if a little rough around the edges.

I think what we have in The Stormcaller is a highly promising debut. It is by no means a masterpiece, but it does boast enough in terms of style, characterisation and plot to make it well recommended to regular readers of the genre. I suspect we may see some fantastic work from Lloyd in the future – he’s definitely a new reader to keep an eye on.