Review – The Herald of Autumn by JM Guillen

***Take note people – due to a booboo on behalf of the ARC provider, who shall remain nameless due to their usual awesomeness, the review for The Herald of Autumn is actually based on The Harrowing of Twilight and vice versa. Rather than rewrite both reviews (due to laziness), please consider that when reading criticisms. Both books are well worth reading.***

Tommy Maple is the Herald of Autumn. As the summer wanes and the new season begins to unfold, the Herald of Autumn wakes to walk the earth and usher in the seasonal change. But Tommy is so much more than that. He is a hunter of things that live in the dark. In this story, Tommy awakes to find someone, a mortal woman, is looking for him, someone who knows of the old ways, and needs his help. She takes him to a village hidden in the Twilight from the eyes of mortals, but monsters now disturb their peaceful existence.

This is a melding of mythologies, mostly Celtic and Norse, but there are others thrown in for good measure, and they slot in nicely together. The tale is written in almost poetic prose, and one can imagine a glimmer man or bard holding a village’s attention as he regales them around a fire. The story is a succession of mysteries, and not all are solved in this, the start of the series. What are these monsters, and why are they attacking the village? Why are the fey people disappearing, and so on.

Tommy is an interesting character. His memories are fading, and those he can remember come with sadness. He laments the state of the world, with its buildings of stone and glass, and machines that spew smoke (or words to that effect). He fears that Ciaran and her village aim to trap him through a boon, and his efforts to help them are hampered by this fear. He also finds that the monsters attacking the village are new to him, and he appears to be powerless to stop them, but stop them he must.

I really enjoyed this story. It’s mythology written in the vein of HP Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith, where your sanity often needs to be checked in at the door. I’ve also started book two, The Harrowing of Twilight, even before I finished this review.

A bonkers 4.5/5 stars