Amie Rose Rotruck (Children's Literature)
When the vicar Demurral calls upon the powers of darkness, he requires a certain artifact. However, he does not expect Raphah to travel from far away to reclaim the artifact. Recruiting the help of Thomas and Kate, Raphah seeks to stop Demurral's evil plan. During the adventures, Thomas has visions of Riathamus, a force of good combating the evil that Demurral seeks to raise. Riathamus first gives Thomas a sword, and as the book progresses, both Thomas and Kate learn much about Riathamus through Raphah. Taylor expertly weaves an accurate 17th century Yorkshire setting with a demonic/angelic struggle into an engaging adventure story. While the ongoing plot and battles are intriguing and rather different from typical adolescent fantasy, the characters are not as engaging as they could be. Taylor spreads the viewpoints over a few too many characters, so there is not as much emotional involvement as might be had he chosen to focus on fewer points of view. Taylor's reliance on telling emotions rather than showing does not help the reader develop a rapport with the characters. Nevertheless, the struggle between good and evil, told in a rather unusual setting in a unique way, makes up quite a bit of ground lost in character development. 2003, G P Putnam, $16.99. Ages 12 up.

Laura Ruttig (Children's Literature)
Taylor invokes images from legend in this compelling fantasy set along the ghostly coastline of Yorkshire. The villain of the tale is the parson, Demurral, an evil man who has stolen a priceless statue, Keruvim. With this statue, Demurral intends to become more powerful than God himself. Determined to stop him is Raphah, a young African boy who has been the Keeper of the Keruvim. Along the way, he also recruits two locals, both very young themselves, Thomas and Kate. For them, it begins as a simple task to help a new friend--to steal back the Keruvim, but as the adventure grows they are drawn into a far larger battle between the fallen angels and heaven itself. Both Thomas and Kate must grapple with issues of faith as they try to defeat the various monsters that Demurral has awakened. Concepts of spirituality infuse the novel with allegorical meaning, while Taylor’s vivid use of detail makes it easy for the reader to get lost in this cosmic tale of the battle between good and evil. 2003, GP Putnam Sons/Penguin Young Readers Group, $16.99. Ages 12 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 5))
The Great Adversary makes another bid to overthrow God in this Pullmanesque fantasy, set on the haunted Yorkshire coast. In a bid for supreme earthly power, vicar-gone-to-the-bad Obadiah Demurral receives a stolen golden figurine, one of two conduits to control of all Nature. The arrival of Raphah to reclaim it sets in motion a succession of sneaks and chases, involving two young local folk, ruthless, but not irredeemable smuggler Jacob Crane, and a host of supernatural thugs. Taylor changes names, but the major players are still recognizable: Raphah prays to "Riathamus," who puts in several appearances in various guises to utter such familiar lines as "I will be with you always, even to the end of time," and dispatches angelic Seruvim at need, while, preceded by fallen angels called Glashan, the radiant Dark Lord Pyratheon appears in time for a climactic but indecisive showdown. Loaded down with meditations on inner faith, and diatribes against human society (particularly organized religion), this doesn't quite achieve the cosmic sweep for which the author is plainly reaching-but that may come in the sequels. 2004, Putnam, 304p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 12 to 15. © 2004 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Michele Winship (KLIATT Review, March 2004 (Vol. 38, No. 2))
Taylor, a Yorkshire parson himself, tells a tale of a small-town vicar with ambitious aspirations who ultimately sells his soul for power. Parson Demurral, the vicar of Whitby, is consumed by greed and procures through deception the Keruvim, an ancient relic that, when joined with its mate, bestows supernatural ability upon the one who wields it. Demurral has stolen, cheated, and lied in his efforts to increase his wealth and status at the expense of others. So, when the dark stranger Raphah comes ashore to reclaim the Keruvim and take it back to its rightful place across the sea, Demurral sinks to new depths, torturing and murdering those who stand in his way. The protagonists are a pair of young teens, Thomas and Kate, who join forces with Raphah to recover the Keruvim and stop the vicar's reign of terror. A few other colorful characters, including a miller and his family and a good-hearted smuggler, pop in and out of the plot to help Kate and Thomas battle the vicar. More Hawthorne than Dickens, the good vs. evil theme is heavily laden with fundamentalist Christian dogma. The traditional religions of early Britain as well as modern divination practices come into Taylor's line of fire. However, his message is clear--evil is always punished and only the faithful will be saved in the end. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS--Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2003, Penguin Putnam, 300p., $16.99. Ages 12 to 18.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July 2004 (Vol. 57, No. 11))
Obadiah Demurral, the vicar of Thorpe (a town on the coast of Yorkshire), has turned his back on God and embraced the power of darkness; his obsession with acquiring power has led him to compromise his soul through theft, murder, torture, and black magic. Demurral has acquired a golden cherub from a sacred African temple, one of two Keruvim, powerful and ancient religious artifacts that will help the vicar rule the world. The Keruvim is sought by Raphah, an African disciple of Riathamus (from the Latin for "king of kings"), who is determined to foil Demurral and return the Keruvim to its rightful place. Raphah is aided in his quest by Thomas and Kate, two local youngsters drawn unwittingly into the fray. The trio are chased, captured, and tormented by various creatures of the theological night, but the preternaturally lucky Thomas, Kate, and Raphah acquire an unlikely ally in a converted highwayman, and they are further aided by timely visits from a soul-seeking shepherd and sword-bearing archangel. Characterizations are slight as shadows, with little to provide a metaphorical hook for readers to hang their emotional hats on. Demurral is an over-wrought, operatic villain given to B-movie outbursts of maniacal rage, and the allegorical function of the remaining primary characters is overly distancing. The writing is dense and purposive, and while the Biblical wordplay may be clever, it is too obscure. Heavy-handed theological references slow the narrative pace, and the plotting (even with a literary faith that believes in miracles) is overly convenient. Despite obvious comparisons to Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, this title lacks both the suspense and the action that characterized that series, so readers will be better off sticking with Lyra. Review Code: M -- Marginal book that is so slight in content or has so many weaknesses in style or format that it should be given careful consideration before purchase. (c) Copyright 2004, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2004, Putnam, 275p, $16.99. Grades 9-12.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2004)
In this amateurish and preachy Christian parable set in old Yorkshire, three children engage in an adventure fighting supernatural creatures and an evil vicar. The story is imaginative, but readers will need more than faith the size of a mustard seed to wade through the one-note characters, the dialogue padded with mini-sermons, and the monotonously unvaried declarative prose. Category: Older Fiction. 2004, Putnam, 300pp, $16.99. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 5: Marginal, seriously flawed, but with some redeeming quality.

Amanda Kohr (The Kutztown University Book Review, Fall 2005)
In a small fishing village something evil is stirring. Smugglers are taking over and the village people are being sapped of all their money and resources through an intricate network all led by Demurral, the village priest. A supposed man of God, Demurral is dabbling in black magic and discovers the one thing that could give him all the power that he has ever desired. Unknown to him, this one thing could also destroy the entire world once activated. It is up to a young boy named Thomas and his friend Kate, along with the help of Raphah, an African priest, to recover the sacred object and save the world. I thought that this book was excellent. It is well put together and keeps the reader guessing until the very end where it all comes together very nicely. The plot develops in a logical sequence and reveals things at just the right pace. The setting is in a fishing village during the era when shipping and receiving was done mainly through ships, and this plays an important role in the story. All of the characters are relatively beievable and all are well developed. The only caution I would give is that there is quite a bit of violence, so be careful of the age group that is reading. Category: . 2003, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $16.99. Ages 13 to 18.

Elaine J. O'Quinn (VOYA, April 2004 (Vol. 27, No. 1))
This novel is a different kind of fantasy, partly because of the allegorical elements of the Christian faith and partly because the book manages to provide a strong critique of the shortcomings of organized religion, exposing the deception of power and forcing the issue of true faith. It is not typical to find a story that works at both these levels while never losing track of the adventure that drives it. This reviewer found herself swept up in the story of Kate, Thomas, and the angel Raphah as they attempt to retrieve a grail-like artifact and restore it to its rightful place. Along the way they must battle authoritative leaders--unpredictable "boggles" and fearsome "hobs"--and at one point, even the devil himself. Such effort is required if the light of the world is to be kept bright against the impending darkness signifying the end of time. Taylor produces a solid book. It is well written and highly imaginative in how it recasts the story of good versus evil. Young readers will like its pace, and adults will enjoy its complexity. The author clearly did a good deal of research, and readers will be especially impressed with the attention paid to setting. The challenge of this setting was actually to take something a bit familiar and make it unfamiliar--in many ways, a more daunting task than creating the purely imaginative settings of many fantasy stories. The readers of this text will come to it for different reasons--a high compliment to any author. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2004, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 304p., $16.99. Ages 15 to 18.