The Eyes Of God by John Marco (Sana's view)
01/05/2003 . Source: Sana Master 

Pub: Gollancz. 789 page paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07392-6.

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Readers of fantasy and myth will immediately pick up on the influences in this book. They are obvious. My first thought was, 'Oh my God, it's a re-write of the Arthurian legend- in David Gemmell style!' And that has to be the final summation.

That is basically it.

We meet the characters Cassandra (Guinevere), Lukien (Lancelot) and Akeela (Arthur). In a mad divergence, however, Marco breaks away from the ineffectual acceptance of Arthur and mutates Akeela into an insane, obsessive, violent King who sees conspiracy and hate everywhere.

Cassandra is dying with cancerous growths erupting in her bowels and the King hears of a sovereign amulet that can not only save her but make her immortal.

The problem lies in the fact that if any human sees Cassandra, the cure will stop working and she will die. Akeela finally wages war on the inhumans- a clutch of people who outcast by their societies because of deformity, gathered together in a secret place under the protection of disembodied beings called the Akari.

Akeela's goal apart from vengeance is to regain the eye Lukien in his final meeting with Cassandra, where his gaze broke the curative or preventative spell, took to return to its rightful owner.

It is a heavy read. Not because it is overly long, it simply has so much that happens. From the three main characters two die and the novel goes from being the tale of a noble and idealistic ruler to a blood-drenched maniac.

Humans are depicted in all of their idiosyncratic, narrow-minded and flawed glory. The path between humanity and bestiality, Marco avers, is a narrow rope bridge over a gaping chasm. The tale has its dash of heroism and glorious fighting but the predestined fate attached to the Arthurian myth hovers over the tale like a particularly malevolent rain cloud.

Once this story has played out, David Gemmell's standard practice of mounting the odds against the 'good guys' takes over. All in all, it is simply an amalgamation of fantasy influences with little originality.

Sana Master