Taidgh L Strogen (08/08/2004)

this isnt much of a review but i just want to say wormwood is a great book
and deserves a 8/10.

Jayne Fair (30/07/2004)

I finished Wormwood last week and have started re-reading Shadowmancer.

I enjoyed Wormwood but thought it too dark to read to my sons (aged 8&9) who thoroughly enjoyed Shadowmancer.

like shadowmancer wormwood weaves a thrilling story that takes you on a journey into a world of danger and despair that leaves us with the unshakeable knowledge that evil will ultimately be vanquished. I look forward to the next battle report as re-told by Mr Taylor.

(26/07/2004)

I read Shadowmancer while i was on holiday last year. I have to admit i enjoyed the book as it was different to most. The one thing that put me off was how religion was brought in to it on every sentance. I have nothing against religion but i thought it was a little over done. I read Wormwood this week as the second book in the series and i have already finished it. G.P Taylor has got the perfect balance between religion and the the lives of his characters and i think this is one of the best books i have ever read. I liked how he started with a new set of characters but still managed to interlock the two storys. I hope his third will be just as good and i hope that it may even bring the set of characters in Shadowmancer together with those of Wormwood.
Good luck G.P - Man on the moon

Kat (26/07/2004)

I was given this book as a present and was assured it was brilliant. What a disappointment. A really poor book in my view. Poor storyline, poor plots, too much extraneous detail and sub-plots going nowhere, full of storyline contradictions and worst of all, poorly written. Very boring and utterly lacking in any grip. What a pity.

Bekki (20/072004)

I've just finished Wormwood and I loved it (not surprising!). It's quite different from Shadowmancer as it's a lot less evangelistic but I suppose there's no point copying what Shadowmancer already did. Actually at first I didn't like it half as much as Shadowmancer as it had little sense of hope at all (I like things with hope even if it is scary, that's just the kind of person I am). But I started really getting into the book by about Chapter 16 as everything was starting to make sense and more hopeful. I think I still prefer Shadowmancer, especially the storyline, but Wormwood is still brilliant once you get into it. Just like Shadowmancer the storyline is unpredictable, making it more exciting. The themes in Wormwood are very relevant and G.P. Taylor's skill in writing really shines through. Once again, I thank G.P. Taylor for another brilliant book; I just hope he doesn't take too long in making another book as I may get impatient!

Colin Parker (19/07/2004)

Congratulations again on a fantastic follow up book. To say I loved it is an understatement. Last year I wrote wondering whether you would be the nemesis of Philip Pullman. I found it fascinating when you were interviewed on radio 5 recently how Philip Pullman responded so promptly to your angst in relation to your new found fame.
Anyway back to the book. You have a wonderful gift in your writing. Keep up the good work. Your books will be successful because you are able to communicate truth through a real humdinger of a story. I cannot wait for the next book, but however long I have to wait I am sure it will be worth it.
If you are ever in the Essex area giving a lecture perhaps you could send me details. I would be fascinated to hear how you draw on things for inspiration and wrap a Christian allegory around it.

Sometimes the buzz surrounding how a book came into being can become such a phenomenon that appraisals of the book itself get lost in the mix. There have been numerous interviews and articles relating how policeman-turned-vicar GP Taylor sold his Harley Davidson to self-publish Shadowmancer, how it was then snapped up by Faber, was published last year in its new form on the day of the release of the latest Harry Potter, and went on to sell by the bucket-load; culminating in a multimillion-pound film deal and further publishing contracts on both sides of the Atlantic ... but there was far less discussion as to the book's actual merit.

Recently on the same author panel as GP Taylor in New York, I heard him describe himself as being "a storyteller, not a writer". Jeffrey Archer has also described himself in those terms, and both authors are brilliant self-publicists. But what of Taylor's actual words on the page?

I read his second book, Wormwood, on the way to the Hay festival and I'm glad that the train terminated at Hereford or I might have missed the stop. In a matter of pages I was completely drawn into Taylor's London of the 1750s: a place of dreadful murky depths beneath a thin veneer of respectability. Here's a book that wears its research lightly. In less skilled hands, the author might have crammed in every last titbit of contemporary detail, but it would have ended up far less an achievement.

Events revolve around the coming of the comet Wormwood as foretold in the Nemorensis, a book which many crave and which, apparently, foretells the future and holds the very secrets of the universe. (Though not mentioned, this prophesy actually appears in the Bible, Revelation 8, verses 10-11.) Wormwood is also the main ingredient of absinthe, that vile and deadly green drink which, here, binds the willing and less-willing participants in the story's ever-twisting conspiracy. (Legend has it that the plant grew up in the trail of the serpent as it left the Garden of Eden.)

This is a tale of 18th-century science and superstition, of greed, prophesy, witchcraft and folklore. There are ghosts - nameless dead children, their spirits trapped and sealed in a building, and that of tattoo-covered Blueskin Danby, the hanged convict - and there are angels. And what angels. These are warriors in the battle of good against evil: they can burn the very flesh off your bones. One fallen angel is a pathetic figure destined for the freak show, to be seen at a guinea a time. He's kept locked in an attic room, his wings plucked and his future bleak. Another can plunge his hands into the bloody chest of a dead duellist, remove the lead shot and give him back his life. A third plans to purge London of its poor where the plague and the Great Fire have failed. All, at first, seem human.

Do you have to be Christian or steeped in Christian culture to enjoy this book? Not at all. You don't even have to agree with a central premise, put in the words of one of the characters, that "Humanity has no goodness within itself - that is the delusion of the faithless ..." I certainly don't.

Wormwood stands alone. It is breathtaking in scope, and I felt in safe hands throughout. It's an extraordinary achievement told by, yes, a master storyteller. In just 312 pages he has created a world that he can just as easily destroy. The book is, quite simply, marvellous.

James Allen (17/06/2004)

First class read, best in the genre for a long time, even better than Shadowmancer.  Better than Pullman, my grandchildren will love this book.  How is he going to follow this, it will be difficult but I look forward to the next one.

Jessica (15/06/2004)

Wormsood is an excellent book, so well described and imagined that it's easy to believe that these things really happened.  The characters are interesting (Could Abram get any cooler?) and the plot suspenseful and dark.  G P Taylor is an amazing author and Wormwood really does him proud.

Jamie 7th June 2004

Cheryl (03/06/2004)

Just finished Wormwood. I could not put it down and read it in a day! Very deep and descriptive. I'm glad it referred to Shadowmancer slightly. It tied the two together. Are there going to be any more?

Cheryl