Publishers Weekly
09/11/2017
Irwin (The Arabian Nightmare) draws on the strangest elements of early Renaissance legend and history for this charming, peculiar picaresque. Anthony Woodville, Lord Scales, fights on the losing side of the War of the Roses and dies in battle. After a brief trip in the land of the dead, he finds himself back among the living; even more unexpectedly, he’s in the new king’s good graces. During the reign of Edward IV, he encounters events both miraculous and strange, but Anthony provides little besides the stitching that holds a number of disparate tales together; the actual events of his life—such as the deaths of his father—take up less space than a tale about one of King Arthur’s knights. Narratives are spun by Anthony’s mother, Jacquetta (supposedly descended from a dragon); a court alchemist named Ripley; and Thomas Malory, a knight who mostly spends his time working on his magnum opus, Le Morte d’Arthur. These stories drift out of their tellers’ control, as Anthony’s life drifts out of his, and he ends up on the wrong side of history again. Medievalists and history buffs will enjoy this premodern romp of bloody battles, court intrigues, and the occasional prophesying disembodied head, but fans of Game of Thrones and The Other Boleyn Girl are likely to bounce off it. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"For fans of Game of Thrones . . . In every way possible, Irwin blurs story and history, fantasy and reality. . . . The wonders never cease."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
"I have friends who love smart, deep fantasy novels, and can never find enough. Robert Irwin's novel The Arabian Nightmare was one of my favourite books of the early 1980s and one of the finest fantasies of the last century. His newest novel, Wonders Will Never Cease, is as erudite and well-constructed a historical fiction as The Arabian Nightmare, but is set in a medieval England that never quite was, and uses stories and fictions to illuminate and to make us gasp with awe. It's also often genuinely funny and quite beautifully written." —Neil Gaiman in Authors at Christmas
“Charming . . . [a] premodern romp of bloody battles, court intrigues, and the occasional prophesying disembodied head.”—Publishers Weekly
“In this historic game of thrones, fortunes are made and lost on a person’s ability to survive his own legend. . . . Wonders Will Never Cease captures English medieval life like never before in a narrative of harsh consequences, religious ritual, oral tradition, and dream logic both alien and familiar.”—Foreword
“Entertaining . . . History and fiction are interlaced throughout with dexterity and wit.”—Booklist
“Fun and engaging . . . Cleverly mixes the historical and the fanciful in bizarrely amusing ways.”—Library Journal
"He intertwines his central plot with myths and digressions worthy of Homer to transform what could easily be a dull report into something more mythical and magical. With disturbing tales, gruesome details of torture, a talking head and a museum of skulls, this novel will keep you in the Halloween spirit." —Buzz Magazine
"Robert Irwin's latest novel has much in common with Game of Thrones. Both are based on the gory struggle of the Wars of the Roses, both inject large amounts of magic and the occult into their narratives, and both are hugely enjoyable, fast-moving and filled with dark humour. . . . As one character observes: 'The real world is a poor thing compared to the stories that are told about it.'" —Prospect Magazine
"The novel is a sort of marriage between A. S. Byatt and Terry Pratchett: one you can enjoy greatly on the first reading, but which will be even better second time round, as it's so densely packed with learning and allusions. . . . Bravo." —Tibor Fischer, The Guardian
"Extraordinary . . . After closing this book, its spell still lingers. Irwin has brilliantly refashioned medieval history as a myth for our time." —Andrew Crumey, Literary Review
"One might conclude from these descriptions that Robert Irwin believes history and fiction to be indistinguishable. But this rather pedestrian interpretation fades away beside the enthralling delights of narrative, life itself to Scheharazade. This is a novel crammed with wonders." —Times Literary Supplement
"Superb . . . [In] Wonders Will Never Cease you will come across a character's theory that the years between AD600–900 were mostly a fabrication, ordered by the German king Otto III, who wanted to make sure he was the Holy Roman Emperor when the year 1000 came along. I liked this idea so much that I entertained it for perhaps longer than was wise."—Nick Lezard, Guardian
“A dazzling compendium of a golden age of storytelling . . . Wonders Will Never Cease completely lives up to its promise, expertly and meaningfully blending myths and reality in a way that the author hasn't done quite as spectacularly since The Arabian Nightmare.”—The Digital Fix/Geek Life
"The miracle of Wonders Will Never Cease is the wedding of all this vivid but essentially verifiable material with what one might tentatively identify as the stories that told the tales to those who lived them: the fables, legends, flesh-out sententiae, songs, all couched as though time were a shuttlecock." —Strange Horizons
"How is it that I am just learning about Robert Irwin? His magical novel Wonders Will Never Cease about England, in the late 15th century, and the dynastic struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster (as well as the usual problems with the French) against the backdrop of the mythic past of Arthurian England. The main character is Anthony Woodville who rises—literally—from the dead after being 'killed' in battle to become an observer of his own life as a knight, courtier and inadvertent myth maker. Amazingly readable." —David Ward, senior historian, National Portrait Gallery Washington DC in the Smithsonian magazine. Curators choose their books for Christmas
"Acclaimed by A. S. Byatt as one of the UK's greatest living novelists, Robert Irwin has produced his first novel in seventeen years. . . . Meticulously and exquisitely researched, in astonishing detail, the book is soaked through with myths, legends and folklore. . . . The prose is beautifully lyrical and completely captures the reader as they wind through the many threads within. Highly recommended." —The Historical Novel Society Review
“Robert Irwin’s beautifully written novel Wonders Will Never Cease is a novel with a difference. . . . It’s easy for the reader to become confused—and that’s the point. How many ‘historical’ accounts are massively mythologised, and is myth sometimes more meaningful than reality? Fortean questions indeed.”—David V. Barett, Fortean Times
"'It's a book about stories and the way we react to them. It's about changes in the world, about religion, about knowing what is real and what isn't. It's about something in the distance that we can't explain, something glimpsed out of the corner of our eyes. . . . It is a most entertaining read. It is a wonderful book."—clothesinbooks.blogspot
Library Journal
10/01/2017
Anthony Woodville, and everyone else, doesn't understand why he isn't dead; he should be. He was killed in the 1461 Palm Sunday Battle of Towton, during England's War of the Roses. Oddly, three days later, Anthony is awake and conversing about his visions (including witnessing the Arthurian Grail ceremony) during his unnatural slumber. Resplendent with a keen and authentic sense of the times, Irwin's (The Arabian Nightmare) historical epic also entertains an array of fantastical side adventures that involve voyeuristic zombies, fairies, prophesying severed talking heads, and omens predicting clashing destinies. Along the way, within the context of the story, the characters also argue philosophy and theology. VERDICT Lovers of historical fiction, eccentric period pieces, and escapist reads with a touch of magical realism will enjoy Irwin's fun and engaging tale, which cleverly mixes the historical and the fanciful in bizarrely amusing ways.—Russell Miller, Prescott P.L., AZ
NOVEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator James Langton begins this saga with the battlefield death of Anthony Woodville, Lord Scales—followed by his unbelievable resurrection three days later. A hierarchy of speech—from that of educated nobleman to that of rough mercenaries and lepers—is heard as reality blurs into fantasy and magic in this novel. The roughness of illiterates mixes with the cultured Scales and his noble family. Langton plows through bloody decapitations, hangings, and countless battles between the armies of the White Rose and the Red. Langton’s legion of voices describes horrific occurrences that will curl the toes of those who listen to the knightly adventures, true or not, of Lord Scales. A.M.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
