END OF THE CENTURY
Publisher: Pyr
Release Date: 2009
Cover by
Dan Dos Santos
Three people. Three eras.
One city. Endless possibilities. End of the Century is a novel of the
distant past, the unimaginable future, and the search for the Holy
Grail. Set in the city of London, the narrative is interlaced between
three ages, in which a disparate group of heroes, criminals, runaways,
and lunatics are drawn into the greatest quest of all time.
Twilight—Londinium, Sixth Century, CE
Galaad, a young man driven by strange dreams of a lady in white and a
tower of glass, travels to the court of the high king Artor in
Londinium, abandoned stronghold of the Roman Empire in Britain. With the
dreams of Galaad as their only guide, Artor and his loyal captains
journey west to the Summerlands, there to face a threat that could spell
the end of the new-forged kingdom of Britain.
Jubilee—London, 1897
Consulting detective Sandford Blank, accompanied by his companion
Roxanne Bonaventure, is called upon to solve a string of brutal murders
on the eve of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The police believe that
Jack the Ripper is back on the streets, but Blank believes that this is
a new killer, one whose motive is not violence or mayhem, but the
discovery of the Holy Grail itself. And what of the corpse-white
Huntsman and his unearthly hounds, who stalks the gaslit streets of
London?
Millennium—London, 1999
At the eve of the new millennium, American teenager Alice Fell is on the
run, and all alone. On the streets of a strange city, friendless and
without a pound to her name, Alice is not sure whether she's losing her
mind, or whether she is called by inescapable visions to some special
destiny. Along with a strange man named Stillman Waters, who claims to
be a retired occultist and spy, she finds herself pursued by strange
creatures, and driven to steal the priceless “vanishing gem” that may
contain the answers to the mysteries that plague her.
The three narratives—Dark Ages fantasy, gaslit mystery, and modern-day
jewel heist— alternate until the barriers between the different times
begin to break down, and the characters confront the secrets that
connect the Grail, the Glass Tower, and the vanishing gem. And lurking
behind it all is the entity known only as Omega.
Sample Chapters available
online.
Praise
The author of Here, There &
Everywhere and The Voyage of Night Shining White blends
high fantasy, Victorian mystery, and urban fantasy into one
mesmerizing story that refreshes the Arthurian legend.
Library Journal
What do a
soldier from the 6th century, a sleuth from the 19th century and an
American teenager in 1999 all have in common? They are all
characters in Chris Roberson’s ambitious quest for the Holy Grail
that intermingles all three ages to truly entertaining effect.
Geek Monthly
Roberson
conjures up a triple-threaded tale… Roberson bedecks all three
strands with a spectacular collection of secrets, murky underworld
organizations, and everything from time travel to magical swords. In
the dizzying conclusion, time lines converge in a satisfying
reimagining of a very old story.
Regina Schroeder, Booklist
End of the
Century is EXCELLENT
reading.
Fábio Fernandes, Fantasy Book Scritic
Nor was I
surprised to find among Roberson's inspirations various multiversal
adventures of Michael Moorcock and the Yggsdrasillian family tree of
Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton cycle. Those inspirations--dark
Moorcock and manic-inventive Famer--locate the pleasures of this
busy, complicated, symbolically and thematically fully packed book
pretty accurately.
Russell
Letson, Locus Magazine
Roberson, author of "Here, There
& Everywhere" and "Paragaea: A Planetary Romance," coordinates the
multiple plots with panache, keeping each interesting in itself
while seeding them with clues that pay off up and down the
timelines. The book is dedicated to Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore and
Kim Newman, and it's not hard to discern their influences on the
secret societies, mystical lore and pulpy derring-do featured in
"End of the Century."
Roberson has his own unique strengths as a writer, however, and he
is developing a literary cosmology well worth further exploration.
If he sometimes resorts to bald explication of the
scientific/philosophical underpinnings that govern his multiverse,
its a forgivable lapse in the face of so much invention and clever
storytelling.
Michael Berry, San Francisco Chronicle
