Vorrh Trilogy
2 primary works • 3 total works 3 total works planned
Book 1
Next to the colonial town of Essenwald sits the Vorrh, a vast—perhaps endless—forest. It is a place of demons and angels, of warriors and priests. Sentient and magical, the Vorrh bends time and wipes memory. Legend has it that the Garden of Eden still exists at its heart. Now, a renegade English soldier aims to be the first human to traverse its expanse. Armed with only a strange bow, he begins his journey, but some fear the consequences of his mission, and a native marksman has been chosen to stop him. Around them swirl a remarkable cast of characters, including a Cyclops raised by robots and a young girl with tragic curiosity, as well as historical figures, such as writer Raymond Roussel and photographer and Edward Muybridge. While fact and fictional blend, and the hunter will become the hunted, and everyone’s fate hangs in the balance, under the will of the Vorrh.
Book 2
The Vorrh is a vast unmapped and very mysterious jungle in Africa. No-one comes out of it in one piece.
Survivors report strange, mind-bending phenomena and horrific monsters. It is rumoured that the Garden of Eden still exists somewhere in the middle of it.
In The Erstwhile it transpires that some angels have escaped Eden and the Vorrh and are living in hiding in London, some in disguise as lunatics in Bedlam. It's also revealed that William Blake, a character in these novels, is interacting with these angels.
Good and evil angels and humans, including William Blake, are heading towards a final, Miltonic apocalyptic battle for the soul of humanity.
The Erstwhile is the second book in the Vorrh trilogy.
The Cloven is the epic climax to B. Catling's beloved genre-busting Vorrh Trilogy.
In the stunning conclusion to Brian Catling's Vorrh trilogy, the colonial city of Essenwald gives up all its secrets, as the ancient forest seeks to reclaim what has been taken from it. Those who have been enslaved shall be no longer, and two heroes once thought dead shall reemerge stronger than ever. A man will be split in two, and a young woman will rise to the height of her powers. Meanwhile, the threat of war looms over London. Germany is gearing up to begin the Blitz, and only Nicolas the Erstwhile senses the danger to come. Will he be able to save the man who saved him?
The Cloven is a book of battles and betrayals, in which Catling's incredible creations all fulfill their destinies and lead us to an epic conflagration with the fate of mankind hanging in the balance as the Vorrh attacks the one thing humankind can't live without.