To The Last Page

The promise of a sequel to Andrew Caldecott’s previous novel Rotherweird certainly took away some of the disappointment of arriving at a conclusion; such were characters, imagination and the rich eccentricity of the fantasy world that had been created by the author that it would have been a shame to end it with just one book. There was still an element of doubt remaining however where Wyntertide could go, since a great many ancient mysteries had been resolved and a number of secret identities uncovered, and a number of the main players – like Sir Veronal Slickstone – had been ‘eliminated’. Considering the enclosed nature of the world of Rotherweird, it was hard to see how the material could be further expanded without going over old ground again. There is another difficulty that presents itself when you begin Wyntertide . Such is the peculiar nature of the work, the wealth of characters and the nature of the writing itself, that it is initially very difficult to enter that world agai...