 I’d happily go in again for another visit to this type of world if Sale was leading the way. Okay, I’m going to need you to imagine you’re in a record store, and it’s the mid-nineties. You’ve eschewed the popular music of the time, moving right past the Britpop section into where they keep the heavy metal at the back. Take a look at the variety of different album covers. Ignore any that have the band on (heavy on the leather, hair interestingly coiffured) . The strange chrome creatures and monstrous instruments are pretty cool, but they’re not what you’re after. Once you get to the demons and scantily clad women you’re getting closer, but keep going. Right, you see that cover with the weird fantasy cityscape? See the strange races that cavort among its streets? See the colourful alien skies that tell you that you are somewhere quite extraordinary? Now imagine that the places depicted on these album covers are not just real, but the song lyrics on the album tell the stories of those places and reveal the secrets of how to get there. That’s the case with scream metal band Valentine Killshot, on the verge of global superstardom as they prepare to release their fourth album. Their songs tell of the world of Dae’eshta, its incredible occupants and impossible places and of its Laughing God. For the lead singer of Valentine Killshot, Jed Maine, it’s an obsession, a place he visits every moment he possibly can until he can find a way to reside there forever. Their music draws an almost cult following, and that brings us to Tara and Nicola, two eleven-year-old fans of the band. Sale captures the youthful enthusiasm of young fans perfectly in the early parts of the novel. They collect merchandise, they memorise lyrics and they spend countless hours discussing favourite songs and the different qualities of the members of the band. Sale develops Tara and Nicola well. They’re girls with very different backgrounds, but it’s a love of the band that brings them together. While both girls have suffered the loss of a parent, Tara has stability with her mother, Amanda, while Nicola is trapped with her abusive, drug addict father. That said, life isn’t ideal for Tara, for at night she becomes convinced a wolfish creature loiters in the corner of her room, a creature that could well have been featured in one of Valentine Killshot’s songs. The novel takes place in two time frames (and it two very different places, but we’ll get to that later) 1997, when the girls are 11 and 2004, when they are 18. Childhood is viciously snatched away from the girls, and as we see then again in their late teens, it’s clear they’ve taken different paths. The development of the characters of the girls here is handled really well as we see what the trauma they’ve faced has done to them. Tara goes through a series of rituals to get through each event of her day and safeguards herself against risk in any way that she can. Nicola has followed in the footsteps of her father, taking solace in drugs, but now trying to come to terms with her addiction. For me, this part of the novel was most effective. I felt Sale really captured their struggles, and whole it was horrible to see two characters that were so full of hope and enthusiasm struggling so, it was totally understandable given what they’d experienced. A large part of the novel takes place in the fantasy world of Dae’eshta after the transformative event which also reveals the true intentions of Jed Maine and sets him up as the antagonist for the rest of the novel. Tara finds herself in this strange place, with the creature that had been watching her from the shadows, a being she comes to call Wolfhead. Sale has constructed a solid and believable world in Dae’eshta. The novel is constructed so that we learn what we need to of this place as Wolfhead guides Tara through her time there. Sale showcases his rich and vivid imagination in Dae’eshta bringing the place to life with engaging prose, though he is perhaps guilty of dwelling on the description for a little too long from time to time, slowing down the pace a little too much. I expect those that adore such fantasy worlds would be thrilled with the skill and detail with which Sale paints his world though As real as these fantasy places seem, they can very much be seen as a place where Tara and Nicola can try to overcome the demons that plague their real life. Their battles in Dae’eshta are not merely metaphorical though; these are encounters with real meaning that leave real scars. As good as Sale is at bringing his fantasy to life, he’s got a knack for writing action too, with the encounters springing off the page, and when things turn gory (as they often do) they are presented with visceral detail. It never feels like Sale is taking sadistic glee in this situations, but they are necessary to have the needed impact on the characters. Plot-wise, Dark Hilarity is an unpredictable novel, but it never feels like there’s a twist for twist’s sake, and every surprising turn of events leads the characters into new places leading to interesting situations and it makes for a compelling read. The characters feel genuine, never simply acting in service to the plot, and Sale makes them make difficult decisions, particularly Nicola. The way that Tara and Nicola develop and in some way switch roles is particularly well handled. As something of a stranger to other-world/portal fantasy, I felt Sale led me into Dae’eshta carefully and built a convincing world for me with likeable protagonists and a complex and interesting antagonist. It’s very much a story of facing adversity and overcoming demons that leads to a pleasing conclusion. I very much get the feeling that this would appeal even more strongly to those more familiar with portal fantasies, but I’d happily go in again for another visit to this type of world if Sale was leading the way. Review by Benjamin Langley DARK HILARITY BY JOSEPH SALE Tara Dufrain and Nicola Morgan are eleven year old girls growing up in the ‘90s, obsessed by Valentine Killshot, a metal screamo band. In particular, they’re enamoured by the lead singer, the mysterious yet charismatic Jed Maine who bears the epithet “The Cretin”. In Jed’s lyrics, he describes a world beyond the Dark Stars that he hopes one day to reach. The girls think it’s all just make-believe they share together, until a freak, traumatic incident makes this world very real. As adults, Tara and Nicola try to come to terms with the devastating catastrophe that changed their lives growing up, but to do so they will have to step once more into Jed Maine’s world, and confront the man who took everything from them. Dark Hilarity is My Best Friend’s Exorcism meets The Never-Ending Story, a fantasy that explores addiction, depression, and the healing power of friendship. TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE ELIZABETH HIRST GIVES A DISTANT EARLY WARNINGFIVE DARK TALES OF THE GOOD FOLK BY A.J. ELWOOD THE COTTINGLEY CUCKOO THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR WEBSITES Comments are closed.
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