OneMetal.com book REVIEW:
The Scar-Crow Men by Mark Chadbourn

Some might think a book set during Elizabethan times would have little relevance to contemporary culture. Yet, despite the setting and overt fantasy elements, The Scar-Crow Men is as much about our current political climate as it is about the fairies’ Unseelie Court plotting retribution for their imprisoned queen.

The Scar-Crow Men is the second book in the Swords of Albion series by Mark Chadbourn, who is perhaps most famous for his break-out trilogy The Age of Misrule. The Swords of Albion series follows England’s greatest spy, Will Swyfte, as he seeks to protect Queen and country against foes foreign and domestic, mundane or mystical. Although The Scar-Crow Men is the second in the series, knowledge of the first is not a prerequisite. Having missed the first book myself, I was easily able to follow the plot, and previous events were subtly revealed to the reader without cumbersome exposition that can otherwise kill a novel.

This time in The Scar-Crow Men, Will Swyfte is seeking revenge for the murder of his friend Christopher Marlowe (yes, the one who wrote Faustus), and uncovers a plot by the Unseelie Court that threatens to topple England itself. However, this time it is not just the faeries who are after Swyfte, but the whole of England, after he has been declared a traitor to the crown. The Scar-Crow Men is an edge-of-the-seat fantasy-thriller at its very best!

One of the greatest draws of this series is the seamless line between fact and fiction. Chadbourn weaves events and personalities of that time, such as Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Thomas Walsingam, to create a story that could almost be plausible if it were not for the strong fantasy elements.

Chadbourn’s in-depth detail is such that I found reading The Scar-Crow Men in short bursts was best, as the sheer level of immersion was over-whelming. This is no bad thing, as the plot is more than sufficiently intriguing to warrant contemplation. However those wanting to switch their brain off with an easy read, rather than a great whodunnit, would be wise to look elsewhere.

The greatest strength of The Scar-Crow Men is Mark Chadbourn’s attention to detail and the exhaustive research that was performed prior, and during, the writing of the novel. Chadbourn has captured Elizabethan England such that one wonders if he is from Galifrey. Chadbourn has captured everything, from societal mores and protocols, to contemporary modes of speech and phrases. Yet, despite this immersion, The Scar-Crow Men nonetheless remains accessible and is structured in such a way that new phrases are introduced such that their meaning is obvious.

Frankly, The Scar-Crow Men is a fantastic mystery novel, and yet again proves that trying to pigeonhole Mark Chadbourn into a single genre is an exercise in futility. The novel elegantly blends tropes and trappings from such diverse genres as historical, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and horror into a single fantastic story.

Bottom Line

A fantastic historical-fantasy-thriller novel, with an immersive setting and engaging characters, that uses the past to explore our current political climate to great effect.