Canyon Shadows By C.R. Langille, Book Review

When the Earth was young, a creature from the dark cosmos came to consume it and all of the creatures with chaos. The earth fought back and the Dark Tyrant was broken into many pieces and captured. Now, he who waits deep in the mountain, has located a host. And that host is coming closer. A host who can be used to free him and allow him to gather the pieces together, arising once again to reign with horrific chaos.

I picked up a copy of Canyon Shadows (a novel in the Dark Tyrant Series) for review. I did so because I have had the opportunity of reading two anthologies of horror stories written by C.R. Langille. They provided good reading entertainment and I was looking forward to seeing what his imagination would create in a longer tale. His novel stood up to the quality of his shorter works.

Plot

Garrett Porter is an antiques dealer who has recently lost his wife and daughter. He has been fighting the grief and despair through drinking and doesn't see a way to redeem himself from the loss. But a phone call and then an email about a sword gives him hope that he may be able to prove a theory of his father's had merit. Maybe he can gain some redemption through providing support to his father's ideas.

This leads Garrett to Canyon Shadows, a small town in Red Rock Country of Southern Utah. There, a Templar sword was found that could provide a piece of the puzzle that was lost. Canyon Shadows is more than what it appears on the surface. It is a place with a history, a history that goes back to creation. A time when creation was also met by destruction and was contained.

Others have been drawn to Canyon Shadows. There are people who have come at the urgings of the Dark Tyrant held captive deep within the land. There are also agents of the greater forces who contained the creature of chaos there.

The Dark Tyrant is taking the actions needed to break his bonds. He is ready to stretch forth his influence and bring even greater chaos to the world. A world that would then tear itself apart, a world it could feed on.

Style

Canyon Shadows is a horror story for adult readers. There are some graphic description of how things look, more in terms of the aftermath and in greater scope. It doesn't delve deep into the psychosis of action or in detailed descriptions of the graphic events.

 C.R. Langille gives a story that is a variation of the good versus evil. He brings some of the philosophical under bearing of Michael Moorcock (Wikipedia link) and his Elric of Melnibone series (Wikipedia link) with the concept of law versus chaos. This introduces religious aspects to the story. This includes more modern Christian biblical beliefs, Native American religion, older Judeo-Christian folklore/mythical beliefs and Cthulhu.

The story is crafted well to allow multiple points of view to come forth when needed to flesh out the framework. The narration leaves enough mystery in the characters not to know their full intentions, motivations, or understandings. What we are given is proportioned to allow us, as the reader, to know there is more, much more that is currently beyond our ability to comprehend.

The language used in Canyon Shadows goes a long way in providing the feel of the impending darkness that is seeping out of the mountain and drawing people closer to it. One sentence particularly caught my attention. "Her voice was smooth but sticky. It clung to his eardrums like tar, and he couldn't shake it from his thoughts."

Each chapter is a journal entry from an earlier time that reflects in a snippet of what happened almost a century back during the time of the crusades. The use of the duality of time works well in the development of the dualities that are played up with the setting, characters, and events.

Overall

Readers of horror will find a story that delivers the promises made at the beginning of the book. I enjoyed the roughly 350 pages that unfolded in the first story dealing with the Dark Tyrant.

The feel of the rise of chaos and mental instability rings of Cthulhu. The aspects of Lovecraft's dark mythology were played up well while giving it a unique feel within framework of Langille's own voice.

Being set in Utah, I notice an inconsistency with the liquor laws that might bother some readers. It is a minor issue that only detracts from the story if you let it. Or, you can chalk it up to the influence of he who waits deep in the mountain.

I recommend Canyon Shadows to those who enjoy horror written at the adult level. Those who prefer their horror without religious overtones (I know a few), this has religious overtones.

You can find Canyon Shadows on Amazon (link).

Here are links to my reviews to two anthologies of C.R. Langille's work

• Tales from the Storm, Volume One (review link).
• Tales from the Storm, Volume Two (review link).

About the Author (from the book)

C.R. Langille spent many a Saturday afternoon watching monster movies with his mother. It wasn't long before he started crafting nightmares to share with his readers. An avid hunter and amateur survivalist, he incorporates the Utah outdoors in many of his tales. He is the Organizer for the Utah Chapter of the Horror Writers Association, and received his MFA: Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Follow his exploits at: www.crlangille.com.

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