I have been looking forward to the next stories with either The Rook (sorry, The Peregrine) or Lazarus Gray from Barry Reese, but instead we get the first volume with a new character: The Straw-Man from Pro Se Press.
This is “book one,” and I know there will be a second. Set in modern times within Reese’s Sovereign City universe, it’s set in a small town known as Grove’s Folly that is near Sovereign City. However, other than a reference to one of Lazarus Gray’s associates, none of Reese’s prior characters appear here.
This time we get six linked short stories involving The Straw-Man. Not quite a hero, but not quite a villain, he is a new supernatural entity in this universe.
The first story introduces us to Grove’s Folly and to Samuel Hain, who will be very important for The Straw-Man. There is a scene reminiscent of the movie Knock at the Cabin. The Straw-Man is a sort-of animated scarecrow inhabited by the spirt of a man named Gwydion (taken from Welsh mythology).
The next stories has The Straw-Man deal with different foes, most of them supernatural. We get a demon and an angel, and while defeated they or similar could return in the future. We meet Beltrane, who is a sort-of opposite number to The Straw-Man. While defeated, he, too, can return. Then we meet Jupiter, a U.N. superhero who has been operating since the end of WWII. As we haven’t gotten many stories in the Reese universe post WWII, this is his first appearance. It will remain to be seen if he and the other U.N. heroes we met will show up in future stories.
In the last story, we learn of The Straw-Man’s origin in the 1600s, and we meet the “big bad” of the series: the witch Rhiannon. I’m sure she will be more important in the next volume, whenever that one appears.
Overall, this is a good one, though the level of violence and sex is higher than most of Reese’s prior works. As noted, I know another volume is coming, but don’t know if this is planned as a closed series, like the Gravedigger works, or more open-ended like The Peregrine or Lazarus Gray series. I look forward to it, but I hope we’ll also get new stories with them as well.
Strangely we didn’t get the usual universe timeline in the back of this volume. Will it appear in the next one?
If you enjoyed his other series, check this one out.
