The Cloak of Feathers

Every year, there is a festival in Knockmealdown. Every year, it is rubbish. This year, it might not be just rubbish, it might be lethal.returnreturnBrian Nolan is a recent resident in Knockmealdown, ‘a thick, lumpy soup of legends’, where the annual festival features inedible, peaty, bread, and events so bad that the Tourist Board has warnings against attending. It is also a place that is peculiarly adjacent to the Otherworld – it is said that the Gentry Below were so angry about a pig factory being built there that a boar, Mulkytine, crossed the border and led the freed pigs on a riot. returnreturnAt the same time, Knockmealdown has a sort of Brigadoon element – despite its polluted lake, derelict houses and invasive Helweed, there are still fleeting glimpses of the beautiful place Brian’s father recalled from his youth, where getting a lift on the back of a swan-graceful cow was just the sort of thing that might happen.returnreturnBrian is coerced into helping with the annual festival, along with Derek and Helen (a ‘thick-headed hooligan’ and ‘a horsey princess’ respectively), and this festival is due to be literally a once-in-a-lifetime event. The Gentry Below attend the festival once a century, and this year is the year. The Gentry Below arrive in style, and Brian, momentarily forgetting how they hate being referred to directly, calls them fai…er…uses the f word. returnreturnAs if that isn’t bad enough, he gets bowled into the King and Queen by Fester, a sooty tangle of something with a beak. The monarchs, already furious at the miserable state of Knockmealdown and devastated at the disappearance of their daughter, are in no mood to be forgiving. For the humans to have a chance of surviving the rage of the King and Queen of the Otherworld, Brian (on the advice of Fester) issues the Challenge of the Four Feats to the devious Cluaracan.returnreturnWhat follows is a magnificently bizarre series of adventures. Naturally, everything is stacked against Brian and naturally, the Cluaracan seems to hold all the cards. Every word is devious and twistable, and the action progresses at a hurtling pace as success seems to breed the threat of a following failure. As in the best fai…folktales, it is not cunning but clear-sightedness that wins and in the course of events, the real reasons behind the curse on Knockmealdown are revealed.returnreturnIf there is any unevenness in the tale, it is that the start of the story has a slightly rushed feel, before the narrative gets the bit properly between its teeth. This haste means some of the backstory and location take a second reading, and there is only partial exploration of some really good concepts, especially the ‘wild form’ of the Gentry Below, or banshees on bicycles. At the same time, the story is told at a cracking pace, so there is no time to linger on absences. returnreturnBrian, who narrates, is determined, indefatigable, and quick-witted enough to cope with what is thrown at him, whether it is enchanted dancing or a hurling match resembling something from the Boyhood Tales of Cúchullain. There is also a strong sense of the importance of the location of events, that it is the place, even more than the people, who were cursed, and that maltreatment of the place that both the humans and the Good Folk call home is an action that demands consequence. returnreturnIt is a very satisfying read, not only because of the ingeniousness of the challenges, but the humour and inventiveness with which they are answered, and the latter gives the tale a distinctly joyous feel.