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John Whitbourn
The Royal Changeling
Earthlight paperback, 290 pages, £5.99
Published May 1998
ISBN 0671017853
Review by Mike Don (1998)

Set around the 17th Century Monmouth Rebellion, Changeling stays faithful, as far as I – I’m no expert – can tell, to known history. But Whitbourn’s interpretation, with the involvement of Elves in mortal affairs, and the suggestion that mundane struggles are but a reflection of wars on other planes, puts this novel firmly in the camp of occult history. Here too his scholarship is sound, firmly rooted in classic folklore and occult principles.

Romantics might be shocked by an undead King Arthur as villain, and linguistic purists outraged at the anachronism-loaded, contemporary speech of the principals, but the usage is tied in with the curiously detached, drily ironic style of an uninvolved narrator. Exuberant, bawdy, and swashbuckling, with larger than life characters; treats its fantasy elements with unusual respect.