The Keep Within by JL Worrad

I would like to thank Olivia from Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan

Published – Out Now

Price – £8.99 paperback £6.64 Kindle eBook

When Sir Harrance ‘Harry’ Larksdale, bastard brother of the king, falls for a mysterious lad from the mountains, he is unwillingly caught up in a chaotic world of court intrigue and murderous folk tales. Meanwhile Queen Carmotta Il’Lunadella, First-Queen of the Brintland, needs to save her life and her unborn child. With the Third-Queen plotting against her, and rumours of coups rocking the court, Carmotta can rely only on her devious mind and venomous wit.

But deep within the walls of Becken Keep squats the keep-within – patient, timeless, and evil. To speak of the keep-within outside the walls of Becken Keep guarantees your bizarre and agonising demise within nine days. All the while, people fearfully whisper the name Red Marie: a bloodied demon with rusted nails for teeth and swinging scythes who preys on the innocent.

Harry and Carmotta are clinging to their dreams, their lives, by threads. And, beneath all, the keep-within awaits.

Often you may hear a book have its prose discussed. Oh I loved this writing style (or not). For me prose is very much in the eye of the beholder erm reader. Like music it needs to match your tastes. What I think works for me is if the writing good storytelling. Does the language’s style suit the story? Many books are fairly flat unless the narrator is actually a character I’m always impressed when the third person narration itself suits the story. That is quite hard to get right. I was therefore so pleased that JL Worrad’s deliciously entertaining, murky, darkly funny, and poignant fantasy book The Keep Within delivered a wonderful story told with a unique and enthralling voice that explores the price of power. Yep I was impressed!

Becken Keep is ruled by good King Ean and his three wives. Ean has a bastard brother named Sir Harrance ‘Harry’ Larksdale – a theatre impresario; would-be merchant and quiet fixer of Ean’s desires – he’d like some prestige and wealth. Queen Carmotta is pregnant but not with Ean’s child and is worried she may be usurped by the latest Queen – she is now plotting; as are separately many others in the Keep. Meanwhile a mysterious magical artefact has been brought closer to the Keep; one that brings danger and whisper it quietly but a bloodthirsty creature of folklore one named Red Marie appears to be real and merrily killing people with abandon. Eventually all these schemers will cross paths and the results will be bloody and memorable.

Worrad has delivered a story of intrigue, magic, violence and passion that wouldn’t be out of step with a Elizabethan play. It’s an adventure of political intrigue and yet also a tragedy as the desire to be more; keep what you want or sometimes save the world will bring about people’s undoing. Worrad’s natation is third person but knows when to be dramatic; loud, wistful, and remarkably as if someone from this non-existent place was talking to us in the style of the time. The use of language is a delight to read – lyrical and has a lovely informal (on times even bawdy) style that knows when to rein it in and let the characters and action do the talking. It is a joy to read a book like this and appreciate the craft of the storytelling on display.

Worrad’s tale initially is multiple strange and compelling plot threads all coming together but takes us a while to see where they’ll join. We start off in a simple tavern where a Mother and son arrive -it soon goes viciously wrong fast and we see so many dangerous people in action. From that first chapter it underlines that no one is safe; and everyone has other sides to them – it will also grab you to carry on reading. The Keep sections of the plot mainly focus on Harry and Carmotta. Harry is a fixer and a dreamer – wanting to run the big plays at the Keep. He’s a emotional, witty and intelligent man but conscious he does wrong things for selfish goals. Murky rather than your typical grimdark amoral character and one who we see has a growing dash of conscience. Carmotta who has a past with Harry they rarely speak of is a woman under pressure keeping her own dalliances out of public sight and feeling betrayal is hovering around several corners – she is deliciously ruthless and like a great stage character also explains her motivations are giving herself some authority to be her own woman and rule. Weirdly we may end up liking both of these flawed people. As these two characters fall into the schemes of others we get intrigues paying off each other and a cannonball affect takes off as people use people who use people - the danger of being too clever is you may not see where everything can go wrong. Worrad constantly contrasts the grubby powerplays of the nobles with the lack of any thought given to the people they rule – the ones Harry thanks to his life outside running a theatre perhaps knows a little more than most  

Now as that aspect of the plot progresses then we also get the more fantastical elements coming in to further rock the boat. Worrad’s world is filled with strange things. A group of women named Mothers who can command you with their voice; the mysterious Commrach who sound whisper t a tad elvish who create powerful and strange devices and one of whom is fascinated in the secret of the Keep – the keep within a Keep – a strange building a the heart pf the larger Keep that seeps with power and appears to have a strange curse hanging around it. Worrad gently explains these things telling us what we need to know rather than in depth magic system manuals and that gives the tale mystery in the old-fashioned sense of a world filled with things most people don’t understand – especially our scheming nobles. By all focusing on their own ambitions they may not realise the danger they’re all in and then to add to the mx a magnificent rogue element in the form of Red Marie – a monster with her own secrets. Worrad holds back from showing us her for a while so let’s just say its impressive how character voice and actions alone can make someone be terrifying on a page. She is another example of how people may not realise exactly what they’re let into the henhouse when they’re seeking glory.

As you can see a lot going on yet Worrad knows when to let one plot point breathe; move on and then I the latter half collide with gusto. The story is always moving – dramatic, violent and thoughtful. Its also quite refreshing how this story handles queerness as something people understand happens and accepts it (interestingly less so in the Keep but the wider town seems far more enlightened). This is a story where people have not just passion for power but want to be loved or sometimes just take pleasure for its own sake. It adds to that feeling of this being almost a version of some forgotten bawdy and bloody play set in this world. But by the end as the cast gets smaller, and all comes to light we see an interesting commentary on exactly why do people want power when they rarely do anything with it for anyone else? An usual but much more interesting idea we don’t get in too many novels even today.

JL Worrad is an author I need to read more of and of look another tale set in the same world is also out (I need to get to that ASAP). What though I can say is The keep Within hugely impressed me – great ideas, characters, and an unforgettable way of telling a story that fully enhanced the experience. Highly recommend if you enjoy your fantasy stories with a touch of stylish gusts…and occasional guts (inside or out).