“It’s no surprise that there’s something very unsettling about burying your only friend in the ground while he continues to talk to you nonchalantly.”

Released in 2022, Callus & Crow is DB Rook’s debut novel and it was one of the entrants in this year’s SPFBOX competition which caught my eye. Callus & Crow makes most genre mash ups look like they’re playing it safe. Here we have Weird West meets vampires, with a pinch of Vikings, a generous splash of druids and lumbering trolls, a huge dollop of steampunk, a satirical swipe at the double-standards of religion and a side-dish of rebellion against soulless industrial revolution. Oh, sorry, I almost forgot – we also have unfathomable magic and mysterious eldritch horror lurking in the oceans straight out of the pages of HP Lovecraft. All of this adds a heady dose of spice to the literary pot and leaves the reader going, “What the hell did I just read?”

The story starts with the character of Callus (Cal) walking out of the heat of the desert in a world not dissimilar to the 1800s Wild West, where he meets young Ben Hoby and his father on their ranch. Events move quickly from that point. It soon becomes clear that Cal is a vampire and he has a special interest in Ben. I had a bit of an issue with what happens next, which isn’t really a spoiler as this all takes place within the first 10 pages. Ben is taken away from the ranch by Cal and, despite a brief protest, he quickly makes the decision to leave his old life and travel with his new companion, whilst at the same time suspecting Cal has killed his Pa. I felt this whole transition from the starting position of the characters to moving really quickly into the main story just needed more time, although some of this is explained later on.

If you’re left unsure at this point in the book my advice is to keep reading – because from then on the story grabs you by the throat and won’t let go for another 300 pages.

Ben adopts the name Crow (hence the title), soon forming a worryingly co-dependent relationship with Cal where the older man is part father figure, part cool older brother. Together they set out to explore a strange post-apocalyptic world, where suspicion and danger waits for them in every town. This is a grim, violent world but Rook’s writing is laced with dark gallows humour which helps lighten the tone and made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion.

Cal is seeking vengeance for the murder of his friend, Rev. Wilfred J Berkeley, which he blames on the Rev. Osset. However, Cal is in turn stalked by the frightening character of Crave and his posse, leaving the reader wondering exactly what Crave’s interest in Cal might be. Callus and Crow have various violent and somewhat random adventures in the first part of the novel, which never ceased to entertain.

My favourite character was Silk, who when we first meet her is accompanied by ‘Mother’, the soul of Silk’s actual mother, trapped in a sentient shawl she wears (yes, you read that correctly – it’s a superbly creepy idea, which Rook executes wonderfully). Captain Lazarus Badstock, an ageing sharpshooter, was also really well-written. I loved how Rook handled the fact Badstock is suffering from something akin to dementia but that didn’t stop him being a rounded, interesting and fully fleshed out character with his own goals and objectives.

People who know me know I’m a sucker when it comes to exploring the nature and meaning of religion. Rook handles this deftly in this novel as he describes the role religion plays in this fragmented world, some using its influence for good, such as Rev. Berkley or the Sisters of Shearn in Sanctuary, compared with the more self-serving and ambitious Father Osset and his followers. We also have the contrast with the older, primal beliefs of the druids providing a completely different perspective.

Despite its relatively short length, Callus & Crow is briming with ideas and has a huge amount of world to cram into its pages. As a consequence, the shift between the first and second halves of the novel is almost like reading two completely different books. We move from the Weird West setting of the opening into the mysterious industrialised land of Cthonica, which lies beyond the monster-filled ocean and is only accessible with the use of heavily armoured ships. During this journey alliances and motivations shift and change, taking things in an unexpected direction which completely re-energises the story and makes you re-evaluate everything you’ve read up until that point.

It’s worth mentioning here the unusual style of this book. The writing is excellent but very episodic, so it feels like you’re reading a scattered set of discovered notes, letters, diaries and newspaper clippings you’ve stumbled across. There’s an element here where as the reader you have to do your homework and put everything together for yourself. The short scenes and chapters make this book very easy to pick up and put down. However, sometimes you get snippets where Rook is hinting at a wider world we never encounter in the main story – a bit like finding a jigsaw piece which doesn’t belong to the set you’re trying to assemble. On other occasions we get to explore the same event from the different perspectives of Cal and Crow, which is always really interesting and allows the reader to dive deeper into those aspects of the story. It’s a really unusual storytelling style but it was also refreshingly different and I liked the fact this took me outside my comfort zone.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, which defies easy classification. I think that’s fine and the unique approach is to be applauded. With Callus & Crow as his calling card, DB Rook has established himself as one of the most interesting and distinctive fantasy writers to emerge in the last couple of years. His style won’t appeal to everyone, but I’m firmly of the view if you don’t stand out from the crowd you’re not pushing the boundaries. DB Rook pushes all the boundaries and that’s a really good thing. Go check this one out.