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You are here: Home / Culture / Books / Snobbery and the supernatural haunt Robert Irwin’s THE RUNES HAVE BEEN CAST

Snobbery and the supernatural haunt Robert Irwin’s THE RUNES HAVE BEEN CAST

December 8, 2021 Category: Books, Reviews
Robert Irwin - The Runes Have Been Cast
Robert Irwin
The Runes Have Been Cast - Robert Irwin
The Runes Have Been Cast – Robert Irwin

Robert Irwin – an author and academic best known for The Arabian Nightmare – is back with his latest brainchild, a witty ghost story-cum-campus novel set in Oxford and St Andrews. Readers follow the aloof Lancelyn as he stumbles his way up the academic ladder, but not all is as it seems. Irwin’s prose is light and energetic, and it cuts through the stuffiness of the setting well. Despite being filled with a cast of caricatures (Bernard, clad in colourful waistcoats, often describes things as “popsy-wopsy,” “ballyhoo” and “corkers”), the small cast has depth. 

RELATED: ‘With the modern world such an unholy mess Robin McLean catapults us back to the Wild West in Pity the Beast.’

Where The Runes Have Been Cast falters is when Irwin tries to introduce the paranormal, partly as a result of attempting to paint too many parallels with the stories of the greats. The references to Henry James and M.R James are a nice touch, but the threads don’t feel properly resolved, and as such, the references amount to little more than Irwin winking at his readers.

You could be forgiven for forgetting that you’re reading a ghost story at times, but this isn’t as big an issue as you might expect: The Runes Have Been Cast is another strong offering in which the snobbery ends up being scarier than the supernatural. 

The Runes Have Been Cast, Robert Irwin (Dedalus)

Price: £9.99. Info: here

words ALEX PAYNE

KEEP READING: ‘An immense tale set in 18th century Poland, Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books Of Jacob is historical fiction at its finest.’

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About Noel Gardner

Noel is the listings, reviews, music and books editor at Buzz and has been doing some or all of these things here since the days of dial-up internet. He was raised in Cornwall, lives in Cardiff and that is more or less all he has ever known.
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Tag: alex payne, buzz book review, Dedalus, Robert Irwin

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