Julius LeVallon: An Episode by Algernon Blackwood

Posted by Mr Mustard on January 28, 2025 in 2 Oogies, Book Reviews, Genre: Fantasy & Sci-fi

Julius LeVallon: An Episode by Algernon BlackwoodForgotten Books, $9.95, ISBN 978-1-330-53173-0
Paranormal Fiction, 2018 (Reissue)

oogie 2oogie 2

Algernon Blackwood, celebrated master of supernatural horror, had a well-documented fascination with the occult and spiritualism. While this often lent his stories an eerie edge, it sometimes led to works like Julius LeVallon: An Episode, which feels less like an episode and more like a slow-motion eternity.

The novel chronicles the life of John Mason, our hapless narrator, who meets the titular Julius LeVallon at boarding school when they’re both 15. LeVallon, wasting no time on pleasantries, announces, “I’ve found you again!” and declares their lives are entwined across countless reincarnations. Mason, understandably baffled, professes ignorance, to which LeVallon replies with the exasperation of someone who’s been ghosted for millennia:

“Have you quite forgotten when—we were together?”

At this point, you might find yourself nervously glancing at the door for the FBI.

Thankfully, this isn’t the sort of boarding school romance; instead, it’s a reincarnation bromance-slash-paranormal soap opera. LeVallon insists they’re destined to perform a grand ritual that will unite them with the Forces of Nature and the Guardians—or, as I like to call it, the Supernatural Nonsense League.

What follows is a long, meandering journey of Mason’s skepticism, his prophetic dreams, and eventual belief in LeVallon’s claims. Along the way, Mason inconveniently falls for the woman LeVallon marries, because what’s a metaphysical bromance without a love triangle?

Fans of Mr Blackwood’s dark supernatural tales will be disappointed here. Instead of the creeping terror of The Willows, we get endless monologues about reincarnation and cosmic destiny. The Guardians are name-dropped constantly, but who—or what—are they? Well, they’re the Guardians! That’s all you’re getting. Mr Blackwood’s voice, so suited to atmospheric horror, feels mismatched with this story, which cries out for deeper supernatural lore but instead delivers vague mysticism.

And yet, Julius LeVallon: An Episode isn’t entirely without charm. Some passages showcase Algernon Blackwood’s elegant wordsmithing, with beautifully crafted phrases that briefly shine amidst the tedium.

There was a burst of wind, a rush of sheeted fire. Then darkness fell. But in that instant before the fire passed, I saw his form stand close before my eyes. The face, alight with compassion and resignation, was turned towards her own. I saw the eyes; I saw the hands outstretched to take her; the lips were parted in a final attempt at utterance which never knew completion. And I knew—the certainty stopped the beating of my heart—that he had failed. There was no actual sound. Like a gleaming sword drawn swiftly from its scabbard, he rose past me through the air, borne from his body, as it were, on wings of ascending flame. There was a second of intolerable radiance, a rush of driving wind—and he was gone.

The climax, meanwhile, veers into unintentional comedy gold. Picture everyone screaming into the void, flailing their arms wildly like extras in a campy Hammer horror flick. It’s absurd, it’s overwrought, and it’s almost worth slogging through the rest of the book to witness.

Ultimately, Julius LeVallon: An Episode feels like a missed opportunity. It’s a soap opera without enough character development to care about the players, a mystical epic without enough substance to sell the mysticism. It’s readable—if only for its unintentional hilarity—but you can’t help wishing Algernon Blackwood had stuck to what he did best: scaring the pants off his readers instead of boring them into submission.

Mr Mustard
Latest posts by Mr Mustard (see all)
Read other articles that feature .

Divider