I’m unashamed to admit that I gushed over Sea of Ghosts, the forerunner to The Art of Hunting, it was totally unlike anything else I’d read and Campbell’s imagination just soared, giving us a world so deep and rich and beautifully rendered that you couldn’t help but be reeled-in. It’s been a good couple of years since then and I’d kind of given up on seeing any more, so when it dropped onto the doorstep I grinned like a loon and settled into my comfy chair. As the fantastically epic and imaginative opening scene unfolded, my excitement just grew and grew but unfortunately, while The Art of Hunting comes out all-guns-blazing, as you read on, the rest of the book begins to fall a bit flat and ‘middle book syndrome’ definitely takes over.

We open in the midst of the first great war between the Unmer and the Haurstaf, with both sides locked in battle for a scrub of meaningless desert - a tiny step on the way to the world domination they both crave. But on this day the Unmer have called upon a God to help bring them victory, and so it is that Duna, astride a horse formed from the undead bodies of her myriad victims, wailing and keening for release, rides into the fray. But Conquillas, the archer, and a powerful God in his own right, decides to intervene and, with the help of some powerful, enchanted arrows, kills Duna and stops the attack in its tracks. The war ends. The Unmer are eventually defeated.

Cut to 272 years later and we are reacquainted with Granger and his daughter Ianthe in the wake of the Unmer uprising that left the Haurstaf decimated. Granger, always in the Abyssal armour and wielding the replicating sword and powerful shield he inherited at the end of Sea of Ghosts, is slowly losing his life and soul to the enchantments that give these weapons their power. Ianthe, still resentful of her father but now very much in control of her powers decides to return to the palace and Prince Paulus Marquetta, the Unmer prince about to retake the throne. But Paulus has beguiled Ianthe and seeks only to use her and her powers to further his aims of destroying the Haurstaf, and Ianthe is naive and gullible, each of her petulant outbursts against her father turns her further towards the Unmer Prince and although Granger can see what’s happening, Ianthe will not listen to him, thus Marquetta eventually announces his engagement to Ianthe and wedding plans begin. Meanwhile Granger takes to the city to find out more about his enchanted armaments, Maskelyne liberates a God of his own and eventually Conquillas is forced to leave the Dragon Isle and meet Marquetta in a duel, in the competition arena, as part of the wedding celebrations.

Now let me back-track a bit. It’s not that The Art of Hunting is boring - not at all - Alan Campbell packs more imagination into a few pages of his world than most writers manage in a whole novel, but while Sea of Ghosts had the structure of a beginning and the introduction of a story and its characters to help shape it, so much of what is going on in this book seems to be geared towards a grand finale which we’re unlikely to see for probably another two years given the pace that Campbell writes at. It’s very definitely a middle book.

A lot happens, Prince Marquetta rises to power, Ianthe becomes his queen, Granger has a new king to hate, we’re introduced to new Gods and and new characters, the treasure hunter Maskelyne gets a small but significant role in this book and Briana Marks is relegated to a bit part and the end of the book is picks up the pace, keeping you guessing brilliantly so the big reveal is all the more shocking and surprising when it comes. But the problem is that very little of what happens actually goes anywhere or moves the story along very much. Too many scenes repeat information we already know such as those geared towards showing Ianthe hating her father and falling for Marquetta, and Ianthe’s behaviour is so petulant and spoiled that all I could think of was to hope someone slaps her.

When he’s on his game Campbell is every bit as good a fantasy writer as anyone out there so it’s especially disappointing to discover that The Art of Hunting does not fulfil the promise that Sea of Ghosts sets up. That said the world-building is as brilliant as we’ve come to expect, and the characters and creatures that inhabit it every bit as impressive. His prose is wonderfully descriptive and - despite the lag in story - there is enough here to keep you turning the pages to find out how things end and yes, I’m still very much looking forward to final part of The Gravedigger Chronicles, and so should you be.

The Art of Hunting is published by Tor UK, and is available with free delivery from The Book Depository and on the high street from Blackwell and all good book stores.

Alan Campbell has a website.