The Great When is the new novel from acclaimed comic book creator and wizard Alan Moore—supposedly the first in a quintet, though the book stands well enough. It's a magical realist crime thriller set in London after World War II. But the bombed-out buildings are not the only backdrop; a whole other London lurks in the background, often referred to as Long London or the Great When.
Admittedly, the idea of a magical "other" London is certainly not unique—Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and China Mieville's The City & the City both come to mind. But this is Alan Moore we're talking about. He's made a career by taking familiar things and flipping them on their heads. And indeed, The Great When has plenty of moments that may remind readers of his work on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, weaving together literary history and folklore with urban truths. The forward plot of the story centers around a fictional book mentioned in an actual, real-life book of fiction—Arthur Machen's N—which manifests in reality and accidentally falls into the hands of an idiot bookseller.
A fictional book from a real-life book that magically comes to life within a work of fiction is not the only Alan Moore-ish twist you'll find here. There's also Long London itself, the mystical "other" realm of the title, which is, erm, not exactly a pleasant place but one that will certainly light your linguistic synapses on fire—for better or for worse.
Given that some of Alan Moore's previous prose efforts have topped out at over 1000 pages, it feels strange to criticize The Great When for being too verbose at just 300 pages. But the first 100 pages can be a lot to get through. Moore demonstrates an incredible mastery of the English language; truly, the prose in this book is gushingly gorgeous. Then he keeps reminding you how good he is at the word, lavishly overspending his adverbial budget on moments that did not need as much detail. Moore's ability to stretch a thesaurus is impressive and exhausting; indeed, I'm pretty sure he doesn't repeat a word that's not a preposition, pronoun, or proper noun for those first 100 pages. This sort of saps the impact when protagonist Dennis Knuckleyard first arrives in the Great When, which is primarily depicted in swirling, italicized, run-on abstractions.
Once the story reaches that other world and the plot becomes clearer, The Great When becomes a gripping and exciting crime thriller and moves much more swiftly. But that opening stretch can be a slog. Still, I enjoyed the book overall, and I'm excited to see where he takes the Lovecraftian horrors of Long London in the next installment, whenever that might be.
The Great When: A Long London Novel [Alan Moore / Bloomsbury Publishing]
Previously:
• Alan Moore's surprisingly positive thoughts on Frank Miller, from 1983
