THE PANHARMONION CHRONICLES: TIMES OF LONDON by Henry Chebaane & Stephen Baskerville
(Supanova Media, £19.99)

RATING: ****

---

AH, you can’t beat a good MacGuffin. They crop up in all the biggest sci-fi franchises, those unexplained artefacts that propel the plot but play second fiddle to storytelling and character development.

In The Panharmonion Chronicles: Times Of London, the object in question is a pair of glittering orbs dug up during the excavation of a Viking settlement but perhaps much, much older than they appear.

They’ll come to play an important part in the life of musician Alex Campbell, a songwriter whose family tree roots reach back to Canada’s First Nation, the Scottish Highlands and French Malaysia.

Raised by her grandparents after childhood tragedy, she moves to London in 2024 to turn the house she has inherited into a boutique hotel. But why is a mysterious corporation so keen to stop her?

So far, perhaps, so familiar but Henry Chebaane’s graphic novel, lavishly inked by Stephen Baskerville, soon takes wild twists and turns taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride through time and place.

The action is set not only in present-day London but also in the 1800s steampunk settings both of the capital and its Ontario namesake, Quebec and Ohio, in a cleverly crafted alternative history.

There’s a lot going on, with time travel, teleportation, spirit guides, the MacGuffin, politics and eugenics all intertwined, and at a rapid pace. You may find that a second reading reveals more secrets.

Underlying action aplenty are all too topical themes of intolerance, identity, misogyny, and the rise of the far-right, but this isn’t stuffy sci-fi, rather an adventure that can be read on several levels.

Originally published in 2023, this first in a planned trilogy (so be warned it does end in a cliffhanger of sorts) is doing the rounds again ahead of this year’s publication of volume two, titled Ghosts Of Sound.

Sound, and its effects, are integral to the plot of both, and music lovers can delight in spotting knowing nods to song titles and lyrics sprinkled throughout the dialogue of a graphic novel that’s in tune with the times.

London-based Henry Chebaane is something of a Renaissance man, who is not only a writer but also a film director, an electronic music producer who records under the alter-ego LX8, and an in-demand interior designer.

His designs have been used in movies and TV series including The Day Of The Jackal reboot, and in hotels, clubs, shops, bars and restaurants worldwide. An appendix in Times Of London includes real-life set designs that mirror those featured in the book.

Artist Stephen Baskerville, meanwhile, is already well-known for his work on titles including Spiderman, Judge Dredd, Transformers and Doctor Who. The two have worked well together at the start of a series that I’ll be back to follow further. Watch this space.

I received a digital copy of The Panharmonion Chronicles in exchange for an independent and honest review as a member of the Love Books Tours team of influencers. Learn more about the programme here.