Book review: Meirw Byw by Rolant Tomos

Ant Evans

Meirw Byw (Living Dead, in English), by debut novelist Rolant Tomos, is a title which immediately made this reviewer think “Zombie Apocalypse”.

Although the reader is later introduced to four zombies on a farm in Lledrod, engaged in striking each other with fence posts, this is more of a fantasy than a horror novel. Indeed, Meirw Byw straddles two worlds, ours and Annwn, the underworld of Welsh mythology

The reader’s immersed in the action from the beginning. Chapel minister Rhodri, his wife Heulwen, who’s a counsellor, and children Gwen and Idris, are having to make a run for it, as Rhodri’s managed to offend every single member of his flock by pointing out everybody’s sins in chapel, via a PowerPoint presentation no less!

The reader learns this isn’t the first time Rhodri and his family have had to pack up and leave a chapel at short notice, as Rhodri has a habit of putting his foot in it!

Ominous

Despite his doubts about his faith, Rhodri’s uncle Crad sends him to be a minister at the rather ominous sounding Llwyn Annwn chapel, which has just the one member.

Although Mr Llwyd from the local shop warns the family to stay out of the house’s cellar, the desire to investigate the cause of an unpleasant smell (which turns out not to be the dead squirrel on the door mat) leads them to ignore his advice.

After stepping just a little too close to a hole in the cellar floor, where painful sounding wailing, amongst other things, can be heard, the family all fall into the hole and end up in Annwn.

Suddenly the family become separated as Heulwen is pulled in one direction and Rhodri, Gwen and Idris are dragged in another, only for the trio to then find themselves in a changing cubicle at M&S Carmarthen, with no sign of Heulwen.

Much of the novel hinges on the family’s quest to return to Annwn and find Heulwen again, plus the mystery as to why she was the one who ended up stuck in Annwn. Many paranormal encounters and bizarre scenarios unfold along the way, beginning soon after their arrival in M&S with Janice, a ghost who needs somebody to have a chat with her husband Trefor as she’s worried about him.

Having spoken to Trefor, the trio returns to speak with Janice, who tells them about travelling to and from Annwn.

She informs our protagonists that whilst there are doors to Annwn, there’s no telling when they’ll open, and to complicate matters further, only one soul can pass through the doors at any one time.

Ianto’s zombie problem

It’s clear then that in order to get to Annwn and find Heulwen, Rhodri, Gwen and Idris will need more than a little help.

Rhodri gets on the phone to Radio Cymru, Gwen sets up social media accounts and Idris contacts each one of Wales’ Welsh language community newspapers, these measures being taken to ask anyone with knowledge of Annwn to get in touch.

Surprisingly, they end up with a few leads whilst helping others along the way, including solving farmer Ianto’s zombie problem, responding to a call for help from two giants asking them to stop their son Idris Bach from murdering a chauvinist who’s been holding talks telling men to behave like giants and put women in their place, resulting in giving giants a bad name.

Gwen also has a chat with The Black Nun in the Glan Llyn toilet block.

The nun insists Gwen doesn’t want to know about Annwn, claiming that she’s not a fan of Arawn (the ruler of Annwn), and that she knows nothing about Arawn’s plans. She makes it clear that she won’t go back to Annwn and much prefers scaring school children and the occasional canoe ride.

Retaliation

It turns out that Arawn is in fact preparing to invade and conquer Wales, in retaliation for the people having turned their backs on Annwn. In place of the valuable offerings people once left, Annwn is now treated like a skip, as that’s where Wales’ rubbish ends up.

Luckily for Heulwen, rubbish from above includes old mobile phones, one of which she uses to leave her family a series of voice messages, the last one telling her family never to come to Annwn.

Ignoring her message, the trio manages to get to Annwn. Danger is never far away as our heroes need to be wary of crows, Annwns answer to CCTV, who report everything that they see back to Arawn’s soldiers. Our protagonists encounter several perils in y Ddinas Goll (the lost city), besides Arawn’s soldiers and the ever present crows. Idris even gets into a fight with the leader of the Annwn Goblins, which he easily wins courtesy of his taser.

The pace of Meirw Byw in general is brisk. Although chapters tend to be short, they’re never short on content. Tension ramps up to the next level in Annwn, including a proper heart in mouth moment near the end, without giving too much away.

Tasers

Despite this, there are several points throughout which provided this reader with genuine laugh out loud moments; such as when Rhodri accidentally tasers both himself and Heulwen with Idris’ signature weapon before going to sleep.

If Meirw Byw tells the reader anything (aside from the importance of recycling), it’s that Rolant Tomos took great pleasure in writing it. There’s some truly exceptional world building here and the reader gets to know the central cast, as well as those who they encounter on the way, very well indeed. It’s easy to see why this was shortlisted for the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize at the Llŷn & Eifionydd Eisteddfod in 2023.

The ending includes a twist I certainly didn’t see coming, leaving this reader wondering; could we see Rhodri and Co. in a follow up instalment?

Meirw Byw by Rolant Tomos is published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch and is available from all good bookshops.