History Literature / DarknessVisible

-> The Dark Tide shall rise...

Probably deserves some kind of award for managing to be SciFi set in 1895 and ''not'' be SteamPunk.

* GentlemanAndAScholar: Lord Lewis and William Marsh.
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: Marsh Sr.]] is ''not'' a nice man.

-->'''Lewis:''' ‘I would only ask that the next time you cut a man in half, you do so on somebody else’s lawn. It does make a frightful mess.’
-->'''Lewis:'''‘This is the worst birthday present I have ever had.’
* BloodFromTheMouth: Played with: [[spoiler:Lewis bleeds from the nose and the eyes, but not the mouth.]] The sense of this being a Bad Thing remains the same. See also DeadlyNosebleed[=/=]PsychicNosebleed.
* BlueBlood: Lord Henry Lewis, 6th Earl of Gloucester.

* BreakingSpeech / MotiveRant: TheLeader of the Dark Tide gives Lewis and Marsh one of these. It [[ShutUpHannibal doesn’t work]].
* UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers: Turn up occasionally, but are usually way out of their depth. The Wardens are a special kind of British Copper specifically tasked with dealing with Unreality Thresholds and criminal venturers.
* UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire: Mentioned. Lewis states that his job before he joined the Wardens was guiding people to India.

* DeadpanSnarker / GentlemanSnarker / ServileSnarker / WorldOfSnark: Lord Lewis definitely counts under Gentleman. Marsh and Spangler quite probably count as well. George is a classic ServileSnarker. Much of the dialogue is mildly snarky, due to the Victorian setting.

* EvilGloating: The leader of the Dark Tide.

* FromBadToWorse – After the events at [[spoiler: Wandsworth Prison]] take Lewis to the edge, we don’t think it can get worse. And then there’s [[spoiler: Hyde Park]]...
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: About a quarter of the population of London.
* HeterosexualLifePartners – Lewis and Marsh.

* HurtComfortFic: So much potential for these, given that [[spoiler: Lewis spends several weeks bedridden under Marsh’s care.]]
* IOweYouMyLife: Lewis and Marsh, each several times over by the end.

-->‘You will see me in this office again, Wilson, even if it is only for sufficient time to say “I warned you” before the world ends!’
--> ‘Very well then, Wilson, stay and gibber in your precious office,’ I told him crossly. ‘But if we fail, consider this as me saying “I bloody warned you!”’

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Lord Lewis.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Darkness Visible is a direct quote from Milton’s Literature/ParadiseLost.
* {{Muggles}}: Non-venturers or mundane people.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Dark Tide.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Marsh pulls this on Wilson to avoid obeying his orders, and just to wind him up.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Wilson is one of these to such an extent that he nearly [[spoiler: allows the end of the world]].
* OldRetainer: George is utterly loyal to Lewis, though he isn’t old (in the first book, anyway).
* OminousFog: Both the standard London sort and the eponymous visible darkness.

* OneHeadTaller: (Provided you read more than friendship into it) Lewis is 5 feet tall, Marsh is 6.

-->‘Would it help, perhaps, if I wrote you a list?’ I asked sarcastically. ‘The “Ten Commandments of Venturing”, perhaps. Number one: Thou shalt not tear the fabric of reality without a clear destination in mind. Number two: Thou shalt not open a Threshold which thou art incapable of repairing. That’s two you’ve broken at once, and it is only your first day,’ I said harshly. ‘You know, that list might actually be a helpful aide-memoire,’ Marsh said sheepishly. ‘What are the other eight?’
* SassySecretary: Mrs. Pound.
-->‘What are the names, Mrs. Pound?’ I asked, becoming desperately agitated.
-->‘I am simply trying to ensure that you understand the difficulty of the task, Lord Lewis,’ the woman said, with a grim sort of smile.

* ScarsAreForever – [[spoiler:Marsh is revealed to have horrific scars on his back due to years of beatings from his abusive father.]]
* ScarSurvey – When Lewis is [[spoiler:treating Marsh for a stab wound, he discovers the appalling scars on Marsh's back, and the previously dropped hints about his [[AbusiveParents father]] finally come together]].

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Obviously, this is [[VictorianLondon Victorian England]]...

-->‘Teaching this lad here?’ Wilson said, turning a critical eye on Marsh, who was as extravagantly attired as ever. His gaze lingered on Marsh’s bandaged right hand. ‘I can see that has been going very well.’
* SteamPunk: Averted. It’s fantasy/sci-fi set in 1895, but other than the Voidgoggles and other venturing/Threshold related items, the technology is historically accurate.

* StuffBlowingUp: Remember, kids! Nitroglycerine is not your friend...
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Marsh.

* VictorianLondon

-->[[spoiler:‘I would wager twenty pounds that you and Amelia will have the shortest children the world has ever seen,’ [Marsh] replied in revenge.]]
-->[[spoiler:‘Yes, I’m ready,’ I said. ‘Sir William, however, could do with a large glass of brandy or a near-death experience to calm his nerves.’]]

* WeAreEverywhere:
-->[[spoiler:‘I ‘eard told there’s more’n two hundred of us scattered round the place now.’ He laughed again; ‘And ‘ow many Wardens ‘ave you got left, m’Lord?’]]

-->'''Lewis:''' Nero played while Rome burned; I see no reason why we oughtn’t to be allowed the same diversions.

* WhyWontYouDie: Stated word for word by someone shooting at Lewis and Marsh. Overlaps with PunctuatedForEmphasis – he fires a gun at them with every word.
* WordOfGay: Though it isn’t ever explicitly stated that Marsh is gay, the text is full of hints, so WordOfGod is just confirming it.
* WretchedHive: Some of the slummier bits of London. (TruthInTelevision, for the time.)

* BloodBrothers: Lewis and Marsh.

* NiceHat: Being Victorian-set, this is kind of inevitable. One of Marsh’s [[NiceHat nice hats]] meets an untimely end when Lewis is trying to make a point about unstable Thresholds.

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Pretty much the motivation for the leader of the Dark Tide.

* SpotOfTea: Inevitably. The characters drink tea even whilst discussing the end of the world, and Lewis goes as far as to use sweet tea as a substitute for [[INeedADrink something stronger]].

* SteamPunk: Averted. It’s fantasy/sci-fi MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness set in 1895, but other than the Voidgoggles and other venturing/Threshold related items, the technology is historically accurate.

It is set in 1895, in a world which is identical to our own history except for one key fact: there are people, known as venturers, who can travel instantly between locations by tearing holes (Thresholds) in the fabric of reality. However, Thresholds are not entirely safe, and a bad one will cause unreality to leak in from beyond the world, with potentially fatal consequences.

Basically, the book is a pretty funny buddy-cop movie with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness elevated English]], [[ShoutOut literary references]] and some really nice [[CostumePorn outfits]].

The book is available [[https://www.createspace.com/3512772 here]], on Amazon or on Kindle.

* BeleagueredBureaucrat: Sir John is essentially helpful, but always snowed under with paperwork, especially once the proverbial really starts to hit the fan.
* BiLingualBonus: The bit of dialogue in French during the scenes in [[spoiler: St Petersburg]] is never translated, since you can get the gist anyway. French speakers will of course get the full meaning.

* BrainyBrunette: Amelia Marsh and Mrs Pound (not that we see much of either, this being a Victorian-set novel narrated by a man).

* UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire: Mentioned, obviously. Lewis states that his job before he joined the Wardens was guiding people to India.

* CoolGate: Reality Thresholds, the means by which venturers travel instantly between distant points. Also, used wrongly, the main problem facing the characters.

* TheDandy: Marsh, mostly in his mode of dress, since he doesn’t really fit the vapid side of the trope.

* DespairEventHorizon: Lewis has one of these in [[spoiler: Hyde Park, when he realises that he has no hope of surviving if he tries to close all the rogue Thresholds.]] Much to his own surprise, he gets better. More seriously, this is what drives the leader of the Dark Tide to [[spoiler: try and end the world.]]

* EverybodySmokes: Lewis likes the occasional cigar, and even Amelia will accept cigarettes when they are offered to her, but Marsh has a serious smoking habit. While this was pretty normal in Victorian England, the fact that he smokes cigarettes is not all that usual for a man (they were first marketed for women and children!). The effeminate habit is actually a clue to his sexual orientation.

* FireForgedFriends: Marsh and Lewis don’t have the best relationship to begin with. It gets better, but it isn’t until after the horrors of [[spoiler: Wandsworth Prison]] that they really start to become friends.
* FirstNameBasis: By the standards of the era, at least. After Marsh and Lewis [[spoiler: save each other’s lives at Wandsworth]], they go from “Lord Lewis” and “Mr Marsh” to dropping the titles.
* FromBadToWorse – After the events at [[spoiler: Wandsworth Prison]] take Lewis to the edge, we really don’t think it can get worse. And then there’s [[spoiler: Hyde Park]]...

* TheJeeves: George. Not to the hyper-intelligent extent of the original Jeeves, since Lewis doesn’t require him to be, but he is described as being intelligent, and gets some of the funniest lines in the book.

* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Lewis after Hyde Park. Though readers could probably tell that the first-person narrator isn’t actually going to die...]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Marsh pulls this on Wilson in order to avoid obeying his orders, and just to wind him up.

* OldRetainer: George is utterly loyal to Lewis, though he isn’t actually old (in the first book, anyway).

* SassySecretary: Mrs Pound.
-->‘What are the names, Mrs Pound?’ I asked, becoming desperately agitated.

* SceneryPorn: Usually of the urban variety. There are scenes at [[spoiler: the Eiffel Tower and St Paul’s Cathedral,]] and the chapter in [[spoiler: St Petersburg]] is full of this. Many of the settings are gorgeous period architecture/decor. There are elements of ShownTheirWork, particularly in the name-dropping of specific areas or streets in London.
* UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard: One of the book’s settings, and the place where all the captured members of the Dark Tide are locked up, since the Warden’s Office isn’t equipped to cope with them.

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Despite everything he has [[ScarsAreForever been through]] before Lewis meets him, Marsh is still idealistic. He is distressed when Lewis casually informs him that they cannot save everyone, and more than a little nauseated by some of the things he sees. By Christmas, he has seen far too much, and he is definitely on the way to being a cynic (though he is never quite as cynical as Lewis).
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Lewis plays chess, and mentions at one point being shocked that Amelia Marsh can play, since she is a woman.

* StiffUpperLip: There is very little whining from the Wardens, even when London is in the toilet. [[spoiler:Lewis faces his own death with a (mostly) stiff upper lip, as does Marsh at the finale.]]

* TallDarkAndSnarky: Marsh, more so as the book progresses. Lewis is clearly a bad influence.

* WaistcoatOfStyle: Naturally, given the time period. Marsh’s waistcoats are particularly lovely, but they don’t tend to survive very well.

* WordOfGay: Though it isn’t ever explicitly stated that Marsh is gay, the text is full of hints, so WordOfGod is really just confirming it.
* WretchedHive: Some of the slummier bits of London. (TruthInTelevision, for the time period.)

* NietzscheWannabe – The leader of the Dark Tide.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Lewis after Hyde Park. Though GenreSavvy readers could probably tell that the first-person narrator isn’t actually going to die...]]

* {{Oxbridge}}: Lewis was educated at Oxford. Marsh went to Cambridge, but was sent down (expelled).

* OneOfUs: The book contains references to everything from internet memes to Shakespeare, and you’d have to be a fairly major geek to get them all, ergo the author must be a fairly major geek.

* LondonTown

The book follows the exploits of [[BlueBlood Lord]] Henry Lewis, a Warden responsible for keeping an eye on Threshold activity in [[LondonTown London]] and closing dangerous Thresholds before they cause any trouble. However, his job has become more than usually difficult, because someone or something is opening a lot of very dangerous Rogue Thresholds, which can kill or [[GoMadFromTheRevelation madden]] ordinary people.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropespip_2994.png

* TheBritishEmpire: Mentioned, obviously. Lewis states that his job before he joined the Wardens was guiding people to India.

[[index]]

* BlackComedy: The characters are not immune to cracking jokes about death/ in deadly situations:

[[/index]]

* NamesToRunAwayFrom: The Dark Tide.

* HannibalLecture / MotiveRant: The leader of the Dark Tide gives Lewis and Marsh one of these. It [[ShutUpHannibal doesn’t work]].

* BritishCoppers: Turn up occasionally, but are usually way out of their depth. The Wardens are a special kind of British Copper specifically tasked with dealing with Unreality Thresholds and criminal venturers.