Reading is, for me, a simple pleasure, but one that has the power to transport you to different worlds, to enrich, to inform and to take you away from your daily worries. I read daily, have done for years, and it's not uncommon for me to have at least 10 books on the go at once. The subjects and genres will vary wildly as long as the story grips me I will read it. My preference, as is obvious by the site, is horror, but I'm equally happy to read many genres as long as the story appeals and my non-fiction tastes cover lots of territory, art and history being the two most visited.
I try to finish every book I start even though I may not be enjoying the experience all that much. I have an inbuilt need to find out how the book ends, and this must be done in the right way, by reading every page, not just jumping to the last few pages and seeing if there's a happy ending. Not sure why this is to be honest. It's just a THING. I'd love to say it's some sort of belief that giving my time to read a book that someone has spent time writing is the right thing to do. But, I have a feeling it's more down to pure stubbornness!
Anyway, this weeks blog is about two books I have read in the last week. These are not reviews - I don't think I have the ability to give a review - more a sharing of thoughts about them. It's another step in building what I want the whole ASKTHEBOOKBUG experience to be, books, art, well-being, horror, sci-fi, nostalgia and all that good stuff.
The two books in question are:
BLIGHT by Tom Carlisle. A folk horror novel, the debut by this author.
And
DEADLY MESSIAH by David Campbell Hill/Albert Fay Hill. An apocalyptic themed, science/theological based novel.
BLIGHT - Blight was published by TITAN BOOKS in 2023, and I picked my copy up in Waterstones in Exeter (which incidentally has a better Horror section than the one in Cardiff), along with several other books I've been wanting to read. I liked the premise, being partial to a bit of Folk Horror. I read this book in one sitting and yet at it's conclusion I felt a bit disappointed. For me, the character of The Tall Man was underused. I would love to know more about him and the ending felt a little rushed and incomplete (perhaps a sequel?). The book for the most part was a joy to read. The writing was good, the characters pretty well drawn, though I did find it hard to find sympathy for the main character and his family. There was a 'woe is me' air to James that I found a little overplayed and the character of Gabriel seemed underused.
I like folk horror and there were parts of this book that made me think of the classic 1973 film The Wicker Man, not in it's content but in it's atmosphere. The whole book held my attention, was a quick read, but for me, I wanted more of the Tall Man, I wanted more of the darkness that held the town, more of the backstory of the family and why they had this pact with the Tall Man, and that's a personal thing, I like depth and history and Blight was a little light on this I feel.
Having said that, would I recommend this book? Absolutely. And I will look out for more from this author for sure.
DARK MESSIAH - now this is a different entity entirely. Published in 1977 by AVON Books I picked this battered copy up in a charity shop intrigued, as I usually am, by the cover art. First glance I thought, great, a zombie book! The cover just had that vibe for me. I read the back - Holocaust of the Flesh, yeah, definitely as zombie book. But no, it's a plague book, a curious mix of apocalyptic vision, medical and science thriller and theological arguments and - astrology! Now, that may sound like a weird mix, and it is, but for the most part it works. The beginning of the book is fantastic, the feelings of panic are palpable, but, and this is a big but, as the novel progressed there was just too much of the science and religion stuff for me and this took away the pace and threat that had been so evident in the first third of the book. Endless arguments from pompous scientists and a theological politician, and a religious astrologist and a jock who was also a brilliant scientist, took away the threat. You knew it would all end with the hero saving the day, with the disaster averted. The final third was predictable. It was only strange that the characters couldn't see it themselves, for all their vaunted brilliance. That seems a bit harsh, but the ending, for me, was contrived, a bit lacklustre and given the way the book started, so pacy, so full of threat, the ending was a disappointment.
It's a good read nonetheless, where it is pacy and dealing with the 'virus' it is in parts scary and full of threat. It's where the authors delve too much into the arguments between the scientists, the theologian and the astrologist that the book loses it's pace and for me the interest that had so captivated me from the cover and the first third.
Would I recommend? This is a difficult one. I finished this because that's what I do, and yes, I wanted to see how it all ended, whether I had indeed 'worked it out', but on the whole the book felt too bogged down in the arguments and not enough on the action, the jeopardy of the situation. Would I read again? No, And I think that sums it up really. I do like to re-read books that grip me. Great cover though, and Holocaust of the Flesh SHOULD be a zombie book!
