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Book Review: Extasia by Claire Legrand

Extasia by Claire Legrand

Extasia by Claire Legrand

Katherine Tegen Books, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062696632

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

( Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

 

Extasia is a fiercely feminist dark novel of a post-apocalyptic community drenched in patriarchy and cult-like violent misogyny straight from The Crucible and Year of the Witching. The dogma is that women were responsible for the destruction of the world and thus four young girls are honored with the “sacred duty” of becoming saints, scapegoats who once a month face brutal mob violence from the community in order to expiate their sins. A serial killer has been murdering men, and the upcoming sainthood of Amity Barrow is expected to bless the community and end the killing. When the murders continue, Amity and her sister saints realize they must find a way to either solve the murders or escape. Just as things seem desperate, she is transported with her sister saints to a secret world, Avazel, and invited to join a coven and learn to wield the magical, dark power of extasia to end the killings and realize her own strength… but there’s more going on under the surface than she knows.

 

Extasia is visceral, violent, and disturbing in its intensity, but Amity is not completely isolated. She develops imperfect but strong relationships with girls and women from her community and the coven that survive even significant disagreements. While it’s somewhat heavy-handed, Legrand has outdone herself in creating a dark, powerful, horror story made even more terrible by the foundation of lies, grisly violence, and hate on which human survival after the apocalypse has been built..Recommended for ages 16+

 

Contains: violence to and killing of animals, attempted rape, torture, gore, murder, body horror, violence, gaslighting, religious trauma.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on March 7, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: The Son of Abraham (Diabhal #3) by Kathleen Kaufman

cover art for The Son of Abraham by Kathleen Kaufman

The Son of Abraham (Diabhal #3) by Kathleen Kaufman

Turner Publishing, 2021(to be released Oct. 26)

ISBN: 9781684425389

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

 

Note:  The Son of Abraham is the third book in a trilogy.  I haven’t read the other two, but this book, for the most part, can be read as a stand-alone.

 

Cults are always good material for horror stories, since some of the ones seen over the past thirty years (Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, etc.) have truly been stranger than fiction.  The Son of Abraham is a fresh take on the idea, if you like end-of-the-world tales, this book will make the grade for most readers.

 

The first 55 pages detail the hours leading up to a large-scale bombing of Los Angeles, by the Son of Abraham cult that kills 10,000 people, and this section is told from the perspectives of multiple people.  The rest of the story takes place ten years later, and is told primarily for the viewpoint of two characters.  One is Esther Robertson, the only surviving offspring of cult leader Alan Robertson; the other is Cooper Carlson, a news reporter who gets personally involved in the story.  Their adversary is the still-alive Alan Robertson, who is locked down at the Supermax prison in Colorado.  Cities start getting destroyed again, and signs point to Alan and his cult being involved, despite his being behind bars.  Esther and Cooper get pulled into a race to stop Alan Robertson from destroying the entire planet, and the big question becomes: are they really acting on their own to stop him, or are they simply puppets Alan pulls the strings on in his quest for domination?

 

The dynamic between Esther, Cooper, and Alan is a big part of the book, and is a lot of what makes the story fun.  Most people like to see the good guys win, but most readers of The Son of Abraham will be asking if Esther and Cooper even have a chance at all, as Alan is clearly no ordinary man.  Unnatural destruction and murder in his presence do a good job of driving the point home.  He’s a manipulative man, as the small character parts involving his followers, and the sacrifices they make for his ambition, demonstrate.

 

Esther and Cooper make excellent “heroes that don’t want to be heroes”, as they each have their own problems to deal with.  Cooper isn’t sure if his news coverage of Alan is helping or hurting the general population.  Esther is trying to save a world that has a lot of people that want her dead, only because she is Alan’s daughter.  She had nothing to do with the LA bombing and the general public knows that, but it doesn’t matter in the age of sensationalistic news and social media.  Their journey around the country chasing Alan’s web of destruction is fast-paced, striking a good balance between action and story development.  The author adds another level of intrigue by re-writing the whole concept of the afterlife with the “Night Forest”,  which ties into Alan Robertson’s desired goal of domination.  It’s a more creative scenario for a religious leader, and it lifts the originality of the story.

 

Short version: if you like fast-paced Armageddon stories, you will like Son of Abraham.  Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on October 18, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Cult Cinema: A Personal Exploration of Sects, Brainwashing, and Bad Religion in Film and Television by Howard David Ingham

cover art for Cult Cinema by Howard David Ingham

Cult Cinema: A Personal Exploration of Sects, Brainwashing and Bad Religion in Film and Television by Howard David Ingham

Room 207 Press, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781684055982

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Amazon.com )

 

 

Howard David Ingham follows up We Don’t Go Back: A Watcher’s Guide to Folk Horror with Cult Cinema: A Personal Exploration of Sects, Brainwashing and Bad Religion in Film and Television. In this book, Ingham posits that religious extremism has dogged humanity’s heels from the formation of Christianity up to the current era. Ingham does not solely focus on horror, looking at other genre sources such as situational comedy, drama, and more. The author looks at why and how people join abusive religious groups, the process of and what it means to brainwash, and at times eventual escape. He frames his book in terms of his personal experience belonging to the evangelical Christian church. Ingham’s time in this group gives Ingham’s analysis a firsthand account of what occurs with cults and cultish behavior. Ingham provides a look into what makes the cult “work”, or not. Just as fair warning from Ingham, and myself, if you are one to shy away from material regarding abuse in a myriad of forms, including child abuse, sexual abuse, rape, and others, avoid this one. However, if those sensitive topics are not triggering for you and you are interested in religious cults, carry on reading this review (and, of course, consider picking up this book).

 

In the first chapter, “God Only Knows What You’re Missing”, Ingham frames their conversion to evangelical Christianity with a discussion of their experience at a Polyphonic Spree concert in 2003 that felt like a religious experience, and how even an ardent sceptic can be converted in the film The Sound of My Voice. The second chapter, “The Opposite of Brainwashing”, begins with a discussion of four stages of conversion and subsequent brainwashing and the Moonies. All of this leads to a further discussion on cult deprogrammers. Films include Ticket to Heaven, Split Image, Holy Smoke, and Faults to show different applications and results of brainwashing and subsequent deprogramming. In chapter three, “Exiles” Ingham writes about how difficult it is to leave extreme religious groups, analyzing The Passion of Darkly Noon, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and The Endless. “The Atrocity Tour” covers the Big Ones. A book on cult activity would not be complete without mentioning the big events: Jonestown, the siege of the Branch Davidians in Waco, the Heaven’s Gates’ mass suicide, Aum Shinrikyo’s attacks on the Tokyo subway, and the Manson family murders are presented. Ingham covers film and television including Manson Family Vacation, Charlie Says, Mandy, The Sacrament, Red State, and American Horror Story: Cult. In chapter 5, “Live Together or Die Alone” Ingham describes the fictional popular culture theme of what they call the “Pagan Village Conspiracy,” emphasizing that there is no such thing in the real world of cults. The Wicker Man, Kill List, Midsommar, and Doomsday are the films in which this theme is strong. The Church of Scientology is the focus of chapter 6, titled “Clear”. Ingham looks at The Master and The Path for this section.

 

“You Can Be a Person by Being A Person”, chapter 7, focuses on cults that don’t necessarily have a religious component, but have more of a philosophical and sociopolitical center, such as fascist groups. Films Ingham includes in this chapter include Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss by Passing through the Gateway Chosen by the Holy Storsh, Safe, The Invitation, and Fight Club. The latter is explored at length in this chapter. In the eighth chapter, “Sects Education”: Ingham discusses different sects of Christianity, focusing on Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons extensively, looking at the films Apostasy, The Children Act, Son of Rambow, September Dawn, and Gentlemen Broncos. “Praise Be to He” presents an extensive discussion of American conservative evangelical Christianity. Ingham writes at length of their time as an evangelical, discussing the prosperity gospel, gay conversion therapy, what it is like to attend Christian conventions, and more. Ingham uses media such as The Righteous Gemstones, Don Verdean, But I’m a Cheerleader, and The Miseducation of Cameron Post to frame their discussion.

 

In the closing chapter, “Chastity, Poverty, Obedience, Pain”, Ingham tells the story of Father Stephen, the chaplain at their secondary school. He mentions the “cloistered divine” in Catholic circles, and looks at films including The Magdalene Sisters, Black Narcissus, The Devils, Mother Joan of the Angels, Flavia the Heretic, and Martyrs.

 

The book includes an index of film and television programs the author discussed in the book.

 

Original versions of many of the essays in this book were written between January 2017 and December 2020, and were published by Room 207 Press. Highly recommended.

Contains: spoilers

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Posted on October 3, 2021 by , Reply
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