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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: Unchosen by Katharyn Blair

cover art for Unchosen by Katharyn Blair

Unchosen by Katharyn Blair

Katherine Tegen Books, 2021

ISBN-13 : 978-0062657640

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

 

Two years ago, the world was cursed with an infection that spread through direct eye contact, turning the infected into bloodthirsty, cannibalistic killers whose personalities and intelligence degrade over time, leaving only the monster behind. An infected person can gain immunity if they look directly into the eyes of three uninfected people, meaning there is a huge market for uninfected people. I thought this was a creative, unusual idea for spreading and controlling the infection.

The infection was caused by the defiling of the remains of Anne de Graaf, a young woman who cursed a pirate captain and jumped to her death rather than allowing her body to be claimed. Her remains were discovered and treasure hunters attempted to rob her body, activating the curse. According to prophecy, only the Chosen One can end the curse (why this infection is the curse is unclear to me, but Blair does such a vivid job creating her apocalyptic world that it didn’t really matter to me).

Harlow, Charlotte, and Vanessa are sisters, living in a survival camp and attempting to avoid the notice of raiders and infected, or Vessels. Harlow, the oldest, is nineteen, attractive, athletic, musical, and a leader in the camp. She’s also the long-term girlfriend of Dean, Charlotte’s crush. Vanessa, the youngest, is a talented gymnast and also the Chosen One, something that’s kept very carefully under wraps. She has night terrors and makes prophecies in her sleep. Charlotte shares a bedroom with her and writes them down. Raiders searching for the Chosen One discover the camp. They know she is there, but not which sister. To protect her sisters, Charlotte claims to be the Chosen One. The other members of the camp, including Dean, Harlow, and Vanessa, are led to a different ship that will take them to the Blood Market to be sold.

Thus begins a series of terrifying adventures mostly based in Charlotte’s memories of Vanessa’s prophecies, some lucky breaks, and a lot of lies. Charlotte uses her status as “Chosen One” to manipulate those who have grown to consider her an ally, including a potential romantic partner, Seth, into her search for Dean rather than aiming straight for the area she will need to get to in order to break the curse.

Charlotte is resourceful and convincing, but she’s also selfish, and her inability to ever follow directions, even when it’s a life-threatening situation for herself or others, is maddening. Her treatment of both Seth and Dean was frustrating to watch, and the message of women claiming their power for themselves was undercut by Charlotte’s continual search for Dean and the back-and-forth with Seth, who clearly respects her much more than she respects him.

There’s also a science fiction aspect to the story. One of the characters, a virologist, is seeking a cure for the infection. The combination of “infection caused by a curse” and “infection cured using science” begs the question of what kind of story is this, really? If science is the cure, why is there a need for a Chosen One?

Despite its flaws, this is an enjoyable colorful, action-packed apocalyptic story with a little romance that teen girls 12 and older will probably enjoy.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on April 15, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: The Apocalyptic Mannequin by Stephanie M. Wytovich

The Apocalyptic Mannequin: Poetry by Stephanie M. Wytovich

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-947879-13-3

Available: Paperback, Kindle

 

It is shocking and deeply disturbing to know that in the aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, many people continued to survive, suffered through radiation poisoning, and then died. This living death is the theme of a relentless catalogue of ugliness in The Apocalyptic Mannequin: Poetry by Stephanie M. Wytovich.

Wytovich intends this collection to be a warning about the end of the world, or the end of the world as we know it, through war, violence, disease, and finally death. The images in these poems accomplish this goal by painting a setting littered with bloated dead bodies, twisted metal and ashes. Bodies transform into “meat,” clothing into “gasmask couture,” and survivors into “mannequins” who wander the apocalyptic landscape crawling with plague and vermin, barely able to survive or inevitably wanting to commit suicide.

The poems build a narrative in snapshots from the chaos of the first post-impact days, through the struggle to find relief, and, ultimately, to what will be the new normal. Wytovich deftly uses sensory details to create transitions between groups of poems. The initial poems are extremely dark with scenes of destruction that reduce the imagery to a handful of repetitive words that mirror the setting in a literal way.

The next group of poems represents a middle stage in which the survivors struggle to make sense of a world in which they have lost communication. They feel left alone to make sense of a situation in which they must now protect themselves from other people in need who bang at their doors and windows. The speaker in these poems recognizes that the survivors must start over and “re-make Eve” “with the tree of knowledge growing” in their “wombs.”  However, this is not to say that there is much hope because in the final group of poems, instead of new plants growing, there are  ”blossoms of collagen” with “the forest floor” growing “femurs.” The imagery in this section involves shape and color to describe the poisoning of the environment.

In the final group of poems, the imagery becomes more familiar and symbolic because its origin is memory. The speaker’s heart is hidden in “trunks of abandoned cars” and “empty cafes,” and she feels like a “broken doll.” But the world has changed, and so has she. After experiencing tragedy, hunger,  anger, and abandonment, she has turned into a scarred “scavenger” and a witch who has “woken.” Meanwhile, the new world is, ironically, still full of impending death. That is its toxic message to us in these poems.

 

Contains: body horror

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Editor’s note: The Apocalyptic Mannequin was nominated to the final ballot of the 2019 Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in Poetry

Posted on April 14, 2020 by , Reply
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