Hi! When I reviewed No Rest for the Wicked last month, I didn't mention that two other books were included in the pack I was asked to review. I'd classify it as a Booktrope media kit because it displayed the work of three of the company's authors, but I was given them all in exchange for individual reviews. Tales of Blood and Sulphur is the second of the three books and is the debut novel of J. G. Clay.
What's the book about?
Tales of Blood and Sulphur is a collection of individual short stories that share nothing in common with the other except for the presence of evil. This specific evil introduces itself by way of Null, a mysterious man with a penchant for storytelling who finds himself detained by authorities. Rather than explaining who he is, he tells the detective interrogating him a story instead, and there is where the evil comes out to play. It intertwines itself into every tale in the novel, sometimes in an obvious way and other times in an unexpected manner, each time with a different face, different motivation, and a different way of presenting itself. Despite that, there's never any denying that this evil is there, at least to the reader. Each story has its own issue to be conquered and in each story, the reader has to find out which is stronger--the human mind, or the spirit of evil. The prologue to the story is what begins the journey, and that common thread is what you have to follow throughout each story.
p.s. I'm no good at summaries without giving the entire plot away. This is the best I could do and I'm sorry. lol I'm working on it.
What I liked:
--I loved how the first story, which is an introduction of sorts, is what ultimately ties together that thread throughout the book. Rather than a bunch of random stories in which you have to connect the dots, the first story helps to put the reader in the mindset of what is to come, in some fashion, during the other stories.
--I liked that a number of issues that affect people in their everyday lives (power, career security and advancement, lust, etc.) were presented in the book and were applied to the theme in a different way. It put a realistic sort of spin on the various temptations people regularly face.
--I kinda liked the levels of mindf*ck crazy that the book went to in some of the stories; while some of the stories revolved around normal life events and seem more plausible, others are a bit stranger and test the limits of the imagination a little bit.
--I liked how descriptive the book was. While people may not have had the clearest faces to me, who they were, what they were about and where they were at any given time was always described in a thorough way without being too wordy. The author's ability to paint a scene vividly without confusing the reader or making the scenery too busy was evident in the stories that required more imagination, like
What I didn't like:
--Despite a thread tying the stories together, I thought a couple of them were a bit muddy. Some seemed like separate sci-fi books rather than part of a collection (and I'm not really complaining; I would have liked to see standalone versions of some of the stories), and I would have liked to see a clearer connection to the book's theme.
--This is a personal note, but I didn't care for the copious amounts of people emptying the contents of their guts. After awhile it just seemed a bit too much.
Overall:
Overall, I enjoyed Tales of Blood and Sulphur. I loved that the stories were so dark and explored the darker side of human nature. It's interesting to see how evil enters one's life, and it's really intriguing to explore how people respond to it. I really appreciate the effort in creating something individual and unique in each story and introducing a connecting theme to tie them together without losing the spark of each individual element. I liked that it was kinda 'out there' in terms of the story content and the different situations the main characters were faced with. Opening the book by allowing Null to set the tone with the urban legend was a great touch and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the tone of the stories as well; I didn't get the feeling that the stories nor the author took themselves too seriously and I appreciated that. I liked the more informal tone; it sort of made the reader feel as though we were tagging along and combined with the imagery, really helped to put the reader into the scenes along with the characters.
I wouldn't recommend TBS to emetophobes unless you're not easily triggered by having to read about it. There is quite a lot in this book, probably more than No Rest for the Wicked, and overall the gore level is rather graphic. I didn't struggle terribly with it, probably because I read No Rest shortly before, lol, but I wasn't able to eat and read. My guts are weak, aight? I also wouldn't recommend this if you're expecting a cookie-cutter story about evil. This is a collection of stories that pull at the imagination, challenge you to expand your mindset about the limits of said imagination....and scare the shit out of children should you ever read one of these stories to them. LOL
Where can you get a copy?
*Update:* As of June 29, it looks like the author has switched publishing companies and the book is currently unavailable. The paperback edition should be out soon, subscribe to the author's FB page below for updates!
Contact the author here!
As with all of my reviews, I hope you enjoyed my take on Tales of Blood and Sulphur, and I strongly recommend checking this out. I don't often do gore by choice, but this was a disgusting, multi-faceted mindf*ck for me and I loved it. See you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment