Review: The Fury by John Farris

  This is another classic horror novel. It made Farris a household name after the release of the Brian de Palma movie in the seventies. That was long before I was born or could read, but it reached me through the grapevine of an eager reader. I searched endlessly for challenging and daring material, and this was one of the earliest I found.

  It starts off as an action-story, but quickly moves away from that, into far more satisfying waters. It isn’t a horror-story, not really a genre story at all, and I quite simply love that, love that, too. John Cassavetes played the sinister highly placed government man in the movie, but he had lots of great original material to work with. It is no hero-story. The reality in the story come off as quite cruel and gritty. In a typical Hollywood story, the boy’s father would have succeeded in his grim mission with flying colors, but he doesn’t. The boy and the girl are the main protagonists, even though it doesn’t look that at first. There is no moral here, or if there is none, it’s far different from the usual boring, mainstream stuff.

  We are presented with a reality beneath the somewhat pleasant daily existence where there are no rules, no mercy. We are drawn into a world of agents and victims, and both casual and deliberate violence. Powerful people want to become even more powerful by exploiting an emerging power, but this power is both beyond their understand and reach. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio. The before mentioned highly placed government man realizes that to his peril.

Review: Falling by Amos Keppler

  I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time, but haven’t found the time.

  It is, among other subjects, about a society, Arcadia, where bisexuality isn’t even called that, where it is seen as completely normal, and isn’t controversial at all, and not the focus of the story, only one of several exciting parts of it.

  That society still has its shadows. It isn’t a paradise, a heaven, but it has qualities lacking in our world, realm.

  I also loved that he doesn’t put gays on a pedestal. They come off as human beings with good and bad qualities and vulnerabilities. I never could stomach people wanting them to be perfect and invincible.

  Yes, Janet is falling, and she doesn’t know why. She just knows, fears that she is. She finds comfort along the way, on her wretched path, from friends and surroundings, but it is fickle and temporary, even dangerous, lulling her into a fake sense of security. Even when she has been through what she imagines is the worst, the worst is still coming for her.

  Dark secrets lurk beneath the surface in Arcadia, like in any society, but these are a doozy.

The story follows Janet on her path, as she discovers more about herself and her inheritance, and about what is lurking in shadows. It’s a great story, with many facets, many twists and turns, until the explosive, horrifying end.

  This is very much a feminist story, and we are presented for several tribes of amazon warriors during the series. You will love them.

  This is an urban fantasy, even though it’s far from being a typical such. It’s so atypical as it can possibly get, and so very satisfying.

  It is the best and most believable Nine Realm story I’ve read, by far.

Falling is a trilogy, and I’ve already started on book two, Forsaken. It’s also a trilogy of trilogies, so to speak, where the Afterglow trilogy is the next, and I can hardly wait to read that.