My review of Bryan Smith's "Darkened"
Rediscovering Horror Fiction
http://rediscoveringhorrofiction.com :
"Darkened" by Bryan Smith - Horror Novel Review
This is a first for me. Between the time I purchased this book last
week and the time I finished it last night, Bryan Smith’s latest
novel, self-published as an ebook only, has undergone a title change.
Smith gives the lowdown here, but apparently someone with a similarly
titled project took issue with the use of the title Deadworld, even
though it is impossible to copyright a title. So the book is now
called Darkened, which doesn’t matter much to the reader because by
any name this book would be a rollicking good slice of pulpy
apocalyptic horror.
Holes have begun appearing in the fabric of reality, and some very bad
things have started coming through. Just as the President is
addressing the American people on this crisis, slithery tentacles
appear from nowhere, killing the Commander in Chief on live
television. The strange warp holes continue to appear, some bigger
than others, with the entire nation of Pakistan vanishing into a
black hole. Soon, large bat-faced creatures with tentacles, leathery
wings, and needle-sharp teeth dripping with poison are appearing
everywhere, laying waste to the population of the entire Earth. The
creatures are only the first wave of Armageddon, and what’s left of
the world is soon experiencing a general decay. Plant life quickly
dies out and man-made objects begin to break down and corrode at a
highly accelerated rate.
The world is left with only a handful of survivors. There’s a
bartender/songwriter named Emily, her co-worker Jake and the world’s
creepiest bar patron Aaron. We also have a college student named
Warren who has to share the apocalypse with his seriously bitchy
recent ex-girlfriend Amanda (tell me that isn’t uncomfortable). And we
have a cable news anchor named Zeke who, in the wake of the global
disaster, hooks up with Mary Lou, a perpetually naked and bat shit
insane redneck. And, of course, there is also the entity from that
other world that started it all.
I couldn’t help being reminded of F. Paul Wilson’s Nightworld, which
also had nightmarish Lovecraftian creatures emerging from mysterious
holes in the ground, though the resemblance between the two novels
ends there. I had expected more monster mayhem, but the creatures
disappear from the story about half-way through, and I think
humanizing the extra-dimensional entity as much as the author does
near the book’s climax made it a lot less scary. Still, Smith has a
winner here. He’s got a pretty horrifying scenario, and the action
flows along at a breakneck pace. This one is highly recommended and
for just $2.99 you have very little to risk.