Genre: Horror / Fantasy
Publisher: Harvey Click
Publication Date: 20th April 2015
Pages: 258
MY REVIEW:
A copy of Demon Mania was sent to Confessions of a
Reviewer by the author Harvey Click in exchange for an honest review. This is
said review.
This is the
second book I have read by Harvey Click. The first was the opening book in this
series, Demon Frenzy. You can read my
review of it here. Although enjoyable, it did have its negatives. I was hoping
for more from the second in the series.
It’s eighteen
months after the attack at Blackwood. Amy Malone along with her husband Shane
and daughter Emily think they are safe and sound in their new life. They are
wrong. The Lost Society have found them again.
Amy is attacked
and Emily kidnapped. What follows is a race against time and evil to try and
find out where Emily is being held and rescue her. This brings old friends back
together in a fight to the death between good and evil.
The only question
that remains is who, if anyone, they can trust.
Now, being that
this is book two in the series, if you haven’t read book one and want to, I
would do that before reading any further. There won’t be any spoilers in this
review about the current book but obviously it may give away some stuff that
happened in book one. It would be useless to try and read this book as a stand-alone
novel. You really need to read book one to follow things.
Characters wise
in this one, we see a few return from book one. This keeps the momentum flowing
in the story. Amy and Shane are now married with their daughter Emily. Others
that come back into the story are Lucky, Bloody Joe and Nyx. As in book one,
this lot are all members of The Unseen. As such they are all warriors of sorts
and each have their own set of unique fighting skills. As people they are a
real mix up. Mostly normal people but with a fighting spirit that carries them
through anything that is thrown at them.
Other main
characters in this one are the mysterious Bill and his daughter Azura. Can’t
tell you too much about them without giving stuff away but they are also
Unseen. Or are they? I never could quite trust them. The leader of the The Lost
Society is Godson, a self-proclaimed god amongst men. He is just a typical
egotistical maniac, hell bent on world domination, as long as he gets his high
from his drugs.
The plot is as
described in the blurb. It is a race against time to try and rescue young Emily
from the evil men. The problem is that the evil men have all sorts of demons on
their side where our five heroes if you like, have nothing but swords and some
little tricks that are no match against the demons.
This is a well
written book. There is no doubt in my mind that Harvey Click has a wonderful
imagination. This is proven by the sheer number of different varieties of
demons suggested in the story. His ideas and the way he writes to try and get
your mind to let loose and “visualise” everything that is happening is very
effective. It is a fantasy story at its best at times but as with the first
book, there was something missing here for me. I’m not sure what it was but the
story just felt a bit flat at times. There were a couple of times where
statements were made and I just had to pause and think where the hell did that
come from. No build up to this particular sub plot in the book. It just
appeared and was then forgotten until later on in the story.
The idea behind
this series is fantastic. Mr Click certainly has the imagination to make it
work much better than it currently does. It just needs to be expanded on bit
more with more focus on the demons and the evil side of things. That being
said, this is still a fun read.
To summarise: a
good old fashioned good versus evil fantasy / horror book that pretty much hits
the ground running and doesn’t stop till the end. It just needs beefed up a bit
more for me.
General rating:
★★★ a good read.
Horror rating:
★★★ mid range scares.
If you would like to help support Confessions of a
Reviewer then please consider using the links below to buy Demon Mania or any other books from Harvey. This not only
supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books
after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
The exciting sequel to Demon Frenzy!
Amy Malone thinks she and Shane are safe living in a
desolate area of New Mexico, but after she encounters a mysterious sorcerer
she’s plunged into a demon-ridden nightmare even worse than what she faced in
Blackwood. Pursued through moonlit wilderness by grotesque grimsnuffers and
hunted by hideous jabber-suckers that suck out their victims’ flesh through
pulsating tentacles, Amy must survive a deadly maze to confront the most
fearsome monster of hell: a demon so deadly it can kill with just a look.
Mixing horror with dark fantasy, Demon Mania is a wild
whirlwind of sword and sorcery, witches, warlocks, black magic, telekinesis,
spirit-travel, deadly assassins, eerie prophecies, breathless action, and
demons—lots of demons.
Harvey
Click earned an M.A. in English from Ohio State University, using his first
novel as a master's thesis. He has written five novels, four of them in the
horror genre, and numerous short stories. He has taught English and creative
writing for Ohio University, Ohio State University, the James Thurber House,
and OSU's Creative Arts Program.
And
for more about Harvey, you can find him here:
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