Darren Lee Compton has THE BEST disclaimer in the indie world. Serieously, and this is one of the things one has to love about Indie books, because you can only find this type of stuff in them, trust me, hahahha.
Given that we have already reviewed Graveslinger, I personally knew that this book was amazing, heck, it even won an award from us, but given that I never read it, I wasn’t expecting it make me start liking it in the 3rd sentence of the disclaimer, hahahhahhahaahh. Ok, this one has passed the snob test, and is in for the records.
Darren means business! With a strong start, to say the least and no preamble, this novel catches your attention right away! The descriptions are vivid and filled with humour, I mean, wow. If a book could win your heart with first impressions, Graveslinger would be on top. Damn!
After the first chapter leaving you with a “wtf…..” sensation, and letting you know that a zombie apocalypse is going to happen, because there is a ghoul fever spreading that leaves people, well.. hungry, you start to realize that this book is going to be crazy in terms of events, and if the first chapter was this amazing, and fast paced, how about the rest of the book?
There are notes of racial police profiling and the worries of black people as characters that give this book a touch of reality and let readers know some things that happen in the US that they much rather ignore, and talking about reality, this main character is actually pretty believable. She is not perfect, at all. She is short, doesn’t speak much, has trouble socializing, and has stomach issues. Who would have expected this from a main character that fights werewolves?
This book has several elements that add to it’s realness and relatability when it comes to reading, story, scenario and events, and one of them is human stupidity. There are scenes where characters just act humanely dumb, or that have people that you know are going to die in the next sentences because they act stupid, ignoring warnings and pretend, even being in a crisis, that they are somehow exceptional, or that their coffee is more important than their life, yes, that stupid, but hey, there are people like that, too many even.
What’s this novel all about? Well, we have Fiya, a woman that was trained in the arts of slaying the undead and demonic creatures in order to protect humanity, finding herself in the middle of a pandemic of ghoul fever that coincidentally, broke out when the “government’s” taskforce in charge to contain it went up in flames after being attacked by a rat.
With one event wilder than the other, and lots of loose ends to connect, Fiya, is forced to find out the man that brought her up and trained her to help her solve this crisis, but what they have stepped into is way bigger than a simple pandemic of people eating other people after coming back from the dead.
The author, Darren Lee, was able to give the reader room to breathe, because of how dark and gloomy the book would have gotten, and he was able to achieve this by putting an always chirpy and super excited cute little kiddo in the middle of all the gore, pus, blood and poop everyone went through from chapter to chapter, and this made all the difference when it came to enjoying this book. If the author didn’t do this, this book would be easily fit in the category of grimdark, because there is a lot of dark stuff in here. Lol.
With the action scenes that were not written, but carved into the book with fine details, be ready to get your blood pumping and mind racing as you read and visualize every move, thoughts, reactions and consequences from the characters and how much that affects the story, because believe me when I say this: The level of ass-whooping here does change the minds of the villains to the point that they reconsider their motives. Graveslinger can be pointed out as one of the books with remarkable action scenes that readers will come back to. Impressive.
One thing that the author nailed to the point of perfection, was that each character was solid and distinguishable from the rest in both attitude and moods. Rutger, Fiya, Tommas, Liama, Violess, and even Paul were totally unique when it came to who they were and had complex psyches and backstories, to which the author, when relevant (and when he wanted to prolong the story a bit) brought the reader to, so we could understand their motives and how they came to be who they are now. Very well done! Other authors should take notes.
The narrative will both make you laugh, by its unseriousness at times, and pay attention from the details and mysteries it conjures. I assure you: You will never be bore in this novel.
Darren Lee Comption is one of those indie authors that after you finish reading his books, you shake your fist to the sky demanding answers to why he isn’t famous. Wow.
Pros:
- Excellent narrative, fast paced, dark and humorous
- Top tier descriptions of both scenes, characters and scenery . You will not be left asking questions in your mind
- Impressive characters with depth and consistency
- Gripping storyline. Seriously, this book will not let you go
- Mysteries were still left in the end, just enough to make you anxious about the next book
- Points that will make you stop and think for a while as you read
Cons:
- None
Scribble's Worth 
Hey now, coffee IS more important 🤣
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It is, it is, ahahahaha
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