Chronicler of the Undead – Book Review
Author:
Paperback: 180 Pages
Publisher: Westland (14 October 2015)
Language: English
Genre: Horror
ISBN-10: 9385152491
ISBN-13: 978-9385152498
About The Book:
When there were still people around to talk to, i would introduce myself as a drinker with a writing problem. It sounded witty at the time, and certainly got a smile once in a while from the ladies. None of that matters now. There are no people left to read my books, and nobody left to listen to my attempts at wit.
Now it’s just me and my notebook, sitting in my house on the hill, watching the undead rampage through what we humans once called our world. I sometimes wonder why i still live when those much younger, stronger, smarter and fitter than me perished. Maybe it’s just dumb luck. But maybe i am being left alive for a purpose. Nobody may have cared much for my novel, but maybe this is what i was meant to write.
Maybe this is what i was meant to be.
The chronicler of the undead.
This is my story.
About The Author:
My Take:
Honestly, this was the first horror novel I had picked up to read. The storyline seemed to intrigue at the very first moment. I began reading it as soon as it arrived. Written in first person, the book gives the feel of living through all the situations through the writer’s words. The language used it witty and satire. The subtle sarcasm is handled beautifully by the author.
The characters in the books are minimal and so is their characterization. This holds back the reader to get attached with any character other than the protagonist who writes his story. Even through those minimal characters, the author has wonderfully brought the various shades of a human being in various circumstances. It portrays an array of emotions throughout the book. There is fear, bravery, sadness, loneliness, happiness, danger, safety, friendship, hatred, brutality and even love within the confines of the first and the last page of the book. It makes reader realize the importance of life and futility of wars and fights over petty issues.
The book does perfect justice to it’s theme with its words and expressions. The book takes the reader through the world that has not been imagined nor does anyone want to. The situations are described so as to make the reader keep wondering what happens next. Even when the book ends, the reader wonders what will eventually happen in future and what if it would happen for real. Though being in the horror genre, the reader hopes to get more out of the book as the description stops being scary after the few initial pages. Also, the element of surprise in terms of horror was found missing a bit.
Bottom line: Within 180 pages, it is the perfect display of all the emotions that a human can feel in the circumstances mentioned. This is the perfect portrayal of the survival instincts of a human.
My Rating:
4/5
And now I’ll leave you with a few quotes from the book.
“Everyone is a genius with the benefit of hindsight, and everyone’s self image is always a bit rise tinted in the rear view mirror.”
“Is our survival instinct indeed so stubborn that it makes us hold on even when dying is perhaps objectively a better outcome than continuing to live?”
“If you want to truly enslave someone, there is something even more powerful than fear, and that is hope.”
“We pretend to have control over the choices we make in life. The harsh reality is that most are foisted on us.”
“As they say, be careful what you wish for because you may just get it.”
“When someone gets too much power on his hands, usually nothing good comes of if.”
“I guess vengeance is as fickle as conscience- there one minute, and gone the next.”
“The thing with life is that the best ideas can come from the most unlikely of sources.”
This review is a part of Book Review Programme at Writersmelon.com
I have heard quite a bit about this book! Will pick it up now.. thank you for the review 🙂
It was good! Do read it!