Scan barcode
A review by harrietj
Erebus by Shaun Hutson
1.0
If a reader is seeking a fast paced and gruesome read, and if that's the extent of their desires, then this book will more than satisfy. Anyone seeking more will be disappointed.
Hutson excels when he describes gore, which in this book is plentiful, and vividly described. There's at least as much violence and cruelty directed at animals as at people, which I found quite difficult to read at times, so be aware going in. He does not excel anywhere else. His characters do not develop, his women hardly speak, and at times he has his characters say exceptionally racist things. Characters hardly react to enormously traumatic events. At one point a character flirtatiously giggles with a lover about her previous partner's head being shot off next to her. Hutson's characters do not act at all like real people.
The plot is thin, and easy to pick holes in, but where's the fun in that? It's pulpy horror schlock that reads like a first draft. I'm sure that's exactly what Hutson intended when he wrote it. It's a throwaway splatterpunk read, and the fact that it's being read now thirty years after publication is frankly impressive.
Hutson excels when he describes gore, which in this book is plentiful, and vividly described. There's at least as much violence and cruelty directed at animals as at people, which I found quite difficult to read at times, so be aware going in. He does not excel anywhere else. His characters do not develop, his women hardly speak, and at times he has his characters say exceptionally racist things. Characters hardly react to enormously traumatic events. At one point a character flirtatiously giggles with a lover about her previous partner's head being shot off next to her. Hutson's characters do not act at all like real people.
The plot is thin, and easy to pick holes in, but where's the fun in that? It's pulpy horror schlock that reads like a first draft. I'm sure that's exactly what Hutson intended when he wrote it. It's a throwaway splatterpunk read, and the fact that it's being read now thirty years after publication is frankly impressive.