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A review by motherhorror
Shiloh by Philip Fracassi
5.0
4.5! Rounded up for Goodreads
The Battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War was the most brutal; the most lives lost.
Philip Fracassi whisks his readers away into 1862 and right to the front lines.
It should be known that I am no Civil War buff. I don't have an affinity for tales of war or battle sequences. The cool thing is:
You don't have to care one iota for stories about war to enjoy this book. This is just compelling storytelling and it doesn't matter what it's about, you're going to read it once you start it.
--
Henry and William are brothers and soldiers in the Confederate army. Fracassi paints vivid word pictures as he describes everything Henry experiences in a first-person narrative. The result is both intimate and epic at the same time. One minute, Henry is describing the stars and the landscape like a man who has time to soak in his surroundings and the next minute he's dodging bullets.
The pace moves lightning fast; barely enough time to emotionally invest in the lives of these men but since this is historical fiction, the emotions are already there--we know how this ends. It's the Civil War.
Suddenly and without warning, almost casually...you almost miss it:
Something unfamiliar is introduced to the battlefront.
Fracassi turns this thing on a dime.
Everything goes from bleak to pitch black. Heart pounding, gut wrenching, soul-crushing horror at its best. A lot happens in these 60 pages.
And then there's a bonus story!
"Soda Jerk"
This one was almost just as good. So much horror and "bad things" happening in such a short amount of time. Fracassi knows how to get the reader all wound up and then dip out.
I felt like in both stories, I watched something horrific on TV and then stared at the static on the screen for a full minute before I could get up and turn it off.
Whoa.
I'll be getting some more Philip Fracassi! (I have his short story collection, Behold the Void right here.
The Battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War was the most brutal; the most lives lost.
Philip Fracassi whisks his readers away into 1862 and right to the front lines.
It should be known that I am no Civil War buff. I don't have an affinity for tales of war or battle sequences. The cool thing is:
You don't have to care one iota for stories about war to enjoy this book. This is just compelling storytelling and it doesn't matter what it's about, you're going to read it once you start it.
--
Henry and William are brothers and soldiers in the Confederate army. Fracassi paints vivid word pictures as he describes everything Henry experiences in a first-person narrative. The result is both intimate and epic at the same time. One minute, Henry is describing the stars and the landscape like a man who has time to soak in his surroundings and the next minute he's dodging bullets.
The pace moves lightning fast; barely enough time to emotionally invest in the lives of these men but since this is historical fiction, the emotions are already there--we know how this ends. It's the Civil War.
Suddenly and without warning, almost casually...you almost miss it:
Something unfamiliar is introduced to the battlefront.
Fracassi turns this thing on a dime.
Everything goes from bleak to pitch black. Heart pounding, gut wrenching, soul-crushing horror at its best. A lot happens in these 60 pages.
And then there's a bonus story!
"Soda Jerk"
This one was almost just as good. So much horror and "bad things" happening in such a short amount of time. Fracassi knows how to get the reader all wound up and then dip out.
I felt like in both stories, I watched something horrific on TV and then stared at the static on the screen for a full minute before I could get up and turn it off.
Whoa.
I'll be getting some more Philip Fracassi! (I have his short story collection, Behold the Void right here.