Hekla's Children by James BrogdenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was entirely not what I was expecting, and I kinda don't know how to feel about it.
The blurb sounded more like a sinister crime novel but this is way out of the box. Less crime, more ... sinister evil weird time travel monster. There's a thing, and it is evil, and it steals children from it's place in 'Un' - the 'other side'. I mean I kinda got it but also goodbye any sense of reality.
This story travels a long distance. First you get Nathan and the mystery of the disappearing kids, then you get him going back to figure out what's going on, and then slightly weird time travel moments and craziness and then it kinda progresses to full-scale batsh*t insane and it's both fascinating and completely bizarre. I don't know if I enjoyed it, but I certainly couldn't stop reading once I'd reached a certain point.
I feel like the story was actually pretty clever. The fact that it was so involved but I still managed to follow it is pretty miraculous. And massive props for originality because I've certainly never read anything like it before. Huh. Look at me warming up to it.
The tense changes were a bit annoying, but definitely made sense in the context of the story so I'll let it slide. I didn't particularly warm to any of the characters (view spoiler) but I was too intrigued by the setup to really care about emotional connection. There is a very subtle horror, here. The notion of time, and being trapped by it; of facing the horror of our true natures; opportunities lost. There's actually very little gore, all things considered.
Honestly, I feel like I'll be pondering this bizarre mess for a little while.
If you want to read something mildly spooky that is unlike anything you've ever read before, get your hands on this one. Don't expect any kind of reality, or scientific explanations, or logic. There is no sense here. But if you like convoluted time-travel stories that kinda make sense in their own nonsensical way then you'll eat this right up.
SO. FREAKING. BIZARRE.
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