Customer Reviews

Deathbringer

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you want a quick description of Bryan Smith's DEATHBRINGER, think novelization of a bad zombie flick, the kind that tease and fool us zombie horror fans with their shlocky scare tactics, cartoonish characters, hammy acting and corny humor. DEATHBRINGER'S characters and plot are the same kind of stuff that's kept Lloyd Kaufman and his gang at Troma Entertainment in business for the last 35 years.

According to Smith, we are surrounded by beings known as Reapers, who act as collectors of the souls of the recently departed. One of them, known as the Deathbringer, has grown tired of his eternal task, and wants a confrontation with God Himself. To get God's attention the Deathbringer goes all the way to Dandridge, Tennessee (I guess it's the center of the universe, or sits upon some major ley lines, or something) to plant an ancient book of spells and invocations on the doorstep of Mike O'Bannon, a rookie cop who's been in drunken mourning over the recent shooting death of his fiance. Finding the dusty tome (that's correct, "the dusty tome"--so dusty it makes Officer O'Bannon cough and sneeze), O'Bannon opens it and immediately begins reading aloud the precise Latin passages for raising the dead (yes, Latin; not Latin for beginners or Latin for dummies, but that demonic, horror story kind of Latin). Soon after, the small town of Dandridge is plagued by zombies who not only are of the newfangled spry and agile variety, they also think, talk, crack jokes and drive cars too (Hey, I'm not kidding you...but Bryan Smith might be).

If you're still with me, saying to yourself, "Oh Man, what a stinker!" Wait! ...it gets worse (Yes, it can)...

Halfway into the story Smith puts the zombie mayhem on the backburner to concentrate on the doings of O'Bannon's fiance's killer, Melinda, a spiky-haired, tattooed teeny psychobabe who, only a couple of weeks before, was an introverted video store clerk, but now leads a couple of redneck punks on a spree of murder, torture, rape, blah, blah, blah. Your average junior high school cast of Guys and Dolls are more believable as authentic Chicago gangsters than Melinda and her crew are as roaming psychopaths.

This book is not worth your time.


The following are all much better choices in the genre:

REIGN Of The DEAD, by Len Barnhart
DAY By DAY ARMAGEDDON, by J.L. Bourne
AUTUMN, by David Moody
DYING To LIVE, by Kim Paffenroth
THE DEAD, by Mark E. Rogers

Bryan Smith's Deathbringer novel is the story of a group of people stuck in their little US town among a fast-growing crowd of flesh-eating zombies. The zombies are actually the products of a man, the Deathbringer, who is pursuing a very personal objective in his "life", a search that should lead him to become the world's master. In order not to spoil the plot, I won't add anything about this very goal. However, the Deathbringer finds himself confronted by a crowd of everyday, makeshift heroes who will ultimately be supported by an unexpected ally.

The storyline is original for a zombie movie: it is highly centralized (small town), the timeline is limited to a few days, there are not many characters around. Also, some of the ideas that Smith came up with are quite nice changes from the usual, Romero-fed zombie books. Think about the swap of souls, the good physical coordination of the zombies -that allows them to drive cars for instance-, or the fact that quite friendly characters don't make it alive to the end of the book. These are good things.

However, overall, the book feels like an empty shell. I guess this comes from the fact that the supernatural motives of the Deathbringer lack of depth. Would have been interesting for Smith to expand a little bit more on the whereabouts of this villain hero. Also, I still can't cope very well with fast, intelligent, articulated zombies... Just personal, but I simply can't! I like them dirty, stinking, slow and dumb.

If you like an original story with supernatural backgrounds, a bit of conspiracy, lots of flesh-eaters and a little bit of eroticism, then Deathbringer's for you. But not for me.

This is my first and probably my last Bryan Smith book. The quality of the writing was average, but the story was where he lost me. It was definitely lacking. Smith is just not in the same league as the other Leisure authors such as Gary Braunbeck, T.M. Wright, Tom Piccirilli, Richard Laymon, Tim Lebbon, and Simon Clark.

The mythology he created felt forced and unoriginal. This might have made a good 90 page screenplay, but not a 342 page novel. The Hawthorne character was annoying and took away from the heroism of the main protagonist, Mike. I would have liked to see the characters in Dandridge fend for themselves instead of having an outside character help them out -- it was too easy. The dialogue, also, at times, was quite bad. Try reading some of the lines out loud and you'll see what I mean. And speaking of dialogue, I could have done without the talking zombies. (a hint for Mr. Smith -- talking zombies are not scary!)

I don't want to sound too negative, because there are a few things here and there that I enjoyed. However, with the predictability of most of the scenes and everything else I mentioned, I cannot recommend this book.

cause you cant write. again i read these reveiws and wonder what book they read? i read this book and was just amazed at how bad it was. impossible storylines, weak characters that you hope all die. i read the freakshow after this and decided then and there that i will never read another book by bryan smith. and wont trust these amazon reveiws either. how in hell did anyone give this 5 stars?? its horrible. boring and ......eh!

I just tried to read death bringer and made 300 before I just started skimming and skipped to the end. The book was rather dull, needlessly gore (the scenes of violence added no sense of fear and where just way over the top), predictable, and worst of all just plain boring. I hate writing a poor review of someone's hard effort and I am sure the author is a talented and hard working writer but it does not show in this book. Furthermore based on the number of high reviews for this book I was just surprised about how really bad it is. I wonder if I just have way to high standards or if the other reviewers actually read the same book as me?

I couldn't make it past the useless prologue and first chapter. Everything was so heavy handed, it was completely absurd! The painful info dump in the prologue. The overly-complicated descriptions of mundane things. The lengthy and tiresome internal monologues loaded with passive verbs. *sigh* Very painful. I mean, he even refers to a "mysterious stranger" as an interloper for cryin' out loud!

I remember some silly little description of leaves being blown across the sidewalk like the voices of the dead straining to be heard or some other silly nonsense. Okaaay...we get it. It's a novel about zombies, you can stop hitting us over the head with that fact and just get on with it!

Really, just pick another novel. Any novel. I don't care if it's a non-fiction instructional about underwater basket weaving. Buy it instead of this crap.

As cheesy as the cover is, the innards are even more cheesier. Talking zombies, poor descriptions and dialogue. Where was the editor? Did he even read this book or buy it because it was a zombie book? I'm giving it two stars for effort. Even the plot didn't hold up well--a scary book makes people rise up from the dead. Adn who does the book belong to? THE DEATHBRINGER! It should be titled the DEATHGO-AWAYER.

In the small town of Dandridge an ancient hatred is rekindled. A blinding desire for revenge, for freedom, for the ultimate power is born from the blackest heart filled with darkness and centuries old despair caused by a bleak existence devoid of humanity and compassion. An existence whose sole remaining purpose is to destroy everything that was once beautiful in the world. To create a necropolis; a vile circle ultimately leading into the spiraling chasm of living death where all life is consumed in the chaotic dance of power and vengeance, sorrow and confusion, and a mind altering evil so foul in its origins and ultimate desire as to be unthinkable. A world of despair, a world dominated and ruled by the feared Reaper and his fellow companions of darkness. The merciless cycle begins as formerly innocent citizens of the sleepy town of Dandridge claw themselves from their graves preying upon loved ones, upon neighbors and friends. As their ravenous craving for living flesh is sated, their former companions join the legion of the dead spreading more woe and suffering. At the centre of this bizarre tale are the few remaining citizens of an ever deteriorating world. Will these woebegone individuals be able to assuage their fear and grief as the tide of destruction consumes their lives and engulfs everything they ever believed in? Will they be able to defeat the powerful and ultimately evil Deathbringer and his necromantic schemes or will they soon be added to his growing legion of the dead? Will they forever be his blood thirsty minions prowling throughout their bleak existences satisfying their all consuming hunger and bitterness upon a world they once cherished or will they be able to end this reign of terror? Can the necropolis that has been created be ended and the world returned to its former orderliness or have the events that have transpired on this fateful night destroyed everything forever? Where will the destruction begun by one so vile, so long removed from any semblance of humanity, end? Shall darkness forever rule this world? The terrifying epic of a world gone awry has begun. . .

I was impressed by all aspects of this novel but was particularly enthralled by one such aspect to the point of being deeply drawn into the story. Instead of reading due to a general feeling of curiosity, I was drawn into the earth shattering events begun in Dandridge, and soon to spread worldwide by the characters' perceptions of the deterioration of all they ever held dear. As the merciless dead began to rise from their graves imbued with an abnormal strength never experienced in life added to an all-consuming desire to prey upon the living, they begin to torture and devour those they once loved in many graphic sequences. As the few remaining citizens of Dandridge namely Mike, Erin, Avery, and Melinda begin to discover the dire events that have mysteriously transpired on this seemingly innocuous night they are subjected to encountering the decayed parody of people they once loved returning from deep beneath their graves to consume those hapless individuals roaming the night, unaware of the circumstances that have re-animated the dead. Unlike many novels concentrated on zombies and their gruesome acts of gratuitous violence, the full horror of the situation and the strong emotional reactions of the people trapped within this hapless town was portrayed in a realistic fashion thus transforming what appears to be a fun novel of little substance into a disturbing realistic nightmare of shattering emotions and graphic gore completely enshrouded by an impenetrable aura of sadness. This having been stated, this novel is obviously not for the weak of heart and might prove so disturbing as to eliminate any enjoyment for those who are deeply effected by such raw emotions and so many vividly described dark concepts.

The characterization was expertly implemented allowing me to fully understand and appreciate each character. The raw pain of certain characters was so palpable as to prove contagious and the extreme evil and vileness of other characters, namely Melinda, was so well executed as to cause me to dream of vengeance. However, despite the extremely evil aspects inherent in some characters, the author was able to cause me to feel sympathy and sorrow for those I had previously abhorred by adding a simple statement or an overtly painful death. Even the zombies were fully characterized and I appreciated the unique twist on the zombie theme by allowing the living dead to retain their memories and desires from their previous life thus causing them to feel sorrow and loathing for their actions while still being unable to resist their ceaseless hunger which impels them to enact the vilest of deeds.

The conclusion of this novel was slightly confusing but still proved to be most satisfactory. I was unable to deduce any of the ending sequences until they transpired and was shocked by the poignant heartbreak and ceaseless sadness showcased throughout this novel.

The writing style employed throughout this melancholy work was exceedingly well executed and effortlessly conveyed the atmosphere of infinite sadness through the use of numerous evocative words and vivid metaphors. As many have already noted, the writing style is not relaxed, rather it is extremely erudite thus revealing the morbid atmosphere of the novel through weighty phrases and melancholy musings enshrouding the entirety of the story in a heavy pall of sorrow.

The doom laden atmosphere, bilious concepts, detailed sequences of death and torture, and general disturbing aura inherent in this novel cause me to advocate caution when approaching this story. This is not a fun zombie novel fraught with ludicrous sequences that often prove more amusing than horrifying, rather, the realistic portrayal and accurate descriptions of the characters' conflicting emotions might prove too heavy for the general reader. If you feel confidant that this novel will not prove too disturbing, its phenomenal plot, memorable characters, - - -both living and undead - - -, and fast pace will prove most entertaining and although I hesitate to label this novel as enjoyable, it never failed to maintain my interest and has caused me to develop an interest in the further works of this author.

Ravenova

This was my first Bryan Smith read. Not bad.

I liked the fast pace of this novel, along with the horrific Melinda character. She was a devilish delight!

The last chapter was not good, however. I didn't care for the ending. Worst part of the book.

Though Brian Keene rules this genre, Bryan Smith kept me reading until the end. No small feat.

Though not as epic as such greats like Stephen King and/or books such as Swan Song, Smith still spun a solid yarn. A breezy read.

This book had some good stuff in it but the whole magic mojo didn't set well with me. For some reason I never felt frightened reading this book like I have with other zombie fiction. Don't get me wrong Bryan Smith does a pretty good job of describing action sequences well and had a nice full circle to the story but the book, the reaper, and some of the random scenes like the hippie encounter and serial killer scene I could have done with out.
I do lke that the living dead where hard to kill but the supernatural theme for some reason made it seem like a Buffy the vampire episode...or maybe a season finaly.

And as a disclaimer I like Buffy.