Customer Reviews

Hellborn

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book in that I felt it achieved its goal of both frightening and appalling the reader with a minimum of violence and other seeming necessities for horror today. For the most part, the story deals with invasion: of the heroine's life, of a small town by a malevolent entity, and of several people's bodies (perhaps the sheer horror a rape victim must experience finds a literary counterpart here). Brandner deals with the events on a visceral level but despite the strong sexual overtones, steers clear of pornography for the most part. Also, the end is interesting enough to wonder if Brandner meant this to be a final chronicle of Astragoth and his prey. In all, it is a very scary, entertaining read any fan of true horror would do well to read.

This was one of the first adult horror novels I ever read and as a lifelong horror fan, it holds a special place in my heart. A woman finds herself stalked by a dark sexual demonic entity that possesses various people around her, trying to take her as it's mate. The sexual content of this book was pretty scandalous at the time and the horror and suspense is outstanding. If you are a horror fan, do yourself a favor and seek this gem out. Brandner is the Godfather of Modern Horror Fiction as far as I'm concerned.

An easy, quick read. Not for the faint at heart and not to be taken serious so as to disturb or offend. One would think those old, ancient demons would have gotten the lowdown on the throughly modern woman by now: No one tells a woman in 1981 (the year Brandner wrote Hellborn) who she HAS to marry, especially not a desperate-to-be-married demon groom. And talk about a tragically flawed villain to a comical degree: Astragoth can't resist putting the moves on anything that moves, regardless of their sex, and won't take no for an answer. And the price for a one time stand is way too steep: Body Invasion, followed by Painful Death upon Body Eviction. Why did Diana Cross join in that dumb old demon conjuring ceremony anyway (when everything in her being told her not to)? And why did Diana leave her young, defenseless son Matthew (with a friend) and drive hours to try to enlist the help of Saul Julian, her Psychic adviser? Couldn't she have just picked up the phone and placed a call? Oh, well, don't sweat the small stuff.