Customer Reviews

House of Blood

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I saw the hyped-reviews of this book, and thought it might be a fun read since I like scary stuff. Unfortunately, it is very poorly written. The author never describes this "world" adequately to his readers. Fantastic facts of this underworld are brought up only when needed for the plotline. For example, when one character needs to speak to one of the "gods," she steps into a portal, which gives her access to this god. Before then, we never heard anything about "portals" inside the house, and I don't think they were mentioned again. Poor, poor, writing. The publishing house employees must be the ones writing the rave reviews. Skip this one, or suffer!

This book starts out giving the illusion the plot is going to be another haunted house story. It begins with the old "our car broke down and we walked for miles until we found a dilapidated house and it turned out to be a chamber of horrors" plot. Then swoosh!, it leaps out of nowhere, grabs you by the throat and yells, "SURPRISE, HAD YOU GOING THERE FOR A MINUTE, HUH"? It spins into a refreshingly different direction and takes you with it.

I really enjoyed this book. It is original and in the world of horror fiction, that is saying a lot. There are multiple levels to this tale and each one is bone-chilling. The complaints I have are few. The supporting cast, you know the ones I'm referring to...remember the 1 or 2 people at the beginning of the original Star Trek series that were in the opening scene for the sole purpose of getting killed immediately...they are killed way to quickly without developing into anyone you cared about. It would have been great had the author spent just a few pages building up their part in the story and a few pages less on the sex scenes that quickly grew tiring and stupid. That is why I have to give the book a 4 star rating instead of a 5.

Overall, this is a great book. Give it a try, it's fun, short and very easy to read. I think you'll enjoy it.

This book, although not a terrifying piece of horror fiction, reminded me a great deal of movies such as Friday the 13th, and any other storyline where there are a group of teenagers, or young people, traveling, who end up in the middle of nowhere, and are somehow not immediately phased by the fact that someone in their group goes missing, or is butchered by an unknown entity. The book starts out a bit slow, and the language is a bit choppy and uncertain at first, but picks up speed about mid way through the book. I had heard the author began writing the book years ago, and maybe that explains what appears to be difference in skill level from the first part to later parts. Good story, definately not similar to anything I've read in quite a while.

This book is so bad that I wanted the three hours of my life it sucked away given back to me. Badly drawn characters, a plot you could drive a truck through, and just the overall shoddy writing left a bad taste in my mouth. I thought that "Deathbringer"was actually good for a few laughs (and would actually recommend that one), and bought this one based on that experience. Boy, what a mistake! Throw every horror cliche you can think of, mix it with some Anita Blake style bad porn, and have it acted out by the most irritating characters you have ever read about. Now, let an illiterate third grader actually write the thing and you have, "House of Blood". Leisure is publishing some great horror these days, and this is definitely not one of them!

I have to agree with some of the other readers on how annoying and typical the characters are. I swear if I had to hear Alicia use the word, girl...(i.e. "calm down girl"...."you listen to me girl", and on and on...) I was going to chuck this book across the room. I also thought Dream Weaver was a whiny brat. She is supposed to be this sweet, loving, caring person. Please. Chad's behavior in the beginining was way over the edge. I only hear mass murderers with an attitude like his. They all reminded me of a bunch of immature teenagers, yet they are all in their mid to late 20's. Dream's suicide attempt was a very childish part to put in the story. Over a guy!!! Especially at her age. Yeah real nice girl.

I think the story itself wasn't too bad. But it was kind of a disappointment at the end. After all those years in the Below, all they had to do was take over the gaurds, and simply kill the Master and they were free. Simple as that!? That's all it took?! 300 some pages and all it came down to was overtaking the gaurds and stabbing the Master.Apparently Chad's prescense had something to do with it. But I guess I didn't really understand that part.

All in all the characters irked on my nerves the most. This book will remind you of a typical B rated horror movie.

I recently picked up HoB after seeing it on the Leisure publishing site. I can say I am not disapointed that I did. This is Smith's first published novel (another new one Deathbringer is coming out in March) and I enjoyed it a lot. Smith's writing is fast paced, descriptive and fun to read. I found his horror talent to be above par and I enjoyed his unique tale of a road trip gone wrong. I expected a simple "we went down the wrong road and now we're being slaughtered" kind of tale but I was wrong. Instead in a creative, rich story with a whole world of evil going on. However I did find some of the characters to be a little on the annoying, immature side and the initial arguments between the five friends I felt was a little unrealistic. Maybe I just have really good friends b/c I can't imagine fighting with or saying the things Smith's characters said in the book. Still overall I found the book to be a great read and I am definetly going to purchase his next book Deathbringer b/c I think Smith is a really awesome horror writer and I look forward to reading more of his work.

Typical of many books in this genre, as House of Blood opens, we find 5 twenty something's crammed into a Honda Accord (and if that isn't hellish enough all on its own...well, I don't know what is - lol). They are arguing and the driver, one Dream Weaver (yea, you're allowed to moan) quickly pulls off the interstate onto an off ramp that will be the last one most of them ever take. House of Blood is really 4 stories that weave together to tell a larger tale and which the author tried to deftly create seemingly independent threads that would ultimately lead to a horrifying whole cloth...unfortunately, Smith doesn't quite pull it off. The story lines include the group in the car who (except for one unfortunate individual) make their way to an isolated house...a house where Eddie is desperately trying to escape...a house where Giselle seeks revenge on her master...and most of all a house that hides an entire underworld of desperation and hellish torture that the Master rules over with an iron fist (or does he?).

House of Blood had great bones and what appear at first to be compelling threads to a deeply twisted horror story...unfortunately what could be a great story turns out to be mediocre at best. Much of the action was predictable and kind of lurched along and the characters are lackluster and somewhat stereotypical (whiny nerd, gorgeous kind hearted blond, sluttish Asian girl, and the black best friend who says all the things no one ever says). I had a hard time really feeling much of anything for the characters, neither wanting to root for them or hope one of them really got what they deserved in the end. Additionally, the ending was kind of smooshed together where the author had all the threads come together. Unfortunately there really wasn't any artistry to it...it was action that wasn't very compelling or descriptive and which was extremely short and then bam, it was all over.

Overall...House of Blood was the mass market paperback equivalent of a "B" movie and I mean that in the nicest way possible. It had bad "acting" (characters), cheesy plot (that could have been stellar) and an ending that didn't quite satisfy, but still it provided plenty of gore, outrage, depravity...and I don't regret spending a few hours curled up with House of Blood. I give it three stars; it was entertaining, if a bit typical of the genre.

Loved it!! This was a great read and had all the blood and gore I love reading about in horror novels. It is so hard to find an incredibly great horror novel nowadays where the writer just lets their imagination run away with them.

My suggestion to all horror novelists....sometimes a story isn't all that is needed for a great horror book, you need graphic details of mind-warping terrors. The kind that I want to lose sleep over. I can't wait for more of Bryan Smith's horror novels, bring 'em on!

Bryan Smith's House of Blood begins on the road as 5 late-20's adults who've known each other since high school are driving back from an ill-advised trip to Florida. In rural Tennessee, the driver and heroine by the name of Dream Weaver pulls over as the bickering escalates. Bad mistake. Car troubles surface and they end up knocking on the door of a creepy old house in the middle of nowhere. The house is weird. The host and his servant are weird. But strangest of all is that the house sits atop a huge underground network of slaves and sadists. Escape is near impossible at this point...

This is one of the best horror debuts I've ever read, right up there with Brian Keene's "The Rising" and Scot Nicholson's "The Red Church". The cover of the book and its description at the back simply don't do this book justice. What appears on the surface to be a stereotypical horror novel about people stranded on the road and ending up at a weird isolated house (such as TCM, House of 1000 corpses and countless others) instead is really about a subterranean maze that is home to about 5,000 people and is replete with slaves, slavedrivers, sadists, guards, apprentices, debauchery parties and a host of other ghoulish surprises. It is much closer in tone to say, Edward Lee's "City Infernal" than any teenage road-movie horror so if you liked City Infernal I would urge you to pick this one up as well.

All in all it's a very impressive debut novel. Very gory and has an unusual amount of nudity, something to keep in mind if you like horror novels with healthy doses of both. Of course, it's not perfect and has flaws, mostly surrounding weak character development. 3 of the 5 characters in the car we hardly get to know anything about. The character of Chad's transformation from world's biggest a-hole to saviour of all those below was puzzling and unexplained. Even the main villain, "The Master", was seriously underdeveloped. But less character development also means more action and this book delivers that in spades. Bottom line, it's not great literature but it's one heck of a fun ride.

I see that Smith has since released two other titles, "Deathbringer" and "Freakshow" which I both plan to read. If they're as good as this one then I fully expect Smith to be a name to be reckoned with in the horror lit field and to be one of the shining stars of Leisure Horror book publishing.

House of Blood is the debut novel of Brian Smith, but from the rich writing and the intriguing plot, you can't tell it's a first. The beginning got me hooked, the middle kept me there, and the ending was strong.

Pros:

Smith uses a simple, straightforward manner to inject
his poison in the reader’s bloodstream. His prose is pronounced, clear, and focused.

The pace starts off swift and strong, stays in the air the whole way through, keeps lifting higher and higher, never putting its feet down on the ground.

Some of the events are almost offensive they're so disturbing, and while on the surface this plot looks generic, it's certainly not.

Cons:

Smith misses the mark with his characters. Dreamweaver comes off weak and whiny, Master is a good character but a bit confusing, Mrs. Wickman is too stereotypical to be believed, and all the really good characters were killed off too soon or not explored enough.

The dialogue worked sometimes, but other times it just...well, gee, golly, gosh, fizzled out.

Overall though, this gets a high marking. I recommend it to all horror fans - read this one when you get the chance, it's not for the birds.