Customer Reviews

Reprisal

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Reprisal is the second book of the Nightworld Trilogy; part of the Adversary Cycle from F. Paul Wilson. This book continues the story begun in "Reborn", of the return of Rasalom (a sort of shadowy, lord or darkness character) and the efforts of a small group of enlighted souls who try to thwart him (or just merely survive). Along the way, Rasalom tries to break their spirits by performing unspeakable acts of evil.

Although some of the story devices are rather gruesome (as stated in the previous review), they completely in line with the story and with its main character. All in all, a very good effort by the author and and excellent second-book-in-a-trilogy.

Reprisal represents a pretty serious shift in the Adversary Cycle's tone and focus. This is an intimate psychological horror story about corruption and revenge (hence the title) rather than conspiracy or otherworldly beings/monsters, at least on the surface. The Evil One has been reborn and, in an interesting twist, decides to have some fun torturing a surviving character from Reborn by defiling and destroying those close to him. These assaults are pretty spine chilling in their utterly soulless ferocity and, as one review points out, may offend some feint of heart readers. Be warned, some sequences will leave you pretty shaken up. Recommended.

This book is one of the greats in thrilling and horrifying its reading...This book, in many ways, came out even better than some of the horrifying Stephen King novels, which we all know are first-rate thrillers. You'll have to read it yourself to find out why!

According to F. Paul Wilson himself, Reprisal is one of the hardest books he's ever written, and one section of the book was so troubling that his wife wouldn't speak to him for three days. Once you've read the book, you won't be surprised either. Reprisal is a brutal, horrific novel that contains some of the most unsettling and nightmarish moments I've read, period, not just in Wilson's work. The events that occur over Christmas Week to a young priest are likely to stick with me for a long, long time, and that's due in no small part to Wilson's commitment to not only the story but his characters as well. The fact that such a scene plays so perfectly in the overall book - which finds characters from Reborn reconnecting many years later, sometimes unbeknownst to each other, as one of them seeks vengeance - is just a testament to what a phenomenal horror novel Reprisal really is. By the time the book reaches its conclusion and we realize exactly how epic the scope of this revenge truly is, it's hard not to be staggered and unsettled by what we've witnessed. What's more, by having this book lead directly into the apocalyptic finale, Wilson is free to end the book in a grim fashion befitting the bleak read that precedes it. Reprisal is a rough read by any standard, and even in Wilson's horror-infused world, it stands out as a nasty piece of work. But for those who are up for it, I can't recommend it enough; it's a gripping read by any imaginable standard.

First let me warn you: the faint of heart should think twice about picking up this book...on to the review...
This was awesomely frightening and chilling! I love the fact that FPW holds back no punches in an effort to shock you...there are no pit pat solutions, no happy endings. This is true horror, because it's neverending. Reprisal is the fabulous continuation of The Keep (excellent!) and Reborn (pretty good). I must say that some of the horrors are pretty creative. FPW is heads and shoulders above formulaic writers like King. I did't put Reprisal down until I was finished reading it.

I read this book a few years ago and I still think about it. It has some of the most disturbing story lines; it has things that will sit with me forever.

If you don't like horror, don't read this book. If you do, put it at the top of your TBR pile.

Thank you Paul Wilson. This book rocks.


James Roy Daley
Author of The Dead Parade
The Dead Parade

This is an excellent book. A must read if you're an F. Paul Wilson fan.

I was quite hesitant to get into this book as my trip through the rest of the "Adversary Cycle" hasn't been nearly as good as I was either hoping or expecting; however, I was quite pleased to discover that Wilson really hit his groove with this book.

The initial setup of the characters was rather good, and then about halfway through the book comes possibly one of the better described versions of "Time for Something Awful" to happen I have read in some time. The intrusion of the supernatural in this story for the characters was extremely jarring, and the sheer bizarre factor added to the feel of dread.

I will say that in reading the other books of the "Adversary Cycle" I noticed more than a few editing errors (wrong names mentioned, odd spelling glitches) and while the story and characters were excellent in this book, the editing was not. Toward the very end (page 322 if I recall correctly) there was the inclusion of a paragraph from the next book (I think) in a DIFFERENT paragraph which was particularly unfortunate as it somewhat ruined the mood of the scene.

All in all, I am most intrigued to see how Wilson wrapped all this up initially; I realize that the next book will be changed rather drastically to account for the fact that Repairman Jack has become a much larger figure in the overall story.

I am particularly interested to see how the events/power from 'The Touch' might factor into the overall story, as it has been pretty much the only part of the Cycle that doesn't seem to fit so well with the rest of it.

If you are a Repairman Jack fan then this is a must read to better understand the character Rasalom (who appears in various representations in many of the Jack series) and how we manipulates people and seeks to destroy mankind by bringing out the worst in them thus causing never ending violence and darkness. The are some horrific scenes and ample violence but if you're a fan of this genre nothing that would truly shock anyone. If you watch the nightly news there are, unfortunately, equally shocking and horrific things going on every day to innocent people...

Reprisal, the 5th book in F. Paul Wilson's epic "Adversary Cycle" started off pretty slowly, but by the end he had done something no other Author (Except William Peter Blatty with "The Exorcist"...) has ever done: Made me want to sleep with the lights on.....

Picking up twenty-some-odd years after "Reborn" ended, the book focuses on the reborn incarnation of EVIL (So evil he deserves all capitals!), Rasalom, last seen in the first book, "The Keep". To say just what he's up to, and who he's doing it to, would do a disservice to people who haven't read the series yet. The book is swimming with familiar characters from the previous books, as well as introducing some memorable new ones. After a slow start, Wilson digresses to an extended flashback that had such a bone-chilling effect on me that I actually didn't want to go to sleep. I literally could not put the book down, but I almost dreaded reading further. To say the events depicted in the flashback are disturbing would be an understatement. By the end of the book, Wilson has perfectly set the stage for the final book, Nightworld. I can't wait to read it. Reprisal was THAT GOOD.

Problems..? A few. As I said, the book was a little slow at first, and I really never warmed to one of the main characters, Lisl. The illustrations, by John and Laura Lakey, are pretty bland and nondescript. The only one that really worked for me was the one depicting poor Danny....The cover illustration is amazing, however. Also, the Dark Harvest edition has a TON of spelling/Grammar errors, including Lisl repeatedly being referred to as "Lisa", and a few paragraphes of total gibberish in the last chapter, including a paragraph that seems to have been dropped in from the next book, Nightworld. Really sloppy. The book looks GREAT however; If you can find a nice Copy of the Dark Harvest book, I'd say grab it.