Customer Reviews

Succubi

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

 

 

Archaeologists are stunned to find remnants of a little known ancient civilization known as the Ur-locs, a pre-druidic sect of the early Chiltern inhabitants of England. These people formed an occult society that practiced various rituals involving gratuitous sex, sacrifice, and cannibalism. However, what made them particularly unique was the fact that they were a society formed entirely of females. By enlisting the aid of "clever management and fear," they subdued males, enslaving them to do their biding. All of this in the name of their goddess, the Ardat-Lil, a succubus. But these ancient peoples have long since died out. Or have they?

Anne is a successful lawyer living in the city, even though her upbringing took place in a small suburban town. She resides with her daughter and her poet boyfriend, yet is living in constant turmoil and regret because her job keeps her from spending enough quality time with them. For months she is continuously awakened, at the same time every night, by the same recurring nightmare. Though her psychiatrist feels that her dreams have something to do with her guilt and stress, she isn't entirely convinced. When she returns home to visit her ailing father, the nightmare takes on a whole new dimension.

Erik Tharp has been living in a mental institution for quite some time now after being caught by police burying children and babies. Though convicted only of burying the bodies, and not killing them, he has been condemned to a life of mental poking, prodding, and dissection. Most of the professionals analyzing Erik write him off as delusional. Regardless of what they think, the vernal equinox, the "tangential lunar apogee," the doefolmon, is upon them, and Erik must find a means of escape before it is too late.

Though vile and amoral in many ways, the deliciously disgusting and vivid descriptions are exceedingly enticing to fans of extreme horror, and that is indeed this authors calling card. However, do not be mistaken, for there is more to this tale than horrendous description alone. Lee weaves his plot quite seamlessly, and in an extraordinarily calculated and delectable way. Though short, this novel makes for an incredible read that proves most difficult to put down. It is true that Edward Lee tends to be an acquired taste for those with more stalwart stomachs and a penchant for the abhorrently macabre. Nonetheless, I encourage every fan of the genre to give him a try. Lee has truly mastered the art of descriptive story writing.

The use of seemingly incoherent ramblings may be irritable at first, but bear with Lee and trust his ability to take the reader on an unforgettable, if at times repulsive, ride. All is explained in the end. And what an ending it is too!

Edward Lee is definitely an acquired taste. He has taken the genre of "gross out" horror to new heights (or depths). On its own merits, this particular book just did not win me over. I like blood and gore as much as the next guy, but this book over-presents the horrible aspects of the story. The main character has a recurring nightmare of giving birth among a blood-soaked, murderous, orgiastic audience night after night, and the reader is forced to read the same description of that nightmare over and over and over again. Even more annoying is the liberal use of a mysterious, largely incomprehensible language--while this ancient, earthen language is important to the story, its constant appearances in the text prove pretty annoying (especially before any of the terms are defined for the reader) . No character was developed in such a way that I could like or care about him/her, and the thoughts and actions of individuals oftentimes did not seem plausible to me at all. The role played by the protagonist's daughter is not fleshed out enough for me, either--her quick incorporation into the peculiar ways of the community happens much too quickly and without sufficient justification. I will give credit to the author for a decent ending. I thought I saw the end coming very early on in the novel; happily, I found that my conclusions were not quite on target after all (I was still close, though).

Many aspects of this novel can certainly be called disgusting, morally repugnant, obscene--you name it Almost everyone will be disgusted by this author's writing--while many will refuse to read him, a good many will want to read him for this reason alone. If extreme horror is what you are after, you will find it in these pages. However, the almost constant allusions to and overt examples of sexual matters become tiresome if not aggravating and eventually sickening, as it seems that many pages were written solely as a means for Lee to indulge himself in his own sexual fantasies, with little or no concern for the plot at all.

Edward Lee is a prime example of a "cult" writer in the horror field. Many of his books are extremely hard to find, and fans are willing to pay an arm and a leg on ebay to buy books of his that sometimes don't even exceed 100 pages. Why is Lee so popular? Because his stories are gruesome, gory, graphic and everything else that fans of the extreme horror genre crave. Oh, and he's a good writer too. Only recently have some of his titles been published in mass market editions thanks to the Leisure line of horror paperbacks. Succubi is not one of them, it's a 1992 novel novel that has wallowed in obscurity, even among his rabid fans. There's a good reason for that.

Ann Slavik is a big-shot lawyer in Washington D.C. She lives with her rebellious teenage daughter Melanie and with her writer boyfriend Martin. When Ann gets a call that her father is not well and on his deathbed, the three head north into the boonie town of Lockwood where her parents live. Meanwhile an escaped mental institute patient named Erik Tharp is also headed to Lockwood but for a different reason, to put an end to the sadistic cult that has been killing babies and framed Erik for it. Anne Slavik had no idea her home town is breeding ground for a sex-mad, cannibalistic, murderous cult but she will find out soon enough...

Succubi started off promisingly, as we meet several well-developped characters. Lee's writing in this novel is simple but effective and displays a sharp literary wit as I found myself cracking up at several of the verbal exchanges between the characters. Lee does take quite a while to kick his story into second gear, not good considering the short length of this novel. Does that mean the ending is explosive then? Ehh...not quite. I actually preferred the set-up of the first 100 pages than the last 100. That's not usually a good thing. The idea of a cult that sexually violates its victims and kills them while climaxing could have made for an incredibly gruesome ride but the gore is rather restrained here (only by Lee's standards mind you). No, what's really sickening are the scenes involving Duke Belloxi, another escaped patient at the mental institution. That dude is MEAN. He's a walking, joke-cracking timebomb that kills absolutely anyone in his path whether he feels they deserve it or not. His "exploits" had me squirming in my seat.

One of the things that really bothered me about this novel was the omnipresence of a strange language that the cult members use. These words mean absolutely nothing to the reader as we are not given any prior explanation as to their meaning. Only at the end during a discussion between a doctor and a researcher do we get to uncover the meaning of the language but still it feels clumsy and definitely too late. That, along with several loose ends that are never tied together and some of the main characters being dispatched unspectacularly are reasons not to shell out major bucks on this one. But that's okay, it's one of Lee's early novels and he was still refining his style. These days the man writes excellent books.

I read this book a few years ago, when it first came out. It is a good book. It is based on an ancient female demon character that is often identified with Lilith, the legendary first wife of Adam, before Eve, however, there are no mentions of the traditional origins of Lilith, Mother of the Succubi and the Incubi AKA Ardat Lili AKA Lilitu(And many other names). The entire story was excellent tho I would have enjoyed a different ending. But the book over all is worth it(if you do not have a weak stomach).

If you want a horror story then Edward Lee is the right author. Very graphic so if you get even a little scared in most horror books then dont buy this but if you want a truly awseome scare this is the book!!

This wasn't as good as Big Head or Black Train but it was a well paced read with plenty of blood, crude humor, and graphic sex which is always a plus. Quite a few times I had a good laugh while reading the things that came out of Duke's mouth. Expected more to the end but still enjoyed it.

Anyone who has heard of Edward Lee, for the most part, knows that he is pretty unique when compared to other horror authors. If you haven't heard much of Lee before, just be forewarned that he is extremely visceral and unconventionally graphic in his descriptions of horrific imagery. This is particularly true about his writings through Necro Publications, which "Succubi" is one of.

"Succubi" took an interesting approach to the all too frequently used plot involving the residents of some obscure little town who (come to find out) have a nasty habit of worshiping some unholy deity. Keep in mind that this novel was originally released almost 20 years ago, so since that time has lapsed, many analogous stories have been written. This was pretty fresh in the early 90's, and in many ways is still quite fresh today.

The only problem that I encountered with this novel was the numerous typographical errors that occurred throughout its duration. In a few areas of the book, I had to intellectually (ha!) substitute several letters within words to decipher the correct word. Now, this shouldn't be a problem seeing as the vast majority of us are somewhat literate (at least at or above the 3rd grade reading level).

Edward Lee is a very brilliant writer. Sure, his works contain some of the most disturbing ideas that have been put onto a printed page. But he balances it out very well. His character and plot development are superb. His novels are by no means trashy. So, I would recommend "Succubi" to those looking for a) an unusual and truly disturbing reading experience, or b) those like myself who enjoy Lee's creativity and style.

Before anyone buys a book written by Edward Lee, they should know what type of writer he is. His brand of horror goes beyond the typical paperback that you might pick up in the store. His books involve more explicit sexual activities, more explicit language and more explicit gore and death scenes.

This book is about an ancient civilization that has survived to the modern era. This civilization is female-dominated and is one of the most brutal groups to ever exist. Edward Lee does a good job of researching history, myth and legends...that is for sure. All his books often rely on some bit of the above. As with other books, we follow the lives of several individuals and watch as their paths cross.

One of my big complaints with the book was the escaped homicidal maniac who randomly kills and rapes people. This violence was unnecessary to the plotline and I can only imagine with some concern that some readers took some pleasure in reading the more sadistic parts of this book.

What gets me about Edward Lee is that he's got a great imagination and he comes up with really good plotlines but then drenches them in so much brutality that you become numb to the whole thing.

The adage that less is more is a lesson he does not live by. Sometimes just implying that someone was brutally murdered is better than giving us blow by blow details of that murder.

Another complaint was the pacing of the book. The first third seemed to drag on with only random violence breaking up the monotony. The middle third involved more violence and more sex while the last third seemed to just fly through the plot.

To sum up, the book is just okay. Take away the unnecessary brutality and explicit sex descriptions and this book would be about 90 pages long. Edward Lee could write much better if he didn't seem to be obsessed with sadism, torture, and pushing the bounds.