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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Eh, July 22, 2004
This review is from: The WYRM (Mass Market Paperback)
I have only recently decided to get into the modern horror genre. Most of my reading has been centered on nonfiction (history), philosophy, science fiction, and historical fiction, even though as a teenager I read a handful of Stephen King novels. I like the ideas of Lovecraft and Shelley's Frankenstein is one of my favorite novels, I heard Stephen Laws was good so I went to the local used bookstores and searched for Darkfall, wasn't there, bought this and a couple of others. I say all this to clarify that I am no horror aficionado, and at this point I couldn't tell you what is considered "A-List" from personal experience relative to the horror genre.
This is a book about a vile beast (the title character, the Wyrm, which I guess is pronounced either "Weerm" or "Vyrm") that emerges from w/in the earth after the sacred seal that secured the beast is broken. The protagonists are a broken down horror novelist, a shy young woman, and her father who has a secret regarding the Wyrm, plus a couple of kids and dogs and cops. The monster is blatantly Lovecraftian, which I liked, but the monster also talked too much, bragging about how horrifying and evil he is. That's sophmoric writing. The book has deformed zombies, Hellhounds, and a deadly fog. In other words, it takes villains from about 4 different 50s movies and combines them into one threat.
At times the writing is inspired, particularly through some of the "horror" sequences, at times it's insipid and cheesy. "He recoiled in terror"...as opposed to recoiling in joy? At times the characterization hits the mark, at other times, it's cliched. At times the monster is creepy (particularly the final form), at other times it's like he's singing, "I'm, too sexy for my decapitations, too sexy for my decapitations, so sexy it hurrrrtss...." The first couple of attacks by the creature are a bit unnerving, but by the end...been there, seen that. This is not a bad book, although it starts off a bit slowly (mind you, to develop the characters) and I imagine pretty standard fare for the horror genre. If you want to read a modernized, gory version of a Lovecraftian tale, w/ a slight Christian bent, this book would make an adequate read.
If you're sensitive to doggies, I warn you, a doggie that you grow attached to gets killed in it.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just Hanging Around, Underground, June 6, 2004
This review is from: The WYRM (Mass Market Paperback)
Two-and-a-half stars, really. Michael Lambton is a jittery, retiring young horror writer, in the rustic little sideroad English town of Shillingham. He's taking something of a break from his work, to exorcize personal demons. His neighbor, solitary barmaid Christy Warwick, has a few demons of her own to exorcize - her father's the town loony, possessive, overprotective, obsessive and not a little bizarre. The two meet and hit it off fairly quickly, and would probably have a textbook boring romance if it weren't for recent goings-on. Seems the Shillingham town council is ready to tear down that four-hundred-year-old gallows that is the only local tourist attraction, and modernize a bit. Christy's dad is downright homicidally opposed to the idea, for some reason. He's arrested for chasing off the bulldozers and diggers with a shotgun, but that's the least of Michael, Christy and Shillingham's problems - the gallows was the only thing keeping a bad man down, and now that it's removed, all hell's starting to break loose. This book is nothing you haven't read before, and you've probably read it better. Laws is a talented writer - his more recent Darkfall is especially good - but The Wyrm is one of his earlier efforts, written seventeen years ago, and it shows. It's a tad derivative of Lovecraft and Bram Stoker, and a little juvenilistically over-the-top. The writing is undisciplined, the plot telegraphed and the finale fairly predictable. However, the seeds of Laws' more mature style of later years are in evidence. The first third of the book is especially good in atmosphere and development of genuinely likeable characters. After that highly promising beginning, it all starts to fall apart and become a less than believable supernatural melodrama, the preceding careful weaving of plot giving way to special-effect variety non-stop action. There's a semi-clever twist to the ending, which you're likely to skim quickly to if you've read books of this type before (and plainly you will have, if this is your cup of tea). Open to the middle of the book and read a couple of pages first, before buying. If you like what you see there, you'll like the rest of it. If it all seems terribly over-familiar, you'll want to look elsewhere. Even if The Wyrm isn't what you want, though, something else by Laws probably will be. He's definitely an author worth watching.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good horror tale, March 9, 2005
This review is from: The WYRM (Mass Market Paperback)
A small Scottish town in the countryside becomes a living hell when an ancient gallows pole is removed and thus releases an ancient, centuries-old evil which seeks revenge for its imprisonment and brings horror to everyone within this small society. Fast, violent, creepy tale with good characters and an evil both dark and terryfing. If you like horror with monsters and mystery, you will like this one.
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