The Dead by David Gatward
Jun. 27th, 2010 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Lazarus Stone is about to turn sixteen when, one night, his normal life is ripped to shreds by a skinless figure drenched in blood. He has a message:
THE DEAD ARE COMING
Hell is full, and they have found a way through to this world.
Now Lazarus is all that stands in their way. To fulfil his destiny, he must confront not only the dark past of his family, but horrors more gruesome than even hell could invent – with only a winged angel and his best mate to help him. And it all begins with the reek of rotting flesh ...
Lazarus Stone is a teenage boy whose security adviser father is away on business, leaving Lazarus home alone. Only, he isn’t alone. A portal to hell has opened in his lounge and a skinless figure drenched in blood has materialised to give Lazarus a warning: Hell is full and the dead have found a way through into our world.
Lazarus discovers that his father is the Keeper – the only person who can keep the dead at bay. With the help of Arielle (a winged angel with an alcohol problem and penchant for fast driving who knows more about Lazarus’s father than he does) and his best friend, horror fan Craig, Lazarus realises that his father has disappeared. Until he can be found, Lazarus must fulfil his duties. If he doesn’t keep the dead at bay, then hell will break loose and the world as he knows it will be destroyed.
The first in a horror YA trilogy, this is a gory story that’s all set up for the challenges facing the preposterously named Lazarus Stone. The problem is that there’s nothing new here – the dilemmas and story have been done to death elsewhere and done with more style and effect.
Lazarus is a teenage boy familiar with horror culture thrown into a paranormal situation that is not of his making and who finds that he has special powers. His best friend is a horror and paranormal nut who helps him as best he can. Neither character feels any more than a two-dimensional cliché. Arielle the angel is slightly more interesting but mainly because certain key information is kept hidden for the time being.
There’s a lot of gore and blood-filled descriptions but precious little tension or genuine shocks. The concept of the dead taking over the living is potentially interesting but Gatward goes for gore rather than tension. A set-piece pitting Lazarus against someone he knows who’s been possessed loses a lot by the fact that it’s easy to guess early on that the character is not normal.
Because the story is all set-up and ends with a cliff hanger that’s obviously there to make you want to read the next one, but which had me yawning.
Teenage boys might like the gore and violence. For me though, there was nothing to make it stand out and I’ve read similar books that are more interesting.
The Verdict:
A YA horror that mistakes gore and violence for thrills and chills, this book failed to make an impression on me. Lazarus Stone is a cookie cutter character who left me blank, the set-up was meh, there was little tension and the cheap cliff-hanger ending certainly hasn’t left me hungry for more.
THE DEAD is published in the United Kingdom in July. Thanks to Hodder Children’s Books for the ARC.
Lazarus Stone is about to turn sixteen when, one night, his normal life is ripped to shreds by a skinless figure drenched in blood. He has a message:
Hell is full, and they have found a way through to this world.
Now Lazarus is all that stands in their way. To fulfil his destiny, he must confront not only the dark past of his family, but horrors more gruesome than even hell could invent – with only a winged angel and his best mate to help him. And it all begins with the reek of rotting flesh ...
Lazarus Stone is a teenage boy whose security adviser father is away on business, leaving Lazarus home alone. Only, he isn’t alone. A portal to hell has opened in his lounge and a skinless figure drenched in blood has materialised to give Lazarus a warning: Hell is full and the dead have found a way through into our world.
Lazarus discovers that his father is the Keeper – the only person who can keep the dead at bay. With the help of Arielle (a winged angel with an alcohol problem and penchant for fast driving who knows more about Lazarus’s father than he does) and his best friend, horror fan Craig, Lazarus realises that his father has disappeared. Until he can be found, Lazarus must fulfil his duties. If he doesn’t keep the dead at bay, then hell will break loose and the world as he knows it will be destroyed.
The first in a horror YA trilogy, this is a gory story that’s all set up for the challenges facing the preposterously named Lazarus Stone. The problem is that there’s nothing new here – the dilemmas and story have been done to death elsewhere and done with more style and effect.
Lazarus is a teenage boy familiar with horror culture thrown into a paranormal situation that is not of his making and who finds that he has special powers. His best friend is a horror and paranormal nut who helps him as best he can. Neither character feels any more than a two-dimensional cliché. Arielle the angel is slightly more interesting but mainly because certain key information is kept hidden for the time being.
There’s a lot of gore and blood-filled descriptions but precious little tension or genuine shocks. The concept of the dead taking over the living is potentially interesting but Gatward goes for gore rather than tension. A set-piece pitting Lazarus against someone he knows who’s been possessed loses a lot by the fact that it’s easy to guess early on that the character is not normal.
Because the story is all set-up and ends with a cliff hanger that’s obviously there to make you want to read the next one, but which had me yawning.
Teenage boys might like the gore and violence. For me though, there was nothing to make it stand out and I’ve read similar books that are more interesting.
The Verdict:
A YA horror that mistakes gore and violence for thrills and chills, this book failed to make an impression on me. Lazarus Stone is a cookie cutter character who left me blank, the set-up was meh, there was little tension and the cheap cliff-hanger ending certainly hasn’t left me hungry for more.
THE DEAD is published in the United Kingdom in July. Thanks to Hodder Children’s Books for the ARC.
