Grimm Memorials

Yes, this book is very disturbing and graphic...but it's also phenomenal! I loved the immense use of imagination Gates uses to incorporate all the nursery rhymes and how he turns them evil. Clearly a lot of people aren't probably going to like this book because of the gore and sometimes perverse scenes but if you are willing to get past that, you'll love it! ( )

A gory good time. ( )

In truth, this book is a wicked work of art that would make the Brothers Grimm shivver with fear.

Early on in this novel, it becomes apparent that Gates took painstaking care to create a novel that operates on many levels. He crafts in Elenore Grimm a villian who is rumored to be a descendant of the Grimm brothers from whom the story takes it's name. As such, she's always been gifted with the storytelling creativity that her ancestors were known for. A former crematoritum operator who seeks eternal life through the dark arts, Elenore possesses a paranormal abilty referred to as "The Machine", which she uses to read the minds of others, toying with their perceptions and bending their wills to do her bidding. The hallucinations of the victims take the form of viciously distorted fairy tales.

Consider yourself warned. This is not a novel for the squeamish or faint of heart. This is extreme horror at it's most intense. The pages are splattered full of canibalism, torture, and darker things than most minds could imagine. At the same time, Gates has created a world full of characters who you will feel as if you know, which makes their demise all the more frightening.

Amusingly, each chapter of this book begins with a quote from a fairy tale, which manages to sum up that chapter's contents in some way, shape or form - an effort that must have taken much of the writers time, but adds an excellent touch.

This novel may have elements that are familiar to fans of Stephen King, but will definitely appeal to afficcionados of more extreme writers such as Edward Lee or Jack Ketchum. My guarantee is that once you finish this novel, you'll want to start immediately on the sequel, Grimm Reapings, and will then begin to beg for the rumored third book. ( )