Brom

Slewfoot was the perfect book for hiding out in the air-conditioning and reading non-stop. Seriously. It's hot, and I was hooked from the first page.

I loved the premise of the book - In the puritanical era of 1600s (1666 I see what you did there...) New England, what if one of the women accused of witchery is actually what she is accused of being? I loved the morality of the book - Why do people consider one religion true over another? What happens when your belief is challenged, and you are show more forced to confront what you truly are?

With tertiary characters aside, nearly all the characters experience exposure of their genuine selves and real change. None if it is pretty. Most of it is gruesome and emotionally rending.

For people who are deeply bothered by violence to animals (as I generally am) - There is a lot, and it is hard. It's life and death in the wilderness. It's not meaningful or meaningless. Good or evil. It just is.

Except for one:

Booka's death was meaningful to Abitha, and it drove her to action. In the end, Booka was Abitha's familiar and her death was the spell that was needed to utterly destroy Sutton.

My thoughts on the violence toward animals came to a sharp focus at the end/epilogue. Humans are animals and we all gotta eat.

One more thing behind the spoiler:

That revenge was so, so sweet.

I can't comment on the art work because I read it on my ancient Kobo. I'm sure that it's lovely. Eventually I'll get around to ordering the hardback of the book. I've got it on my wishlist now. I'll definitely read more of Brom's books now. This one was fantastic. show less

There are a whole host of mythologies and faerie tales at play here. My first thought was that this was a dark retelling of Peter Pan, which is not all that far off the mark. This is a twisted gory ode to Peter Pan and Avalon and other faerie stories. If you really think about Peter Pan, even the Disney version, he's basically I child predator--a kidnapper. Then if you think on the original, non-watered down version, Peter is pretty cruel, he kidnaps children and sends them to war against show more his enemies. His lost boys are frequently killed in battle, or put out to pasture if they begin to "grow up". That's really messed up!

All that being said, Peter, is a child thief who tricks runaways, or kids from bad situations into following him into the mists of Avalon. And if they manage to make it through the mist, they're trained as soldiers in his personal army. Everything Peter does is for the Lady Modron and to protect Avalon, but it all comes at a cost. The child thief has lead countless children to the deaths.

This story had loads of deaths, battles, magic and just general craziness. All-in-all I really enjoyed it. show less

**This book was reviewed for San Francisco Book Review**

Brom's Lost Gods is a dark, gripping tale of the power of love, the wickedness of men, and the power of alchemic forces always at work in our lives. Chet Moran is a man with a new lease on life. Recently released from prison, Chet elopes with the live of his life, who is carrying his child. Impending fatherhood has made a new man of Chet, and he vows to be the best of fathers to his unborn child.

Chet and Trish flee from her father, show more going nearly a hundred miles away to where his grandmother lives. Chet hopes to get on his feet, and make a new life for himself and his fledgling family here on remote Moran Island. He never gets the chance. Not even one day back and Chet learns the sinister truth behind his mother's family. Not one day back and he finds himself dead. The only way to save Trish and his unborn daughter the same fate is to traverse the Netherworld, searching for his grandfather, Gavin.

Chet's travels carry him across the River Styx, and all the way to Lethe and back. Along the way, he meets some once-human friends, such as Ana and Ado, and makes the acquaintance of several gods, from Sekhmet to Veles. He also earns the enmity of several once-human souls, and their demon masters. In his quest to find Gavin, Chet helps thwart a hostile coup of humans and demons against the twilight gods who dwell in purgatory. After all that, he still needs to get back to the surface and confront the threat to his family.

One part Dante's Inferno, one part the journey of Orpheus, Lost Gods is an alchemic journey quite unlike any other. I have yet to read a novel by Brom that wasn't richly complex, and this was certainly no exception. Filled with exquisite description, this book follows Chet Moran through seven distinct phases, mirroring the phases of alchemic transformation. At the beginning of each section is a unique, detailed drawing depicting a beastie or being relevant to that section. I loved Chet’s determination. Even after death, he fought to keep his promise of being there for his fledgling family. Through his underworld travels, he lived a veritable lifetime, growing into the full manhood his death had cut short.

This story mirrored a belief I hold personally, that we shape our own afterlife. Here, the twilight gods make a note that it is our beliefs in life that lead a soul to be damned or not. It was only those who had a dual belief in heaven and hell, and who committed some deadly sin that ended up in hell. Those who followed other paths did not, though they may still suffer death at the hands of demons or other underworld beings. And souls can die. Once a soul crosses over, if the ba is released from the ka's frame, through damage to the skull, then there's no coming back. A soul whose ba is still safe can heal damage to the ka, either over time or through ingestion of ka coins. This story speaks to me on an even deeper level, in relation to the subjugation by the Book religions, called here the One God faiths, of so many of the myriad faiths that once flourished. So much lost because of what? Jealousy? Intolerance? If you want a book guaranteed to make you think, look no further.

🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻 Highly recommended because Brom. 'Nough said. show less

The blurbs about The Child Thief describe it as a dark re-imagining of the classic children’s tale of Peter Pan. This is true as far as it goes, but distinctly understated. Brom’s version dials the Dark up to eleven. He takes the story of Peter the Puer Aeternus, adds the Fae and a great deal of Celtic mythology, a group of puritan settlers turned monster, and throws in a large glug of Lord of the Flies and cooks it all up into an entertainingly nightmarish story, ably accented by his show more artwork.

I like dark re-imaginings of fairy tales and such, and enjoyed this one. But I found I had to consume it slowly, in rather small bites. show less