The Militia House

Milas' pairing of a quiet war novel (i.e. this isn't a book where you'll find bloody battles) with a bad house novel makes for a compelling read, and I very nearly read it in two sittings. At moments, this book reminded me of writings by Tim O'Brien and Ernest Hemingway, and at other times, I felt as if I was falling again into Danielewski's House of Leaves or one of King's bad place novels all over again. (Certainly, it's got flavors of both House of Leaves and The Black House by King and Straub, though this work is far, far shorter than either.) Those comparisons should tell you how much of a punch this short novel manages, and what makes it all the more effective is how it sneaks up on you.

I began reading while wondering, even as I show more got more and more engaged, if the horror was perhaps just the horror of war and I'd been somewhat misled by the marketing. But then, when the horror does come in, it's clear that Milas has channeled the atmosphere of other 'bad-place' books, and made a perfect choice in pairing such a place with a deployment to the Middle East.

Whatever Milas writes next, I'll be reading it. show less

"No one made me join the Marines or come to Afghanistan. I chose both of those. All of this has been worthless. I would have never known the truth if I hadn't come here with a gun like people have been doing since before I was old enough to enlist. Since before I was born. No one back home knows what it's like here because they weren't as desperate as I was. They're all so lucky they can ignore everything. I wish I was like them. But now I'm stuck here, and I'll never be able to tell them what it's like. They'll keep living their busy, important lives forgetting there's a war happening here. I can't move, I can't move and it's too late. Too late for everything."

This is a neat slow burn horror. Corporal Loyette is deployed with his unit show more in Afghanistan. One day, a British unit tells them of an old soviet base nearby called the Militia house that's supposedly haunted, and Loyette and a few others decide to check it out. There's not much to see in the House, but soon after Loyette and the others start having strange dreams. It becomes clear that he and others have been changed by going into the house.

This is also a really good and harsh look at the realities of war for our soldiers overseas, and the trials they go through. The author is a veteran himself, and that's why these parts felt so authentic to read.

It took a while for the story to really grab me, which is why in the end it's a 3.5 star read for me.

Thank you netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

A great example of an author with an interesting idea and a lot of practical knowledge about the boredom of deployment in
Afghanistan, but no idea where to take his idea, except a dead end. Don't try to tell me the ending is meaningfull and representative of our dead-end mission in Afghanistan. That's a cop-out. The author just isn't talented enough to think up something interesting, and so while we can appreciate the atmosphere the book portrays and its depiction of the military, as a story, it ultimately disappoints. The audiobook is very well read, however. But, isn't that almost always the case. (Maybe we're supposed to make up our own ending.)

Billed as a horror novel, after reading it, I consider it more of a psychological horror story, more like a bad LSD trip. It has no “blood and gore,” just a lot of creepy things going on. But it does leave you a bit unsettled. I never really understood it all, but I enjoyed the book.

Corporal Alex Loyette is part of a small military unit in a remote area of Afghanistan. Boredom leads Alex and three other members of his unit to visit the old, abandoned Militia House just outside the wire. There are rumors that the building is haunted. After their visit, all four soldiers begin having strange dreams, followed by a litany of odd happenings.

The first third of the book focuses on describing the environment and the tediousness the soldiers show more encounter leading to extreme boredom. In the second part, the soldiers are experiencing the aftermath of their visit to the Militia House. Then the third part focuses on Loyette and his reflection on all that has happened. The third part especially is left open to the reader’s interpretation.

The author brilliantly described the psychological and physical distress the soldiers encountered. There is a mystery that settles over the entire story, an unsettling mystery that ramps up the tension until the very end. The pacing is slow, but it worked well for this book.

There are a lot of military terms in it, but I have a military background so had no problem understanding it. Written by a veteran who served in Afghanistan in 2010, it realistically reflects the life of some of our soldiers deployed overseas.

Thank you to GoodReads and Henry Holt & Company for the advance print advance copy. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own. show less

Did *not* like this book. While it started off with promise (soldiers finding strange quills, experiencing creepy things), the story drops- our protagonists enter the titular milita house of lore but experience something that they later can't quite remember but unsettles them, and then are various-levels of cursed and/or mentally broken. I recall that towards the end, our main character decides to go back and enters into an impossibly massive and dark and empty basement space, but I honestly can't remember- did he get out? Was he rescued? Or did it just end there? Either way, I felt cheated- the porcupine-like quills, especially, seeming to hint at some supernatural creature, only to be meaningless or never explained. The lack of any show more sort of lore to help tie things together and make a cohesive horror story was frustrating, and as a commentary on war, it's either too timid for my taste, or too boring. This book was just too slow, and left things too unexplained. show less

Just OK for me. I didn't feel very engaged while reading or like I got any new insights. Still don't understand the porcupine quills.

I feel like this book is incomplete. For horror, leaving things behind the curtain is the norm, but in this, there's too much left there.