Dark Garret

 Hello everyone!

It's book review time today.

I believe this is my first actual book review post that I've done for this blog, the first proper one anyway. And the book I'll be reviewing?

Magick by Judith Sonnet.

Magick by Judith Sonnet

Now, I will say off the bat that this is not really a book for the faint-hearted as it can get quite extreme at times.

But, if you were to look at any of Judith Sonnet's work, that is plain to see and she allows you to know what you are getting yourself into before you purchase.

It may be a surprise, but I'm a bit of a fan of a a good old splatterpunk horror and love many of the Troma films and this fits in well with that genre, and you can see that from many of her available books. It very much the case of them 'doing what they say on the tin' - to use an English saying.

Magick is a novella very much in the same vein, full of blood, gore and sex with a crew of pornographers turning up at a seemingly empty, haunted brothel and for everything to go as you'd expect when the ghosts get very much into sadism and letting their tendencies run riot.

There is a satisfying ending, of which I won't provide spoilers, and things are set up for a sequel, should Judith Sonnet wish. Magick in Space anyone? I could imagine it joining the ranks of the Jason and Leprechaun movies that went cosmic and us getting some hellish, gorey orgy, with lasers and anti-gravity. But I'm getting away from things.

From the Lucio Fulci films I've seen, I can well see that Judith Sonnet has been inspired by them, but unfortunately, I'm not an aficionado of his films. Much like with his films, he has a lot of style over function. There are a couple of bits that make no sense, like a ballet school having a room for barbed wire. But they are there, because of drama, and sexy gore reasons. The little bits that back no sense matter little, other than wishing to know a little more about them.

I would have liked to have known a little more about the main character, or the two paranormal investigators that provided and opening to the book, or more about the graveyard near the brothel that seems to be part of the premises, or who the cleaning crew were, but I really am not bothered by them. Finding out about all of that would have spoiled the flow of the story And with them, I probably would have felt that the story was bogged down with minutiae, so its good that explanations were left out. But that really is just me being petty. They would really just be there to satisfy a curiosity. Perhaps they would make curious little pieces of flash fiction for some deluxe or anniversary edition.

To conclude, I really enjoyed this book, its got a style to it that is really engaging and rattles on through the premises, presenting you with a panoply of gore and sexiness. It really is like something that could be made into a Troma film or some Indie Splatterpunk film. I'm kind of reminded of some of the old Grindhouse films from the seventies that Quentin Tarantino is so found of. Any down points to the book are not really noticeable and are a matter of curiosity that would spoil the 'page turner' effect if dwelt on and explained further. If you are going into the mindset of expecting the right things - that it's a stylish, sex filled gore-fest - then this is a fantastic book. Though of course, that isn't for everyone.

Now, for where to find Judith Sonnet. It can be found here for UK readers, and here for readers in the USA.

If you'd like to give her a follow, you can find her here on Twitter and here on Instagram. Any other subsidiary links can be easily found by following the relevant links on those sites. Take a look at some of her other work.

as a side note, I hope to do some other book reviews as and when I finish them. I had thought of doing some rating system, like a five star thing, or an out of ten. In short, I don't really want to. I think most of the time, liking a book is subjective to some degree. So including a rating system sort of goes against that. What I'll try to do is be honest about whether I liked the book or not and to include the whys and wherefores so that if you are have a similar taste in books, you'll have an idea of where it'd be enjoyable.

Anyway, enough blather, I hope you manage to get some reading in and enjoy yourself!