lincolncreadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Though I’ve never read him until this past week I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ray Garton’s work; a quick look online shows that he’s written over 50 books in the horror and related genres, to include several movie novelizations and television tie-ins. So receiving his new book, Bestial, in the mail right before flying out was definitely squee-worthy.
Bestial’s the sequel to Ravenous, which is described on various sites as telling the story of the werewolves’ initial takeover of the town of Big Rock, the setting of both of these novels. Garton’s lycanthropy is an STD, a novel approach and one that sets up plenty of opportunity for naughty action. Bestial’s not short on gore, either; there’s a particulary painful scene right from the get-go as a matter of fact. It’s a fast-paced read ending in a huge battle and Garton doesn’t kill off any of the characters I really cared about. That’s refreshing, actually, after some of the books I’ve read this year. He does, however, put a couple of the more interesting characters in situations that I’d look forward to reading more about in a possible third book. I was able to enjoy Bestial without knowing anything that came before, too; definitely a point in the book’s favor.
My biggest peeve about this book is Garton’s constant anti-Adventist message throughout the book. Half of the novel involves how shitty the Adventist religion is; one character’s whole backstory involves being part of the church and being shit upon by his holy-roller grandma and mother, the werewolves use the local Adventist church as part of their takeover of Big Rock and that’s just scratching the surface. The whole time I was reading Bestial I was thinking, Wow, Garton’s really got it in for this religion. Sure enough, in the bio at the end of the book, Garton writes that he was raised Adventist and it was horrible. Sounds like he has some issues to work through, and I can sympathize with that personally. I get a sermon every Sunday at my own church, though, and Garton’s outright soapboxing is definitely a mark against Bestial. 7/10.
Bestial’s the sequel to Ravenous, which is described on various sites as telling the story of the werewolves’ initial takeover of the town of Big Rock, the setting of both of these novels. Garton’s lycanthropy is an STD, a novel approach and one that sets up plenty of opportunity for naughty action. Bestial’s not short on gore, either; there’s a particulary painful scene right from the get-go as a matter of fact. It’s a fast-paced read ending in a huge battle and Garton doesn’t kill off any of the characters I really cared about. That’s refreshing, actually, after some of the books I’ve read this year. He does, however, put a couple of the more interesting characters in situations that I’d look forward to reading more about in a possible third book. I was able to enjoy Bestial without knowing anything that came before, too; definitely a point in the book’s favor.
My biggest peeve about this book is Garton’s constant anti-Adventist message throughout the book. Half of the novel involves how shitty the Adventist religion is; one character’s whole backstory involves being part of the church and being shit upon by his holy-roller grandma and mother, the werewolves use the local Adventist church as part of their takeover of Big Rock and that’s just scratching the surface. The whole time I was reading Bestial I was thinking, Wow, Garton’s really got it in for this religion. Sure enough, in the bio at the end of the book, Garton writes that he was raised Adventist and it was horrible. Sounds like he has some issues to work through, and I can sympathize with that personally. I get a sermon every Sunday at my own church, though, and Garton’s outright soapboxing is definitely a mark against Bestial. 7/10.
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