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A review by topdragon
Reprisal: A Novel of the Adversary Cycle by F. Paul Wilson
5.0
The fifth and penultimate book in F. Paul Wilson’s Adversary Cycle lived up to every expectation I had for it. It is an excellent horror story in its own right but is also critical to this overall series as well as providing further insight to the Repairman Jack series, both of which meet and culminate in the final novel, [b:Nightworld|219412|Nightworld (Adversary Cycle, #6)|F. Paul Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388271206s/219412.jpg|212439].
The plot of this novel follows closely after the events of [b:Reborn|289066|Reborn (Adversary Cycle, #4)|F. Paul Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1237150103s/289066.jpg|280447] in which the great evil that was thought to have been eradicated in book one, [b:The Keep|62571|The Keep (Adversary Cycle, #1)|F. Paul Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386925088s/62571.jpg|3354329], was reborn into our world. Many of the characters return here as well and the two novels, 'Reborn' and 'Reprisal', can really be considered companion volumes. Those two events (the supposed death and the rebirth) have driven or impacted every other major event in both series. I love it when a lengthy series has so many connections, seemingly unrelated and then when I read successive novels, multiple light bulbs go off in my head as I recognize more and more how everything relates.
This novel has some serious horror aspects to it. The author even admitted in the brief forward to this novel that this book contains some of the most wrenching fiction he has ever written. His masterful ability to introduce his characters in such a way that we really get to know them and understand them and become completely invested in them results in huge emotional payoffs and/or consequences when they find themselves in danger. His style is easy to read and keeps the pages turning but his plots are what drive me on to the next book and the next.
The final culminating novel for both the Adversary Cycle and the Repairman Jack series, [b:Nightworld|219412|Nightworld (Adversary Cycle, #6)|F. Paul Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388271206s/219412.jpg|212439], is next. I have mixed emotions about that, not wanting it all to end but enthusiastically anticipating how it will all wrap up. I think I am ready…
The plot of this novel follows closely after the events of [b:Reborn|289066|Reborn (Adversary Cycle, #4)|F. Paul Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1237150103s/289066.jpg|280447] in which the great evil that was thought to have been eradicated in book one, [b:The Keep|62571|The Keep (Adversary Cycle, #1)|F. Paul Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386925088s/62571.jpg|3354329], was reborn into our world. Many of the characters return here as well and the two novels, 'Reborn' and 'Reprisal', can really be considered companion volumes. Those two events (the supposed death and the rebirth) have driven or impacted every other major event in both series. I love it when a lengthy series has so many connections, seemingly unrelated and then when I read successive novels, multiple light bulbs go off in my head as I recognize more and more how everything relates.
This novel has some serious horror aspects to it. The author even admitted in the brief forward to this novel that this book contains some of the most wrenching fiction he has ever written. His masterful ability to introduce his characters in such a way that we really get to know them and understand them and become completely invested in them results in huge emotional payoffs and/or consequences when they find themselves in danger. His style is easy to read and keeps the pages turning but his plots are what drive me on to the next book and the next.
The final culminating novel for both the Adversary Cycle and the Repairman Jack series, [b:Nightworld|219412|Nightworld (Adversary Cycle, #6)|F. Paul Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388271206s/219412.jpg|212439], is next. I have mixed emotions about that, not wanting it all to end but enthusiastically anticipating how it will all wrap up. I think I am ready…