Cover Image: A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men and Monsters

A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men and Monsters

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Member Reviews

Though I’m very late to reviewing this one, I really enjoyed it! It kept me interested, and I would recommend it to anyone who dabbles in this genre.

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The story was in I but the book has a lot of characters and the plot can be hard to follow at times.

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Children are disappearing in Brunswick, New York. Why? William Willowsby sees scary ghosts while playing with Lily in the haunted cemetery. He flees the cemetery when he hears a moan. However he becomes obsessed with the cemetery’s supposed mysteries. Meanwhile two brothers bored decide to drive to this most haunted cemetery to ghost hunt. Will they find ghosts or worse? The new sheriff has been looking over the cold cases of Brunswick. They are all about children disappearing. This causes the sheriff decide to investigate as he finds it strange that none of the cases were solved. Then when he asks, the community tells him to “ignore the cases.” Why? What is the community’s secrets?

It is a novel that has historical accounts of Brunswick. Monsters appear in this horror story. There is the creepiness of not being able to discover what the community doesn’t want to tell outsiders — the most they are willing to do is warn them to stay out and don’t investigate. It is a true mystery . It is a fascinating read and spooky.

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"A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men and Monsters" is a lot of un. Not for the faint of heart, but a hell of a read for the right people.

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The book was a bit of a slog where it had so many characters to work through. I would have liked to have gotten to know a few characters more intimately.

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DNF. I gave up somewhere around 25%
There are some creepy and creative ideas here but the lack of editing and excessive over use of adverbs along with wordsthatruntogether are giving me a headache.

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This book takes place around Halloween in a little, ominous town called Brunswick. The story is written from quite a few viewpoints and also has flashes into the past. It is an old fashioned horror and I really enjoyed the thrills and scares and the book had me intrigued from the very beginning. I liked the way it mixed old legends and horror with modern day living to create quite a scary story.

Unfortunately due to the lack of editing, it was a bit hard to read with all the gramatical, spelling and typesetting errors. As there are a lot of characters in this story, it was hard to keep track of all of them, a fact that is made even harder by the author referring to a character by his first name in one paragraph then his surname in the next. I found myself paging back a couple of times to see which character I'm reading about now.

Thanks to Netgalley for letting me review this book, and I really hope some more editing will be done before releasing the book as it does distract a person from really getting into the story.

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A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monsters by David Ruggerio is set in the tiny New York village of Brunswick. It's a postcard perfect autumnal setting, with lovely cider-worthy orchards, fields of giant orange pumpkins, golden rows of corn and wheat, and that close-knit feel that only rural hamlets can offer. Brunswick is also a place full of sinister darkness, where an ancient legend walks the nights.

Things kick off as a group of oblivious tourists head to Brunswick to 'see some ghosts', and see them they do! Joey and Bobby get trapped in the old Hades mansion, the town's former mortuary, and come face to face with the demonic Balin, along with a child spirit. when the little daughter of Gerard Hibler is found butchered in the abandoned cemetery, things take a much darker turn than mere haunted graveyards and mansions.

Young William Willowsby, and his friend Lilly, along with three adults- Sheriff Tom, Jessup, and Beverley- must meet this fearsome nightmare head-on in order to protect their town and stay alive. Desperate to fulfill an ancient ritual to prolong its unnatural life, this creature and its wicked helper turn their sights on one of the daring group.

I found this to be quite an interesting read! My favourite location is the funeral home. Giant stained glass of purgatory? Check. Bizarre door handle shaped like a bony arm? Check. Massive entryway painting of Cronos eating his children? Check. And it was run by man a named Hades of all things!

The novel follows many POVs. The main ones are William, and the brothers Joey and Bobby. Later, Sheriff Tom takes a bigger role. Between them are what I came to think of as snapshot POVs that provide the history of the town, and little vignettes that show us how players both major and minor found themselves a part of the current tale. I enjoyed these tidbits of history and legend of the local region, and the glimpses into the characters' pasts. My favourite of these had to be the radio dj Johnny B, and Sheriff Tom. Hades' was interesting too, and rather sad. These snapshots flowed together with ease, enriching the story at hand.

I felt there could have been a bit more showing than telling in the present day storythread. Also, the very end felt quite Deus ex machina. It kinda came from nowhere, and left me going 'huh'? It did give a certain tertiary character vengeance, but they were never really an active player. My only other qualm is that the manuscript needs another thorough proofing for grammar and spelling. This was an ARC, so I'm sure that will be finished come release! Also, don't get too attached to characters! You never know who's gonna bite the dust!

This was a wonderful ode to the mysteries, fears, and delights of the things that haunt the night. It is a horror novel that blends elements of X-Files, Supernatural, and Stranger Things, that harkens back to old school horror. It made me think of what you might get if directors Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro collaborated on a book. Recommended if you enjoy horror novels of the slow-build kind with little of the slash and gore action.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Black Rose Writing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Reviewed for the San Francisco Book Review

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I got a free advance readers’ copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was an old-fashioned horror in the midst of modern life. Halloween and werewolves, trick-or-treaters and witches. Before reading it, I saw where someone described it as reading a book that Tim Burton would write. That is the best way to describe it. It had an Edward Scissorhands feel to it. Seeing as that is actually one of my favorite movies, that should tell you how much I enjoyed this book.

A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men and Monsters tells the story of a quaint village, Brunswick, and it’s inhabitants. It is Halloween time and a great evil is on the loose. While many villagers are willing to keep Brunswick’s secrets well hidden, a group of investigators is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. There is also a haunted house in which an evil dwarf lives and serves its monstrous master and a cemetery in which many dark acts occur.

I loved this book. The author was extremely skilled at making me feel as if I was in a horror based in the 19th century. There were touches of modernity, such as FaceTime, but the feel of the story was ancient. Somehow this made the story even creepier.

My favorite character would have to be William Willowsby. He was one of the group determined to fix what was wrong with the village. Even though he was just a child, he had lived through so much and was still so brave. Lilly, his best friend, was also another favorite, with her sweet, childish innocence. I was definitely rooting for them to survive the horrific events of this book.

The characters of this book were well placed. The creepy caretaker of the cemetery with his broken English was perfect. The thrill-seekers who kept popping up at the weirdest times were a nice addition. It was clear that the author thought very carefully about who he wanted living in the world he created. They blended in well with the peaceful serenity which masked the nasty underbelly of the town.

While the dialog of this book was excellent, the asides the author included were genius. They brought a touch of humor to the events. I found myself chuckling out loud in some parts of the book as a result.

As I mention humor, that was another enjoyable part of the book for me. There was some dark humor in this book which gave some of the events an odd twist.

My one issue, however, was the grammatical errors. There were quite a lot and in many places, I found myself a bit confused as to what sentences the author was trying to write. Hopefully, another round of proofreading would have been done before this book is published.

There were some very adult scenes in this book with very graphic descriptions of sexual acts and violence. This is definitely not a book for anyone other than adults. If you are turned off by blood and gore, I suggest you do not read this. That also applies to very religious people who may not like reading about pagan religions and witchcraft. If you are a person like me who loves a good old horror story, you will definitely enjoy this. Fittingly enough, this book will be released on Halloween which is the perfect setting to read it.

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Review of 'A wistful tale of Gods, men and monsters' by David Ruggerio
Available to read and review on NetGalley

When u started reading this book I thought I would really struggle with it as some of the words didn't have gaps between them in the quotes at the beginning of some of the chapters and some of the chapter headings there seemed to be problems with the font leaving letters out or turning them the wrong way or making them into symbols instead of letters. However I took into consideration the fact that the book hadn't yet been published and it was reasons such as this that authors rely on reviewers.
As I continued to read this book I really got hooked and sunk my teeth in, quite ironic considering the books genre. I then couldn't put it down and really started enjoying it.
Going back to a small negative I did struggle to grasp the who's who as there were quite a few characters but again this was also quickly overcome.
The story itself was fantastic and I couldn't put it down when I got into it. I really liked some of the characters, others not as much but all were realistic and similar to people you would see around town. There were many parts that I didn't expect even up until the end I was thinking 'Well they really did do that then' which made it even better as I'm not a lover of predictable books, too boring after a while.
Overall excellent story, unique, very well written, brilliant characters, spooky/scary storyline, edge of your seat page turner. I would definitely recommend this to any horror, mythical and scary story fans and would also read more by this author.
Rated 5/5 on Goodreads

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First, I was given a copy of this book for review. I am a avid horror fan, HP Lovecraft, King etc. To my delight, this book is written in the old horror style, not hack and slash. I cheered with William and Lilly and even became worried when they entered the old funeral home. Found myself reading until my IPad required a recharge.

Discovered that Brunswick N.Y. Is. Real city and where this story is based from. The author used Mohawk myths and local stories for the book as well. I was delighted to have been given a copy of this book and look forward to seeing more works from this author.

If you enjoy old style horror, then this book is for you. As for me, I plan to visit the Pinewood Cemetery next month.

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