Review: The Darkening Dream – Andy Gavin
Sarah Engelmann’s life has always been an ordinary one. She’s lived a bookish life, and is thankful for all the blessings God has given her. Up until now, she’s spent most of her time with her beloved friends, Anne, Sam, and their little sister, Emily. For her, life is as good as it gets. Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving.
When an unexplained vision turns out to be real, Sarah begins to question her sanity. She’s not exactly sure as to why she’s seeing what she’s seeing, but she knows there’s a plausible reason for her dreams. Granted, she doesn’t quite know what to do about them. Never-the-less, she intends to get the bottom of things.
Enlisting the help of her beloved friends, and their new friend, the enigmatic, but charming, Alex, she embarks on a journey that further tests her faith in all things holy. It seems there’s a dark power intent on wreaking havoc on her and her family, and it must be stopped, at all costs. Alex, it seems, knows more than he lets on, a certainty that becomes clearer to Sarah as the days go on.
Battling the undead and its minions, alongside with a Puritan minister that’s definitely on the wrong side of the tracks, Sarah knows she must put together the pieces of the puzzle if she’s to save herself, her family, and her friends. When it becomes apparent that the vampire is after Gabriel’s Trumpet, she soon realizes there’s more to the situation than she could have ever imagined.
As she draws ever closer to discovering the reasons behind the vampire’s fixation to the horn itself, Sarah becomes privy to the fact that secrets have been kept from her, right and left. Secrets that can ruin all those involved. Her only course of action is to place her trust in a higher power, one she’s not really sure exists. Never-the-less, she’s willing to allow her heart and her faith to guide her along the chosen path in hopes of restoring the community’s belief in all things good before someone else gets hurt in the process.
A tad graphic, here and there, I honestly found this book very hard to put down. I truly enjoyed the historical elements of the book itself, though. The history of Salem, Massachusetts has always intrigued me. While this doesn’t exactly follow the path of the witchcraft trials of the 1600’s, it’s still chock full of the lore behind it. I think Andy did a wonderful job in crafting a world where good and evil collide during a time where witchcraft was highly believed, and practiced in the shadows. A great read, this is definitely a book I intend read again in the nearest future.
Available for purchase via the following retailers:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Darkening-Dream-ebook/dp/B006PIMYLY
Synopsis:
The Darkening Dream is the chilling new dark fantasy novel by Andy Gavin, creator of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter.
Even as the modern world pushes the supernatural aside in favor of science and steel, the old ways remain. God, demon, monster, and sorcerer alike plot to regain what was theirs.
1913, Salem, Massachusetts – Sarah Engelmann’s life is full of friends, books, and avoiding the pressure to choose a husband, until an ominous vision and the haunting call of an otherworldly trumpet shake her. When she stumbles across a gruesome corpse, she fears that her vision was more of a premonition. And when she sees the murdered boy moving through the crowd at an amusement park, Sarah is thrust into a dark battle she does not understand.
With the help of Alex, a Greek immigrant who knows a startling amount about the undead, Sarah sets out to uncover the truth. Their quest takes them to the factory mills of Salem, on a midnight boat ride to spy on an eerie coastal lair, and back, unexpectedly, to their own homes. What can Alex’s elderly, vampire-hunting grandfather and Sarah’s own rabbi father tell them? And what do Sarah’s continuing visions reveal?
No less than Gabriel’s Trumpet, the tool that will announce the End of Days, is at stake, and the forces that have banded to recover it include a 900 year-old vampire, a trio of disgruntled Egyptian gods, and a demon-loving Puritan minister. At the center of this swirling cast is Sarah, who must fight a millennia-old battle against unspeakable forces, knowing the ultimate prize might be herself.
About The Author:
Andy Gavin is a serial creative, polymath, novelist, entrepreneur, computer programmer, author, foodie, and video game creator. He co-founded video game developer, Naughty Dog, and co-created Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. He started numerous companies, has been lead programmer on video games that have sold more than forty million copies, and has written two novels including The Darkening Dream, a dark historical fantasy that puts the bite back in vampires.
Connect With Him Online:
Website: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andygavin
Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/andygavin
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/asgavin
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/andrewgavin/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Gavin
