Edition Details:
Format: E-book
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Brizo Media Group
ASIN:B07JF1T2K1
Price: 399 rs (Free with Kindle Unlimited)
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| Wendigosis – Jack Norton |
First Sentence:
The girls were in a pile in the middle of the strange circular room.
Story:
Hoodrat, Banjo Eyes,Osho, Marie and Ambroisa had decided to take a trip to get away from their usual routine.
They had met in college, were room mates and had become friends. It was Christmas time and they wanted to enjoy it. They had decided to LARP(live action role play).
They were the weird ones and loved their weirdness. In the middle of nowhere they thought they could be themselves and LARP without giving much thought to anyone. And so they had rented a Yurt(a kind of tent) in the middle of a Minnesota jungle, thinking that they would be left alone here.
But it was not to be. They soon found out that there was somebody there who was keen on hunting them. And when the girls started disappearing one by one they knew they had to fight to survive.
They felt there was something in the woods that was targeting them. And it was not human.
Was there really something like that? Who was targeting the girls? Why was it doing so?
Major Characters:
Megan aka Hoodrat – A small town girl from Baldwin, Winconsin who had come to big city
Ana aka Banjo Eyes- A anorexic girl who was fascinated with a film character called Banjo Eyes
Osho – a Pakistani girl who loved yoga
Marie – She came from wealth and had no feelings towards other humans
Ambrosia – One of the friends. She was almost robotic in her disposition. She was the leader of the group
Dolly – The woman from whom the girls had rented the yurt.
Harry – Dolly’s youngest son who used to take care of the Yurt
My take:
I enjoyed reading Wendigosis by Jack Norton.
It was the name of the book that had captured my interest. I know of Wendigos because of Supernatural (the series) and because of Algernon Blackwood’s The wendigo(which is also mentioned in this novella). Although, i have not yet read the novella by Blackwood but i know enough of him to know that he writes good horror and so The wendigo would be of same genre. So when i read the name Wendigosis i just thought it was going to be something related to Wendigo or some thing akin to that. And i was not wrong.
The book is woven around two things: the mythical creature called Wendigo and mental disorders viz Wendio fever and Wendigo Pyschosis.
Wendigo if you don’t know,is a supernatural spirit which when possess humans turns them into raving lunatics hellbent on killing other humans and eating them. The mental disorders is some what similiar to it where someone shows craving for human flesh.
I have been interested in this subject and so when i saw it i had to read the book. The book starts as you typical slasher story but it’s not that. Why is not like other stories? You’ll have to read the book to find that out.
The characters are weird but you kind of feel for them. The author has really fleshed them out. Their weirdness makes them more interesting to the reader. Almost all of the five girls here are broken in one way or another and you tend feel for them. I ended up liking all of the girls. Although, Banzo eyes and Ambrosia were the ones that i was more concerned about.
Banzo Eyes was the one that i was worried about. I have not seen an anorexic person but i have read about the disease and i have felt sad when i hear woman go through all these things. You see Banzo eyes going through all of that stuff here and it was really scary. I couldn’t help but feel sad for her.
In case of Ambroisa, my interest in her is of a different kind. She is the leader of the group and is protagonist of the story. She has been hurt once but is now healing. I want to know how did her life turn out to be after the story ended. She had some goals in this story. I want to know whether she was able to achieve them. Did she try to achive them?It would definitely be an interesting read. I would read that.
The pace of the story i feel is a little bit slow for the first two chapters but from the start of the third chapter it starts picking pace and then that pace is maintained through out the story.
The first two chapters, although slow, introduces reader to the main characters. Each character is properly fleshed out. And this may feel unnecessary but it does makes you able to connect with the characters. But i think it could have been shortened a little especially the part where we are given background story about how the yurt came into the Minnesota area or backgrounds of the people(Harry and Dolly) that owned that yurt. Also, there is one part about how this particlar Yurt was constructed,I know it is there to create a supernatural feel about the place where the yurt was build but it could have been shortened.Or the structure of the story should have been changed a little so that one doesn’t have to wait for two chapters to feel the tension. These details could have been given peice by piece during the course of events. This would have made the story more crisp and the reader would have been able to reach the part where the action starts a lot more earlier .
The narrative after chapter too is unpredictable for the most part which is a good thing. There are enough twists and turns to keep reader guessing which is also what i loved.
The story is narrated in third person but i think it would have been better if it would have been narrated in the first person. The ending would have made more sense then as we would have been seeing the story from somebody else’s perspective.
Right now after the end it seems a little off as there are many things which i don’t think can be explained in third person narrative but could have easily been explained in first person narrative. I want to say more but i would not. It would reveal too much. If you have read the story then do tell me if you agree with me or not.
In the end i would say I enjoyed reading this book. The story, once it picks pace, is a very gripping read. It would have been better if less time would have been taken in building the story up. The story would have been shorter then but it would have been lot more crisp and more fun to read.
I would be looking forward to reading other works by the Mr James Norton. I hope a novel is on the way.
Rating: 3.5/5
If you have read this book then do tell me what did you think of it? If you have read some good books about Wendigos then do tell me about those. I would love to read them.
If you haven’t and want to read this book then you can get it from the following link:
Kindle
Horror is one of my favourite genre. I keep reading books that belong to this genre. You can read my views about them by clicking on the link below:
Horror
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