Greeth by Charles LaFave on March 31st, 2016
Genres: Horror, Sci-Fi, Urban/Paranormal Fantasy
Pages: 384
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Peter Buraku was a wizard until he was tried, convicted, and sentenced for a terrible crime. He could never cast another spell and for eight long years, he begged for the worst jobs, lived in the slums, and worked for humans.
Then a wealthy stranger came into his life with an impossible promise: You can be a wizard again. Too late, Peter discovers an ancient god from another dimension is using human agents to open a portal so it can move into this world, and wizardry soldier Julie Alvarez, the lost love he hasn’t seen in years, is in danger.
Three children are dead. Many more are missing. Something dark and terrible is rising. A breach has opened between worlds and an ancient god will be reborn on fertile Earth. The flesh of humanity will feed its many children.
Peter embarks on a quest for redemption to stop the ancient god from destroying the world.
Will his unique ability to create life be enough to change what he’s done?
Or will guilt from his role in helping to destroy so much life be his undoing?
So this is some sort of mix between horror and paranormal and sci-fi. It’s all over the place but in a beautiful way.
The basic, boiled down plot is about something ugly coming to life and a few of our protagonist need to figure out what it is.
Honestly, I don’t know where to even begin with this review. I think this book is smarter than I am. I can’t even sort through all the stuff going on. Wizards from another world. Others from another world. Humans. Bugs. Golems. Ninjas. Werewolves. Wars upon wars. I mean, I think there’s more, but at some point my mind kinda ignored all the history and crazy stuff going on and just focused in on the characters and boiled down plot.
For people that love a detailed world, you might really enjoy this. I never felt like I got bogged down by info dumps, and we’re fed a pretty steady stream of history that kept building and building this incredible world. The story takes place in Japan, mostly, I think. It follows three PoV’s: Julie, Hideo, and Peter. I can’t really say much else about the world. I’m not sure I have a good enough grasp of it to do so.
Characters, on the other hand, were very interesting to me. We’ll start with Peter because I view him as the main protagonist. Right off the bat you feel for him. He’s poor, a wizard outcast, has a crazy mom, dead dad, werewolf best friend, and he lost his girlfriend. He’s down on his luck and desperate, so when a mysterious man offers him a job to figure out what’s happened to three children, he takes the money and life goes upside down, immediately. Peter’s a scientist most of all, not a fighter, so he gets put in some crazy situations that he has to escape. It makes him all the more likable. Plus he has insanely fun magic. He can make golems.
Julie is his lost girlfriend and a total badass. She might be human, but boy can she take a beating. She’s got a soft side that is very understated. I’d say she’s less emotional than all the characters on the outside, but inside she’s got the same heart.
Hideo wasn’t explored as much as Julie and Peter, but he was an interesting character nonetheless. He’s a ninja, so plus there, and a wizard, so double points, and he’s estranged from his ninja brotherhood and sister. His magic was incredibly fun. He uses sound and music. Regardless of not being as fleshed out as the others, he’s still a great character, though I’m not sure he’s needed. Of everything, his storyline made the least sense to me.
Now, I love me some gore, and this book had loads of it and loads of creepy crawly insects. It’s fast paced, relentlessly so, and the writing is smooth and addictive. Honestly, it was a whirlwind of a read. There are some flashbacks as well that can come out of nowhere, but after a sentence or two I got it. Then we’re back in current time. Just be aware of them and you shouldn’t have a problem hopping around.
So overall, if you like horror and paranormal, I highly recommend this book. If you like crazy worlds, you might enjoy this book. I certainly did.
About Charles LaFave
Growing up, Charles LaFave spent more time with books than with people. One might argue that this is a terrible way to raise a child. Of course it is.
Definitely socialize your child if you have one.
On the other hand, it undeniably fostered an incredible love for books that continues to this day. Before his writing career took off, he worked as a body removal specialist for a funeral home, a network engineer, a construction worker, blogger, and a paperboy.
Not necessarily in that order.
