Member Reviews
Did not finish, despite my best efforts. This was... so, so clunkily written. The initial chapter seemed promising enough, but then everything just seemed sort of hamfisted into the story.
This isn't what I usually read but I found it to be an interesting book of 3 short horror novellas.
If you are into horror I think you might like it.
I do recommend it.
This book was crazy, but good. I was to afraid to read on after each page. That Ronnie is off the wall. This was a scary good treat to read. The writer did an excellent job of keeping riveted to each story. The book has a lot of intense tension to it. Until next time my fellow readers… read on! I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
The book contains three horror novellas. The Witching House, The Seekers, and Darkness Rising, The Witching House is about a group of people that explore a murder house where twenty-five people have perished. What the couples do not know yet is that the house holds sinister secrets, and they have to fight to survive. An intriguing horror and thriller story. The story and plot kept a steady speed. The characters were well written.
The Seekers is about an underground cult that preys on the homeless people. Giving false hope to people that need help the most. Daniel is a journalist who has discovered this cult and the disturbing events that occurred while living among them. There are twists and turns that enhanced the story in a short time period. The characters excellent and interesting.
In Darkness Rising, Marty is a great character, and you never know what to expect what will happen. He starts off as a small person but becomes a different person at the end. This story was my favorite, you don't really know what lies within a person and what people are capable of. Magnificent storytelling and the characters were written with such great care. A must read for horror fans.
Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and BookGoSocial for this copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
This book has three short stories in it.
The first feels very much like a lot of other horror movies where someone brings them to the house with ghosts and bad intentions. I’ve seen this many times, and this story didn’t really give me anything new.
The second story was pretty interesting! I loved the idea of a homeless messiah and creepy human eating monsters. However, the mafia plot was stale and boring. It took a lot away from a good story.
Finally the last story. Ugh. It felt like an incel wet dream. It was interesting, but ugh the darkness inside me stuff…. It was too much.
All of this felt very stale. I wanted to enjoy it. I thought the actual horror parts were interesting, but the actual writing and plot was cliche. I wasn’t the biggest fan, but they were alright.
“Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night”
William Blake
What an excellent collection!! There is a Prequel story to The Witching House which is a novella, and then two other unrelated novellas complete the book.
The Witching House and The Seekers were terrifying!
I would read a whole series about The Seekers’ underground works. It was stark and chilling.
The prequel, The Girl From the Blood Coven, was ominous and graphic, a perfect setup for The Witching House. If you’re an urban explorer The Witching House may change your hobbies!
The last story, Darkness Rising, was more of a dark fantasy romance I thought, and was written very differently compared to the other entries in this collection. I liked it, but didn’t feel scared or thrilled. It has a great ending though.
This is one book you will want to add to your reading list!!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & BooksGoSocial for a copy!
Wow. First time reading Brian Moreland, and these three novellas were a great introduction. All three were great, but The Witching House was probably my favorite. All three had enjoyable characters, and a great story/pacing. Had to read each one in one sitting. Just picked up one of his novels, The Devil's Woods, and can't wait to see if the novels are as good as the novellas. #BloodSacrifices #NetGalley
These were 3 brilliant horror short stories, and I enjoyed every one. I especially loved the prequel we got to the first story and I can say it grabbed my attention and got me excited about reading the following stories. I haven’t ever read anything by the author before but it won’t be my last book! He has a way with words that really drags you into the story and refuses to let go. The atmosphere was created brilliantly and built an eerie and tense mood, perfect for the horror genre.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.
I had read some of these stories before. Moreland is a very talented horror writer. I look forward to new books by him as well. It's hard to pick a favorite because they are all extremely well written creepy stories.
The Witching House:
Novella that follows a group of urban explorers who decide to enter an evil house. Highly enjoyed this take on the haunted house trope. Very well rounded, filled with as much gore, lore and ‘Eeks!’ as you could possibly want. The prologue describing the origins of the evil are my favorite. Pulled me right in and kept me hooked!
The Seekers:
A charismatic cult leader rounding up followers from the transient population with one goal, the Apocalypse. This story took me a bit of time to get into but it really paid off in the end! Plus, I’m glad it did considering it has one of my favorite horror tropes towards the ending. The forbidden nom noms!
Darkness Rising:
TW: S/A, snuff, gore and more
An absolute stunner of a story about the hunters becoming the hunted! Out of the three novellas, this is the story I want a longer version of. Give me moooore! Incredibly violent and has quite a few references to s/a so be aware of that but it’s a great read!
Really glad I picked up this book. Usually I find novellas hit or miss but I was impressed with how well Moreland fleshed out his stories in such a short time. I look forward to reading more of his work! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of the book.
Great horror book with short stories! Loved reading this one! Highly recommend! Very fun read! My teenage granddaughter loved the stories as well!
When this gorgeous cover passed through my feed it grabbed hold of me like a magnet. I have previously read one novel and a short story by Brian Moreland and enjoyed them both, so I knew I could settle into Blood Sacrifices for a good gory time. I didn't even stop to read the synopsis, I just looked at the cover and dove right in.
The book opens with a prequel to The Witching House and sets the stage perfectly for the blood-soaked tale to follow. When urban explorers arrive to the old Blevins house they will learn the hard way that just because a building is abandoned does not mean there isn't something that still lives there.
Some of the language was a bit cringe worthy but it still managed to be my favorite.
The Seekers is about Daniel, an undercover journalist who lives with the homeless while gathering material for a book, and the aftermath when he has written it. To be honest this one was just not for me. I was into it at first but I lost interest in the parts about the mafia.
Darkness Rising is an ugly and ultra violent story of abuse, torture, and revenge. Poor Marty just wants a friend or someone to love, any bit of kindness would be welcome. Instead, his one chance at love is ruined by three maniacs who kill for fun and profit, and they will be very sorry that they ever crossed his path. Marty is a character that I felt a lot of sympathy for even when he went from sweet to psycho. You'll need a strong stomach for this one.
This is a case for me of an author having some good ideas, but then just falling short in the execution of them. Of the three novellas (and one prequel short story), 'The Witch House' was my favourite, as it seemed to be the one that had the most logical progression. Unfortunately, the prose itself is a bit clunky and this can take you out of the story a bit, but it does have some genuinely creepy moments and I enjoyed the slasher film vibes. The second novella was an improvement in the writing but I didn't connect to the story as much. I felt that the plot regarding the Irish mobsters felt a bit shoe-horned in and didn't quite fit with the rest of the tone, which had a cosmic horror vibe. Unfortunately, I really didn't like the final novella. The plot was disjointed and jumped from one thing to another - I just felt like the story didn't know what it wanted to be so it tried to do too much. Overall, I think that there is definitely some promise for this author if he can polish up his prose a bit, but this collection didn't work for me.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Blood Sacrifices by Brian Moreland
I was given a copy of this book for review
A well written collection of Teen horror stories, worth reading for the younger reader.
#BloodSacrifices
This is a collection of 3 novellas by Brian Moreland (someone whose other works I'll be seeking out as soon as I post this review). First off let me say that I had SO much freaking fun reading this book/books. Each novella had great characterization and very fleshed out stories. Not once did I find myself getting bored and at times I had to forcefully put the book down due to oh you know life and all that jazz. Im going to breifly break down each novella but for those looking for a quick review then I say READ THIS BOOK if you're a lover of horror, suspense, gore, thrilling moments and even a VERY well done romance and some wonderfully well written poetry.
Now I'll briefly go over each novella and what I liked about them with maybe one or two nit picks
"The witching house"
A group of ghost hunters go to a local legend haunted house and get MUCH more than they bargained for. Now this is my kind of "scary house" story. Fast paced, bloody, and I couldn't put it down once I started. Oh and it starts with a freaking BANG and let's off the gas just long enough for you to get your bearings back before revving the engine to the red line again.
"The seekers "
This was my third favorite of the three stories but that isn't a bad thing. I absolutely loved the spotlight that was shown on the lives of the homeless and how us everyday folk tend to think of them as lower than ourselves aand sometimes even less than that. The seekers themselves I wasn't the biggest fan if asni felt more time could have been spent on what they're obsessed with and not the leader Mordecai. But all in all I liked this story and the Irish mafia bits I also really enjoyed.
"Darkness Rising"
My favorite story in this collection. This story had me feeling ALL the feels. Pain. Anger. Happiness. Love. Sadness. I'm not afraid to admit I cried like a baby towards the end. This story has it all. Tension out the wazoo, gore, a romance that was very well done and very sparsely used not forced AT ALL. If you pick this up and only read one story make it this one.
This was a wild read and such a fun time. I want to thank Netgalley and the author for the chance to read this book for an honest review. What are you waiting for go read this book! A solid 4.5 star rounding up to 5 for goodreads
I really enjoyed this anthology. Its one of the first in a while where I actually enjoyed all of the stories.
Thank you to Net Galley for sending me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
I normally don't read anthologies or short stories but the title is called to me and I enjoy this author's other books. I absolutely loved these three stories! The first one about the witch coven was my favorite because it reminded me of the Manson cult, just with witchcraft and no gross men. This author is great at building up suspense and those cliffhangers at the end of the chapter always get me. He also writes gore super well and detailed, and the gore makes sense and it's not just unnecessarily gory for no reason. I would recommend this book to my horror-loving book friends and I would read more by this author.
3.5 stars.
An interesting collection of three horror novella's, plus a short prologue to the first novella.
This was my first time reading Brian Moreland and I'm happy to say it was a enjoyable reading experience.
Overall this was a good collection of stories, helped along by Moreland's simple yet effective writing style, which helped drive the narrative of each tale along at a good pace.
Of the three novella's my favorite was the first of the them, The Witching House. As far as short stories go this is up there with some of the best and kept me engrossed from start to finish.
As for the other stories. They were good but not quite up to the standard of the first.
A diverse collection of stories which is well worth checking out!
4 stars
This is my first book by Moreland and it was fantastic. The stories were perfectly creepy and engrossing. The writing had a smooth and easy flow to it. You could feel the influences without them being (for lack of a better phrase on my part…sorry) complete rip offs.
I’ll definitely be looking up more of his work.
Blood Sacrifices by Brian Moreland.
Three Horror Novellas.
THE WITCHING HOUSE
In 1972, twenty-five people were brutally murdered in one of the bloodiest massacres in Texas history. The mystery of who committed the killings remains unsolved. Over forty years later, Sarah Donovan is scared of just about everything, but today she must confront her fears as she joins her boyfriend and another couple on an exploring adventure. The old abandoned Blevins House, the scene of the gruesome massacre, is rumored to be haunted. The two couples are about to discover the mysterious house has been waiting all these years, craving fresh prey… Includes the short story prequel, “The Girl from the Blood Coven.”
THE SEEKERS
While living under a bridge with the homeless for six months, journalist Daniel Finley witnessed something terrifying. Something that nearly cost him his sanity. Now, two years later, he’s published a book that exposes a deadly underground cult and its charismatic leader who preaches a dark prophecy. Down in the abandoned subway tunnels exist unimaginable horrors that hunger for human flesh. And in a church of darkness, the cult’s numbers are growing. Soon Daniel’s worst nightmares are coming true. A fanatical army is rising to shed blood on the streets of Boston.
DARKNESS RISING
Marty Weaver, an emotionally scarred poet, has been bullied his entire life. When he drives out to the lake to tell an old friend that he’s fallen in love with a girl named Jennifer, Marty encounters three sadistic killers who have some twisted games in store for him. But Marty has dark secrets of his own buried deep inside him. And tonight, when all the pain from the past is triggered, when those secrets are revealed, blood will flow and hell will rise.
I really enjoyed these stories. Different. 4*.