I really enjoyed this book. The writing is beautiful, plus its a quick read at only 70 pages. My biggest complaint was that I wanted it to be longer. I wanted to get to know the characters more. Where it ended didn't feel like an ending - it felt like a beginning to an even greater story.

I received this eARC from BDA Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
For being less than 100 pages, this one was really hard to get into. It is my understanding that this will be adapted into a graphic novel at a later point, and maybe if the ARC was in graphic novel form it would’ve made more sense.

The Western “accent” used was over the top and hard to understand. Sentences seemed incomplete. The plot was also hard to follow. When I got to the end, I was confused as to what the central plot line was because there was too much going on at once.

I think if ARC readers could see the chapters in the graphic novel form, it might make more sense, although the western accent needs some work so that it’s easier to follow.

I had high hopes for this! Big fan of zombies, big fan of romance. Unfortunately ,Revenants reads more like a first draft than a strong first entry for a larger horror/romantasy series.

First of all, if you are someone who doesn't like 'eye dialect' or accents written out phonetically, I recommend skipping this one. I'm usually fine with this, but Revenants really toed the line between 'Distinct, memorable character voice' and 'Clunky, unnecessarily distracting writing style.'.

When I finished this story, the first thing I did was re-read the blurb. Now, I'm not saying it's inaccurate, but... There was a significant disconnect between the description and the actual story. I would hardly call what happened '[embarking] on a treacherous odyssey'. Treacherous, sure. Odyssey? No. The course of the story happens over what feels like a handful of hours. The language used implies an epic journey filled with suspense and divine conflicts. And if that's what you came for, you will be disappointed.

By itself, the pacing is strange, the plot points are flimsy, and the ending is underwhelming at best. Maybe if it were made more clear that this is just an introduction to the larger story, this wouldn't be as much of an issue. But even still, this series seems to start with more of a fizzle than a bang.

Overall, I think as a short story, this book needed at very least another round of editing. I struggled to connect with the main character, whose decisions often felt inconsistent. The flashback scenes seemed unnecessary, adding little to the plot beyond a lazy attempt to unsettle the reader. And without the blurb to go off of, the setting is just a non-descript, vaguely wartorn... Forest? I think?

According to the publisher's note on Netgalley, this book is to be adapted into a graphic novel, which, in my opinion, this story is far more suited to. But as it currently exists, Revenants is hard to recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

From the start, I felt that this story had the potential to be something truly special, but it needed to be at least three times longer to fully develop its intriguing premise. The author seemed to rush through the narrative, leaving the world and characters feeling underdeveloped. A more immersive approach could have significantly enhanced the reading experience and allowed readers to connect more deeply with the story.

One of the main challenges I faced was the use of accents in the dialogue. While it added a certain authenticity, it often made it difficult to understand what was being said. This obstacle prevented me from fully engaging with the characters and following the plot.

By the time I reached the end of the book, I was still confused about the central storyline. The plot, which involves zombie/vampire creatures and an undead/non-human soldier tasked with stopping them, had a lot of potential but lacked clarity and detail. I hoped for a resolution or an explanation that would tie everything together, but I was left with more questions than answers.

In summary, this story has an interesting concept, but it needs more depth and development to reach its full potential. With a longer format and clearer narrative, it could have been a standout tale in the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this ARC, umm I don’t even know where to start , I hated this book so much because I had no idea what was going on the entirety of this book. Usually a book of this size does take me this long to read but I couldn’t get into , my only motivation was that it was short. I normally don’t mind accents in books but I hated the accent in this book , their sentences never made sense , I had to pause multiple times to try and audibly read out the dialogue to even understand what they were even saying!!!. Also that ending was not it whatsoever, nothing was answered ??? Like he healed her bite and apparently he isn’t human?? And she isn’t either?? And then they are fighting zombies or is it vampires because they have fangs??? Nahh this made no sense to me whatsoever and I also was not a fan of the overly lyrical writing, it was so unnecessary to me, because it added nothing to the story other than confusion, confusion on why any of it was necessary.

Thank you to BDA Publishing and NetGalley for the earc, my opinion is my own.

Admittingly I did find this book hard to get into, and the way the dialogue was written also took some parsing in my brain. Once I reached about the halfway point things started making more sense, but I was left with more questions than answers at the end and would have enjoyed a longer story.

I was provided the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review - thank you!

I struggled with this story, because in many ways, it doesn’t feel complete. This book could have been twice (or even three times) the length, and I assume it will be (it appears this is the first in a series). With only the first instalment to go on, I’m left feeling confused about what just happened.

On one hand, the author’s prose is magnificent. The writing is absolutely stunning and a joy to read. On the other hand, I’m not sure I could describe the plot. There was a lot going on, and for me, more context would have been helpful. The story starts and ends right in the middle of the action, which felt a bit jarring. I kept waiting for an explanation for the events of the story, but that didn’t come.

I think this could be a really enjoyable series, but I would have needed to read each instalment in succession to understand what’s going on. As a standalone, Revenants was well-written but tough to wrap my head around. 2.5 stars rounded up.

It wasn’t what I was expecting and wasn’t able to get me hooked. I wish I had known this was not a complete book before requesting.

I feel this could have developed if it was a little longer - it felt like I was just sinking my teeth in and then it finished. It had some beautiful imagery and I'd love to read something that was longer than a novella.

Revenants by Mel C Bell is an exercise in the beauty and strength of truly creative writing. Beauty would seem to be a strange choice of word based on the brutality of the storyline and content, but the lyricism of the prose makes the carnage almost elegant?

It's a quick read, a short novella, yet it is packed to the straining shrieking brim. There is survival, post-apocalypse, a love story, reflection, desire, deceit and the undead all seething and roiling in a tenacious storyline that will leave you wanting more and more

An awesome author to add to your favourites list

Thank you to Netgalley, BDA Publishing and Mel C Bell for this incredible ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

I'm a huge fan of apocalyptic survival stories and this was pretty good. I enjoyed the alternate history wild west feel to it and the story itself was a bit unique, which was a nice surprise. Unfortunately I feel like the prose, while beautiful in parts, really overwhelmed the story a lot of the time for me & actually distracted from what was happening rather than enhance it. My interest is definitely peaked in this author though and I will for sure be looking out for more.

Thank so much to BDA publishing, netgalley, and the author for the e-galley!

I look forward to the full release!! I need more… I destroyed this on my lunch break this afternoon and loved it. I was not super connected to the characters but I loved the atmosphere and writing.



4 / 5
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy/early read opportunity!

I love a novella but I wish there was more to this one, it feels unfinished? There is something here. I loved the story a lot- zombies are always a good time for me. I am a self confessed bland prose lover and this was very flowery but it added to the stories’ atmosphere so I can appreciate it. The author is obviously a talented writer and I look forward to future releases.

it’s hard to give this a proper rating since it will rely on being graphic and this is the first “episode”. a lot of it wasn’t connecting to me and it also just was so much prose that really didn’t make sense or even matter. most of everything in italics, i skipped and don’t really feel like i missed out on much.

This started off really strong and it was beautifully written throughout, I just feel like I didn’t understand the point or connect with the characters. There were several parts that in my opinion made no sense to propelling the story forward and the flashback/vision(??) sequences were confusing. This somehow felt too short and too long at the same time.

Beautifully written and atmospheric. I DEVOURED this novella. I can't wait for the full release. 5 out of 5 stars for me!

4.25 rounded down to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and BDA Publishing for an advanced copy of Revenants in exchange for an honest review.

According to their Instagram page, BDA Publishing mentioned that this book will be part of an "episodic" series, which means chapters will be released regularly as opposed to the entire book at one time. This story wasn't the complete version, just the first few chapters that will be released later in the year. I figured this was worth mentioning, as several previous reviews seemed confused about this and rated the story low because they thought it just ended abruptly, but that's not the case.

That being said, I think this series shows great promise, and I'm likely going to be following the story once it's released. The writing is fantastic and the plot is very fast-paced. Was there a lot going on? Yes. This is marketed as a romance zombie western, and is tagged as horror, romance, and fantasy - which is an ambitious and unique blend of genres for sure. With the short amount of chapters released, there was a decent start to building this world, along with the character development. The romance was budding, but since this is an ongoing series, I wasn't expecting much to happen within the 50 or so pages included in the excerpt. The Zombie western inclusion was extremely fun, and I'm curious to see how that progresses. There accent choices for the two main characters were interesting (one seemed to be Scottish?), but with this fantasy/warrior plotline that seems to be developing, I'll give it a chance to play out later since it did seem a bit off- putting at the time.

I'm very intrigued at this point and look forward to the episodic releases.

I fully understand that this is a novella, however, there was just too much going on for any of the characters or plot points to get the development that was needed to flesh out the story.

Revenants starts off with a zombie horde coming for the cabin that Maddie and Pa live in and things just go off from there. In the span of a few pages, Pa is dead and Maddie realizes that she's likely the product of her dad raping her mom, who had died by suicide several years previous. I felt like that was a lot to drop in without any additional exploration. I think if this could be developed further or expanded there is definitely something there, but as-is, was a tough read for me despite its brevity.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and BDA Publishing for the advanced copy.

What was that endinG???????

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Mel. C. Bell for this arc, all words are my own.
In the beginning I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book, I knew it had something to do with horror/thriller/grotesque, so I dived into it.
The story is short, no more than 55 pages, but it manages to deliver the dread and the horror very well. I really hope for a second book because what was that cliffhanger 😱

I still give it 4 stars, because the way this story was written, so beautiful and lyrical, I did feel like I was in that world myself.