The Nameless Things is a fun grotesque horror set against the backdrop of a dense forest. After an unknown object falls from the sky two backpackers must fight for their lives. Strange worms infest the forest around them. Our main characters do their best to keep away from the strange parasites after they watch a fellow backpacking family become infested by them.

I had a great time with this book. It was creepy, gross and the isolated forest setting is one of my absolute favorites. Our two main characters were interesting and kept the story moving however the side characters fell a bit flat for me. Overall I thought this was a great read and I enjoyed it.

DNF @16%

I typically like survival stories but this one didn't work for me. The pacing was weird and the dialogue was not well written.

The bears in the forests around us and a desire not to sleep on the ground turn me off hiking. After reading this book, I have new reasons not to wander out into the wild away from cell service lol although the risks of an asteroid are pretty low. This book is definitely survival of the fittest and you're right to be worried about the survival of the characters who face gruesome deaths. Fans of dark horror thrillers will enjoy this book.

I tried but I just could not get into this book, Nameless things. Unfortunately, it was just not the book for me.

Thank you Netgalley, Rising Action Publishing and Ernest Jensen for the audio Arc of Nameless Things.

This is my first read by Ernest Jenson ( Louise Jenson Duffy ) and I really enjoyed this medium paced horror. The premise is great and really enjoyed the creature feature/ end of days elements. Nameless things flowed into a great mix of character development and plot direction. The final was great and Im hoping that there maybe another book coming.

I had the pleasure of also listening to the audio version of Nameless things. Tim Louibos did a fantastic job as narrator. His pacing and voice was perfect for this horror.

4 stars

I was really excited it about this, but unfortunately, i just wasn't vibing with it and had to dnf it at 50%. I really didn't like the main character. He whined a lot and really didn't show any potential of growth while all this happened around him. He was mad at his friend for not a good reason, in my opinion. He looked down on others around him and complained pretty much the whole time. I feel like this book was trying to do something similar to the Troop, but it took a different approach, and it came out kind of clunky. I think the main character needed to grow up a bit. There's also a scene where he straight up ignores something Claire says, but when his male friend says it, he's like "ohmygodyoursoright" and Claire is just standing there like "wtf". That's part was like funny, in a ridiculous way. I felt like the fact that i didn't enjoy/ couldn't connect to the characters made deaths less impactful for me. I have seen a lot of people review this book with high regard, so maybe it's just a me issue but, wasn't into it and now I've started The Staircase in the Woods and I'm having a better time with that.

Nameless Things is a mix of The Troop meets Tremors, with an added dose of The Floor Is Lava. It’s gross, fast-paced, and chaotic, but the characters and writing left me wanting more. If you enjoy creature horror that doesn’t take itself too seriously and leans into B-movie absurdity, you might have a good time with this one. But if you’re looking for deep, atmospheric terror with well-developed characters? This might not be the survival horror for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is not for the faint of heart! I went into this one pretty blind and was immediately thrown into this story. The plot brought a whole new meaning to “locked room” tropes for me and I found this setting to be an eerie backdrop. I also enjoyed how this book ended, but I won’t elaborate as to not have any spoilers. In terms of pacing, I did find parts of it to be a bit redundant or slow compared to the beginning/end of the novel. I did also struggle to relate to any of the MCs, especially the narrator who readers follow for the entire novel in a single POV. As such I did find this one to be atmospheric, but at times did struggle through scenes.

While Nameless Things by Ernest Jensen has a fun B-movie concept (and that’s no knock as I love B Movies) it falters in its execution and never reaches it’s true potential. Who doesn’t love a good survival story. Secluded out in the woods, a meteor crash, the appearance of deadly creatures. Sounds fun, right? And while I did like parts, I just didn’t love it. I believe this may be the first foray into horror for Jensen, and while all the pieces are there, it was just missing…something. I’d like to thank Rising Action Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Nameless Things.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MW3VW9PSE9IV/ref=pe_123899240_1043597390_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

A good survival horror novel. This reminds me of the 70's creature novels and movies. Good characters and well plotted. This book is for fans of this type of book, but maybe not for the casual, but I would certainly recommend it. Thanks to Rising Action Publishing and Netgalley for this review ARC.

2.5 ⭐️ (rounding up to 3)

Let me start off by saying I love a good survival story. Give me weird monsters, give me nature, give me people turning against each other; just give me a “fight for survival” story. With that being said, when I read the description of this story I was HYPED. Unfortunately, this one did not live up to what I had hoped it would be. The characters are very flat and unlikable, including our main protagonist. I didn’t like a single one of them, so when it came down to the survival aspect I just did not care what happened to them (except for the dog, I cared about the dog). Their dialogue wasn’t any better, when the characters would talk it was like they were just talking to say things and it didn’t care any weight or substance to the story. The story itself seemed a bit lackluster, and I found myself wanting more to happen and more moments to happen with the worms. One thing to keep in mind is the author is from the UK I believe, so depending on where you’re from the slang might throw you off a bit, I didn’t have much of an issue and caught on pretty quick, just maybe something to keep in mind heading into this book.

I did see the potential this story had, and I feel I could see the authors vision, the execution just unfortunately did not pan out. Please note I hate giving bad reviews, but I try to be as honest as possible for both readers and the authors if they want to seek these types of reviews out especially since this was an ARC. I try to be as respectful as possible!

This book actually releases today! So happy pub day to the author. Remember, just because this book wasn’t right for me doesn’t mean it won’t be your cup of tea!

Nameless Things was entertaining from the first page. This is a story that floats somewhere between the genres of thriller, horror, and wilderness action. I liked the author's conversational, simple language, and the funny banter between the friends. They set the mood for the book and made the story feel easy to read and less pretentious (which suits this type of thriller/horror very well). I love the wilderness setting, and it served as a great backdrop for this story. I liked the main characters and felt that these were people I could get along with (yes, at times they were a bit "annoying," but remember the setting they were placed in!). This book may not be a literary masterpiece, but I don't think the author intended it to be. It's a light, entertaining book with lots of dark humor, quick action scenes that kept me engaged, and a decent ending. I was entertained. 😊

Okay I'm calling it. Time of death, 48%. 💀

This one is just not for me. I'm not jiving with the writing at all. The writing seemed all over the place in the beginning. It did somewhat smooth out but it still just wasn't working for me unfortunately.

I also didn't really like the narrator either, don't even know his name tbh this far in. I think his name is mentioned once (don't quote me). It just felt like the character was not really developed and I had zero connection with them.

At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like this but as I continued on reading, it did eventually pick up as there were some parts that dragged. It kind of feels like a continuation or another version of The Troop for me. I may not love it as much as The Troop or the Tremors but I like it enough especially the ending! The ambiguity is perfect and devastating at the same time. I can't help but feel bad for the last 3 characters. Just can't help but to root for their survival. The narration was also pretty good!

What Is It?

I haven't read anything by this author before, but I will look for him in future. His descriptions were so well-executed, they painted the scene vividly without impeding the momentum. His direct narration made it easy to see from the character's POV.

I will not give details on the plot or how it was resolved, but let me assure you that the book is the scariest and most memorable that I've read so far this year. Nameless Things was so disturbing that it still gives me the shivers, and I loved it.

Thank you to Ernest Jensen, Rising Action Publishing, and NetGalley for the free advance readers' copy. I'm under no obligation to them to make my review a positive one. But I will, because it was a great read!

I solely wanted to read this book over the location. I absolutely love Colorado even though survival horror is usually not my thing. The problem? I don't feel like the author knew Colorado at all. I looked it up after things felt off and realized the author is Australian living in Scotland so that explains the disconnect. I think this setting would have been better somewhere familiar. Survival horror is a hard genre and you really have to know the landscape to write it.

3 stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC!

There are some horror novels where there's a spooky cliffhanger at the end of each chapter and it works. Then there's Nameless Things.

Mike and Wade are camping in a popular state park in Colorado when they see a meteor crash to Earth. After finding several other campers also curious about the crash site, weird things start to happen to them all because of some lil worms. Or something along those lines.

Trying to be a body horror with worms, but not doing a great job at building suspense, Nameless Things had potential. Goodreads makes me wonder if this is Jensen's first novel, and if so, I do look forward to what he might cook up in the future. But for now, meh.

"A gripping horror thriller set in Colorado's Devil’s Cup State Park where survival becomes a deadly game against subterranean terrors." << I mean c'mon, how could I not be interested?!

Unfortunately though, Nameless Things fell short for me. I never really became invested in Mike and his friend's plight, but did love how much this book gave me the ick though lol

How would I describe this book?
Tremors meets Nick Cutter's the Troop

This book wastes no time getting to the action and the adrenalin filled nightmare of a survival story keeps a fast pace until the very end and I loved (almost) every moment of it. The vivid imagery of the worms will haunt me, probably forever- I'm getting heebie jeebies as I sit here writing this. There were plenty of times where I was so stressed out/worried about the characters that I found myself literally on the edge of my seat. I found myself flying through the pages.

There was so much I loved about this book:
- Isolated woods location/ camping combined with a creature horror. Two of my favorite horror genres in one book.
- The pacing was fantastic- there were no lulls or bits that felt padded out
- The main character, Mike. I loved him he was funny and he felt very real. His inner monologue and processing of the trauma and grief of the situation was perfection.
- I liked most of the secondary characters
- The Tremors vibes- one of my all time favorite movies

Things I didn't love:
- Mike kept mentioning how he'd read a phrase/feeling in a book and never understood it until now. That was fun the first time, the third not so much.
- I felt like we didn't get enough character development for Wade who was the MCs friend.
- Mike and Wade were supposed to be American and yet they said some very non-american things. and their lack of knowledge about some of the Brit/Aussie slang was pretty unbelievable.
-There were quite a few bits of repetition of thoughts/facts
-There was a very long and unnecessary poop scene in this book- This was just gross and honestly added NOTHING to the story.

With a few small changes this book would easily be a 4 star read for me- despite my complaints this is probably one of my favorite creature horrors I've ever read.

I am just not feeling this one. I can’t get into the characters or the way the story is told. It’s not capturing my attention after multiple tries, so it’s a DNF.

I do want to thank NetGalley and Rising Action for the eARC. All opinions are mine.