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david_agranoff's review
2.0
This review doesn’t make me feel great, I have only met the author through the internet but Pete and I have talked a few times and I think he is a cool cat. I was really looking forward to reading this because I like Pete’s taste in novels and film and thought the concept was cool.
The Specimen is a science fiction horror novel about a very SLOW alien invasion that has happened against the back drop of human history. For thousands of years these body snatcher like aliens referred to as Riders have been influencing our history and infiltrating our species. Most of the narrative takes place in modern New England after group of urban explorers find a jar with an alien rider intact in a closed insane asylum . The Asylum has a history that ties back to the ancient conflict that goes back to events that are explained in interludes.
There are moments of good writing and the story is very cool one. I loved the concept and think there is a good epic here. I give Kahle credit for being ambitious, but I don’t think this book ultimately does its job of telling the story. I finished reading it, but had I not been given a review copy I doubt I would have lasted past the first 150 pages.
The first warning sign should have been three page list of characters at the front of the book. I referred to it often because the characters blended together for me. I kept thinking of The Stand I don’t remember no matter how characters were introduced needing a list.
Many of the characters get their own narrative thread, infact that was an issue I had. This book never built up narrative steam for two reasons. New characters were added constantly and when it did swing around it was broken up with “articles”, journal entries or Classified files. It told the story sure but each non-narrative device (like articles or files) forced the reader out of the story momentum. The disjointed story in that sense never was able to grab my interest.
This review hurt me to write because Kahle’s dedication to telling this story bleeds off the page. I am sure this style works for some. It could be argued that the master Stephen King used this style in Carrie, but that was a shorter book and tactic was used much more sparingly.
There is sequel in the works, I think Kahle has a cool concept to work with but I personally didn’t like the style of writing. When He tells a straight story I enjoyed it. I could see the talent and ability. A more straight narrative in the sequel and the concept is cool enough I will give it a shot.
jgolomb's review
3.0
"The label was made of a waxy yellow parchment, glued in place and stained in a couple places by a variety of liquids over the years. Beneath the stains, in a barely legible scrawl, it stated: Specimen #73."
-from Pete Kahle's "The Specimen"
This is a surprisingly good book. It's got aliens, a lot of action, a decent bit of mystery and all-in-all is a well-written tale. This Lovecraftian tale of ancient evil follows numerous characters through numerous time periods that blends mystery with scifi with good old fashioned gore-spirited horror.
The core narrative orbits around the discovery of a hideous 'specimen' of unknown origin offered for sale at an odds n' ends store. From there we learn of a mind-reading alien entity that's been manipulating pockets of humanity for untold years. Actually, the years are not untold because Kahle does a terrific job of bisecting his core plotlines with alien backstory that takes us to the time of the Aztecs, Spanish Inquisition, and northern Europe circa 700 AD.
In addition to the fun historical background tales, I particularly enjoyed the Lovecraftian mood set in passages such as this: "Like a leviathan eel lying in the centuries-old muck at the bottom of a stagnant lake, the horrors from his past stirred up the muddy debris of his mind with its convulsions, sending once hidden fossils to the surface."
If you're a fan of monster-based horror and MiB-like shadow military units, you'll like this story and love the fact that it's just the first in a series. It's not particularly deep, but it's a fun read. I recommend it.
-from Pete Kahle's "The Specimen"
This is a surprisingly good book. It's got aliens, a lot of action, a decent bit of mystery and all-in-all is a well-written tale. This Lovecraftian tale of ancient evil follows numerous characters through numerous time periods that blends mystery with scifi with good old fashioned gore-spirited horror.
The core narrative orbits around the discovery of a hideous 'specimen' of unknown origin offered for sale at an odds n' ends store. From there we learn of a mind-reading alien entity that's been manipulating pockets of humanity for untold years. Actually, the years are not untold because Kahle does a terrific job of bisecting his core plotlines with alien backstory that takes us to the time of the Aztecs, Spanish Inquisition, and northern Europe circa 700 AD.
In addition to the fun historical background tales, I particularly enjoyed the Lovecraftian mood set in passages such as this: "Like a leviathan eel lying in the centuries-old muck at the bottom of a stagnant lake, the horrors from his past stirred up the muddy debris of his mind with its convulsions, sending once hidden fossils to the surface."
If you're a fan of monster-based horror and MiB-like shadow military units, you'll like this story and love the fact that it's just the first in a series. It's not particularly deep, but it's a fun read. I recommend it.
dankeohane's review
4.0
This is a sci-fi / horror novel on an epic scale. With a cast of characters spanning modern day back to thousands of years BC, it tells the story of an invasion of parasitic aliens against the human race over the course of history. Mostly, however, the action takes place in modern times, with the discovery of an ancient 'Rider' (the name for the aliens) long hidden away, interspersed with series of flashbacks both at a global and specific-character scale. How the flashback sequences are handled is interesting, especially for a paperback (the version I read). Kahle takes liberties with fonts and formatting to simulate diary entries, etc, which was quite interesting (though sometimes my aging eyes had trouble with the cursive fonts). The primary characters, interesting enough, are a group of 'men in black' (to steal the phrase) working for a centuries-old organization bent on studying, then eradicating, the aliens - at any cost. This latter attribute makes them pretty nasty characters, and very unlikeable. As well, there are good characters stumbling into this silent war, who need to survive the violence both of the Riders and the organization hunting them down. This is a long book, but the perspectives and scenes change often enough to keep the action moving. The bad guys (on the human side) get more page-time than the good guys, unfortunately, but everything leads to an explosive conclusion between everyone involved. An ambitious debut novel which succeeds despite, or more likely because of, the risks the author takes with turning the genre on its head.
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