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barry_x's review
3.0
(minor spoiler in review)
I have mixed thoughts about this one. Adam Nevill's 'No One Gets It Out Alive' is probably my favourite horror book of the last decade or so - I loved it, it's been ages since a book genuinely scared me so it was always on my list to go back and read more of his works.
This is his debut novel and it kind of shows. There is clearly a bucket load of research, a desire to express oneself through very evocative descriptions that nod to a bleak gothic undertone and yet it just missed the spot for me.
I really wanted to like it, and maybe my expectations were high but the first half of the book is really slow. Not a lot happens, the chapters sometimes meander and I was really struggling to care.
The novel presents a lot of threads that the reader wants to tie together and they are kind of left there waiting.... When Nevill decides to start pulling everything together the novel becomes 'un-put-down-able'. I was picking up the book every moment I could to devour another chapter and see where it took me.
There are definitely bonus points for 'heavy metal heroes' (and there were a few little Easter Eggs for 80's metalheads there). There are also bonus points for the wonderful academic setting - everything is dusty corridors, towering spires, imposing ruins....the environment is a strong character too, with the bleak sands and the dark skies and an almost persistent wind and rain adding to a perpetual sense of foreboding.
My brain however couldn't cope with some of the elements of the novel - sure it is an occult horror book but the local police were clearly useless and the 'what happens next' after the book felt a little unsatisfying. Not being funny, but St. Andrews isn't for poor kids so I kind of think the way certain elements of the book progress to be quite implausible. We have to accept EVERYONE has a big brush to sweep the aftermath under the carpet.
I also didn't like the 'femme fatale' character. I know what the words in the book said but I never felt her sexually charged power or really her malevolence come through. Putting black boots on a young woman doesn't really hit the spot. I just felt Dante was a bit pathetic with her rather than feel I was bewitched as a reader with him.
Minor spoiler.....
(There is a far better example of this archetype later in the book to be honest)
I will read more of Nevill, I feel a bit harsh scoring it 3 but the early sections dragging means I can't rate higher
I have mixed thoughts about this one. Adam Nevill's 'No One Gets It Out Alive' is probably my favourite horror book of the last decade or so - I loved it, it's been ages since a book genuinely scared me so it was always on my list to go back and read more of his works.
This is his debut novel and it kind of shows. There is clearly a bucket load of research, a desire to express oneself through very evocative descriptions that nod to a bleak gothic undertone and yet it just missed the spot for me.
I really wanted to like it, and maybe my expectations were high but the first half of the book is really slow. Not a lot happens, the chapters sometimes meander and I was really struggling to care.
The novel presents a lot of threads that the reader wants to tie together and they are kind of left there waiting.... When Nevill decides to start pulling everything together the novel becomes 'un-put-down-able'. I was picking up the book every moment I could to devour another chapter and see where it took me.
There are definitely bonus points for 'heavy metal heroes' (and there were a few little Easter Eggs for 80's metalheads there). There are also bonus points for the wonderful academic setting - everything is dusty corridors, towering spires, imposing ruins....the environment is a strong character too, with the bleak sands and the dark skies and an almost persistent wind and rain adding to a perpetual sense of foreboding.
My brain however couldn't cope with some of the elements of the novel - sure it is an occult horror book but the local police were clearly useless and the 'what happens next' after the book felt a little unsatisfying. Not being funny, but St. Andrews isn't for poor kids so I kind of think the way certain elements of the book progress to be quite implausible. We have to accept EVERYONE has a big brush to sweep the aftermath under the carpet.
I also didn't like the 'femme fatale' character. I know what the words in the book said but I never felt her sexually charged power or really her malevolence come through. Putting black boots on a young woman doesn't really hit the spot. I just felt Dante was a bit pathetic with her rather than feel I was bewitched as a reader with him.
Minor spoiler.....
(There is a far better example of this archetype later in the book to be honest)
I will read more of Nevill, I feel a bit harsh scoring it 3 but the early sections dragging means I can't rate higher
schez's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book, but probably not as much as I enjoyed Adam Nevill’s Apartment 16...
Banquet of the Dammed follows the story of Dante and Tom who arrive for fresh beginnings in St Andrews, Scotland.
The reader follows them as mystery and terror unfolds. Something dark and restless is among the youngsters at the university. Something is visiting them in the night and those who are visited disappear.
Throw into the mix the seemingly nutty, consistently intoxicated, professor Coldwell, who believes he can commune with spirits and you start to wonder what our main characters are in for.
Adam Nevill is skilled into the art of creating chilling imagery and will keep readers guessing to the last page.
Banquet of the Dammed follows the story of Dante and Tom who arrive for fresh beginnings in St Andrews, Scotland.
The reader follows them as mystery and terror unfolds. Something dark and restless is among the youngsters at the university. Something is visiting them in the night and those who are visited disappear.
Throw into the mix the seemingly nutty, consistently intoxicated, professor Coldwell, who believes he can commune with spirits and you start to wonder what our main characters are in for.
Adam Nevill is skilled into the art of creating chilling imagery and will keep readers guessing to the last page.
sednadragon35's review
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I found this book shocking and creepy yet I must admit it food not scratch my Dracula itch. I found some of it full and other parts seemed promising. However I feel like it would be interesting if there was more of the horror, and it did entertain me.
mh_books's review against another edition
4.0
This is so recommended to anyone who has ever been a Student or Staff member in The University of St Andrews but those of a nervous disposition who are living there at the moment maybe should give it a miss :)
mjmoore's review
4.0
Imagine having nightmares, then imagine waking up from one, to discover that there’s something in your room with you.. and you’re unable to move. Now imagine waking up in a strange location, such as a beach or cellar, and being chased by that same creature. These ‘night terrors’ are starting to occur in the University town of St Andrews, and students are going missing.
Into this town come Dante and Tom, rock musicians who have hit bad times. Dante has been invited by his idol, Professor Coldwell, who wrote ‘Banquet For The Damned’, a book that had a profound effect on Dante. The Professor, however, is not quite what he expected.
Adam’s Banquet For The Damned is a chilling supernatural tale of the occult. This is a horror story that doesn’t rely on the sex and gore of some of the modern books, but rather presents a well told tale which reminded me of the more classic horror stories, from the likes of MR James and Edgar Allen Poe. Like all good tales, it facilitates the use of your imagination.
The various characters are well developed, being flawed and believable. The town is described as a place for students, but with a dark history - a history that is once again coming alive.
This is a tale that kept me hooked, wanting to know what was coming next, and what would happen to the various people involved. The ending, which often disappoints, was spot on, building to a climax, then ending on a satisfactory note. This is one to be re-read in the future, and I will be watching for more from this author.
Into this town come Dante and Tom, rock musicians who have hit bad times. Dante has been invited by his idol, Professor Coldwell, who wrote ‘Banquet For The Damned’, a book that had a profound effect on Dante. The Professor, however, is not quite what he expected.
Adam’s Banquet For The Damned is a chilling supernatural tale of the occult. This is a horror story that doesn’t rely on the sex and gore of some of the modern books, but rather presents a well told tale which reminded me of the more classic horror stories, from the likes of MR James and Edgar Allen Poe. Like all good tales, it facilitates the use of your imagination.
The various characters are well developed, being flawed and believable. The town is described as a place for students, but with a dark history - a history that is once again coming alive.
This is a tale that kept me hooked, wanting to know what was coming next, and what would happen to the various people involved. The ending, which often disappoints, was spot on, building to a climax, then ending on a satisfactory note. This is one to be re-read in the future, and I will be watching for more from this author.
wpsmith17's review
4.0
A very strong 4. Once this got going, it became one of the most visually intense novels I've read. I simply could not put down the last 100 or so pages. If you liked the film, Hereditary, I believe you will like this.
lmt01's review against another edition
4.0
Being the debut novel of one of my all-time favourite authors, I wasn't too sure what to expect when going into BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED, especially since it is regarded as one of his weakest novels. I'd read quite a few reviews chiding the book's slow start, weak characters and poor writing style. However, looking back, I can't really say that any of those three things really bothered me. In fact, Nevill's first book is probably one of his best!
The town of St Andrews, which has the honour of being Scotland’s oldest University town, is being plagued by odd disappearances and, most recently, a severed arm washing up on the beach. Stumbling upon its mysteries are young rock musicians Dante and Tom, who have come to St Andrews to meet a man named Professor Coldwell, author of a book called Banquet for the Damned that details odd phenomena. Not only do the musicians plan on making a concept album around Coldwell’s book - of which Dante is a dedicated fan - but the professor plans on writing another book, one even weirder than his last one - and he wants Dante’s help. Meanwhile, American anthropologist Hart Miller is in St Andrews to study what makes certain people believe in superstitions or mythologies, having travelled the world. However, what he finds waiting in St Andrews is far from what he’d been expecting, and certainly not what he’d been waiting for. Soon, these four - along with the entire town - find themselves connected by a dreadful presence that thirsts for blood, for chaos, for death...
BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED is pretty different to most of the novels that Nevill would write afterwards, especially in terms of scope: while his other novels follow a tight cast, usually no larger than five protagonists, Nevill's debut instead goes into the whole town of St Andrews, delving into the people who live in it and even its history. While that does draw away characterisation from the main characters, it was still interesting to read about the lives of those who inhabit the ancient streets of the Scottish town - which is, interestingly enough, a real place.
Nevill's abilities were with him even when he was starting out, which really impressed me: not only could he vividly capture the details of a place, but he was also able to send shivers down my spine. Now, Nevill is probably the only author who has managed to scare me - truly scare me - frequently, so to feel so in his debut reminded me why I loved him as an author.
If you are interested in reading Adam Nevill, I do not advise starting here: while it didn't bother me, it does take a while for things to get moving, and some aspects of the book may annoy some people. However, if you are interested in putting BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED on your reading list, then go ahead! See the birth of modern horror's king.
The town of St Andrews, which has the honour of being Scotland’s oldest University town, is being plagued by odd disappearances and, most recently, a severed arm washing up on the beach. Stumbling upon its mysteries are young rock musicians Dante and Tom, who have come to St Andrews to meet a man named Professor Coldwell, author of a book called Banquet for the Damned that details odd phenomena. Not only do the musicians plan on making a concept album around Coldwell’s book - of which Dante is a dedicated fan - but the professor plans on writing another book, one even weirder than his last one - and he wants Dante’s help. Meanwhile, American anthropologist Hart Miller is in St Andrews to study what makes certain people believe in superstitions or mythologies, having travelled the world. However, what he finds waiting in St Andrews is far from what he’d been expecting, and certainly not what he’d been waiting for. Soon, these four - along with the entire town - find themselves connected by a dreadful presence that thirsts for blood, for chaos, for death...
BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED is pretty different to most of the novels that Nevill would write afterwards, especially in terms of scope: while his other novels follow a tight cast, usually no larger than five protagonists, Nevill's debut instead goes into the whole town of St Andrews, delving into the people who live in it and even its history. While that does draw away characterisation from the main characters, it was still interesting to read about the lives of those who inhabit the ancient streets of the Scottish town - which is, interestingly enough, a real place.
Nevill's abilities were with him even when he was starting out, which really impressed me: not only could he vividly capture the details of a place, but he was also able to send shivers down my spine. Now, Nevill is probably the only author who has managed to scare me - truly scare me - frequently, so to feel so in his debut reminded me why I loved him as an author.
If you are interested in reading Adam Nevill, I do not advise starting here: while it didn't bother me, it does take a while for things to get moving, and some aspects of the book may annoy some people. However, if you are interested in putting BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED on your reading list, then go ahead! See the birth of modern horror's king.
cemeterygates's review against another edition
2.0
I adore Nevill and will read anything he writes. His horrific ideas and ability to build tension and dread are unparalleled. But this does read like an early novel, as he introduces ideas and modes of writing that he would refine over time. Still, there is something to a kind of dark folklore universe that stretches across his canon and I’d suggest anyone reads them all once they get started somewhere.
lukre's review
1.0
With every page I am disliking this book more and more.
Reasons:
1) his style of writing. I have a thing to say to this writer: not every noun has to have an adjective and there is such a thing as a simple sentence in the English language. Why, in god's name why!?, do you have to write like this! This is a horror/suspense story - there is no horror and no suspense here simply because the author can't seem to get to the point. He keeps writing about the existential crises of some of the characters, which could fit within a horror story, but he does this in a way that makes you want to shoot the characters yourself and not like them. The only feeling i get is annoyance at the author's literary diarrhea.
2) This book needs a better editor. The misuse of comas in here could be used at exams for students of English as an exercise in "Spot the pointless coma"
3) The author is often undecided - "he ran away ... his pain made him move slowly"; "Both guitars were quiet (because Tom and Dante were fighting) ... Tom wasn't in the apartment"...
4) the author wastes our time and energy spending entire chapters introducing characters who he then kills at the end of the chapter and then never mentions again. This can be done once or twice, but anything more than that and it becomes very clear that the author's intent was to make the book longer. This is a very cheap trick and useless - if you are paid by the page or if you think that longer books are better - THINK AGAIN!
5) In the entire book, there are a couple of female characters, only one of them is present for more than one page/chapter, and that one turns out to be the minion of the evil creature! Really? Of course the perfectly beautiful black haired woman dressed all in black is a minion.... we guessed that from the start!
and I still haven't finished the book. and I can't wait to finish it so I can remove it from my reader
Reasons:
1) his style of writing. I have a thing to say to this writer: not every noun has to have an adjective and there is such a thing as a simple sentence in the English language. Why, in god's name why!?, do you have to write like this! This is a horror/suspense story - there is no horror and no suspense here simply because the author can't seem to get to the point. He keeps writing about the existential crises of some of the characters, which could fit within a horror story, but he does this in a way that makes you want to shoot the characters yourself and not like them. The only feeling i get is annoyance at the author's literary diarrhea.
2) This book needs a better editor. The misuse of comas in here could be used at exams for students of English as an exercise in "Spot the pointless coma"
3) The author is often undecided - "he ran away ... his pain made him move slowly"; "Both guitars were quiet (because Tom and Dante were fighting) ... Tom wasn't in the apartment"...
4) the author wastes our time and energy spending entire chapters introducing characters who he then kills at the end of the chapter and then never mentions again. This can be done once or twice, but anything more than that and it becomes very clear that the author's intent was to make the book longer. This is a very cheap trick and useless - if you are paid by the page or if you think that longer books are better - THINK AGAIN!
5) In the entire book, there are a couple of female characters, only one of them is present for more than one page/chapter, and that one turns out to be the minion of the evil creature! Really? Of course the perfectly beautiful black haired woman dressed all in black is a minion.... we guessed that from the start!
and I still haven't finished the book. and I can't wait to finish it so I can remove it from my reader
el_stevie's review
5.0
A very dark, very atmospheric read. Don't think I'll be visiting that part of Scotland any time soon.