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sanddanz's review against another edition
4.0
Bestial follows up Garton's first werewolf novel, Ravenous, and, while not as strong as Ravenous, it’s still a good werewolf story. Garton also pulls in characters from one of his vampire books, Night Life- private investigators Gavin Keoph and Karen Moffett. Gavin and Karen are sent to investigate numerous animal attacks popping up all over Big Rock. Werewolves are suspected in the area. Gavin and Karen discover that the attacks are werewolf attacks, and also that the werewolves have already set in motion a plan for the town of Big Rock. More and more people are turning into werewolves via the sexually transmitted virus, and the PI’s may be in over their heads.
Garton’s inclusion of characters from his vampire series leaves the reader wondering if he is going to proceed further with this series and possibly combine the vampire and werewolf stories. It could make for an interesting battle down the road if he does! This would be a good addition for libraries, but be aware that Garton does have a lot of sexual content within his book including some rape and incest scenes.
Contains: violence, gore, incest, rape, strong sexual content, adult language
(Review also posted on MonsterLibrarian.Com)
Garton’s inclusion of characters from his vampire series leaves the reader wondering if he is going to proceed further with this series and possibly combine the vampire and werewolf stories. It could make for an interesting battle down the road if he does! This would be a good addition for libraries, but be aware that Garton does have a lot of sexual content within his book including some rape and incest scenes.
Contains: violence, gore, incest, rape, strong sexual content, adult language
(Review also posted on MonsterLibrarian.Com)
cheesygiraffe's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite as good as Ravenous but still pretty darn good. Although the ending was abrupt.... Will there be more?
lincolncreadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Though I’ve never read him until this past week I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ray Garton’s work; a quick look online shows that he’s written over 50 books in the horror and related genres, to include several movie novelizations and television tie-ins. So receiving his new book, Bestial, in the mail right before flying out was definitely squee-worthy.
Bestial’s the sequel to Ravenous, which is described on various sites as telling the story of the werewolves’ initial takeover of the town of Big Rock, the setting of both of these novels. Garton’s lycanthropy is an STD, a novel approach and one that sets up plenty of opportunity for naughty action. Bestial’s not short on gore, either; there’s a particulary painful scene right from the get-go as a matter of fact. It’s a fast-paced read ending in a huge battle and Garton doesn’t kill off any of the characters I really cared about. That’s refreshing, actually, after some of the books I’ve read this year. He does, however, put a couple of the more interesting characters in situations that I’d look forward to reading more about in a possible third book. I was able to enjoy Bestial without knowing anything that came before, too; definitely a point in the book’s favor.
My biggest peeve about this book is Garton’s constant anti-Adventist message throughout the book. Half of the novel involves how shitty the Adventist religion is; one character’s whole backstory involves being part of the church and being shit upon by his holy-roller grandma and mother, the werewolves use the local Adventist church as part of their takeover of Big Rock and that’s just scratching the surface. The whole time I was reading Bestial I was thinking, Wow, Garton’s really got it in for this religion. Sure enough, in the bio at the end of the book, Garton writes that he was raised Adventist and it was horrible. Sounds like he has some issues to work through, and I can sympathize with that personally. I get a sermon every Sunday at my own church, though, and Garton’s outright soapboxing is definitely a mark against Bestial. 7/10.
Bestial’s the sequel to Ravenous, which is described on various sites as telling the story of the werewolves’ initial takeover of the town of Big Rock, the setting of both of these novels. Garton’s lycanthropy is an STD, a novel approach and one that sets up plenty of opportunity for naughty action. Bestial’s not short on gore, either; there’s a particulary painful scene right from the get-go as a matter of fact. It’s a fast-paced read ending in a huge battle and Garton doesn’t kill off any of the characters I really cared about. That’s refreshing, actually, after some of the books I’ve read this year. He does, however, put a couple of the more interesting characters in situations that I’d look forward to reading more about in a possible third book. I was able to enjoy Bestial without knowing anything that came before, too; definitely a point in the book’s favor.
My biggest peeve about this book is Garton’s constant anti-Adventist message throughout the book. Half of the novel involves how shitty the Adventist religion is; one character’s whole backstory involves being part of the church and being shit upon by his holy-roller grandma and mother, the werewolves use the local Adventist church as part of their takeover of Big Rock and that’s just scratching the surface. The whole time I was reading Bestial I was thinking, Wow, Garton’s really got it in for this religion. Sure enough, in the bio at the end of the book, Garton writes that he was raised Adventist and it was horrible. Sounds like he has some issues to work through, and I can sympathize with that personally. I get a sermon every Sunday at my own church, though, and Garton’s outright soapboxing is definitely a mark against Bestial. 7/10.
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