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ballisticbaylor 's review for:
The Hellbound Volume 1
by Yeon Sang-Ho, Choi Gyu-Seok
"Mankind is species that self-destructs without meaning."
I was skeptical this was gonna be mostly cheesy when the book slapped the concept in my face right out of the gate: there's a growing phenomenon of people around the world getting a divine notice that they are going to hell, precisely it will happen, and then demonic monsters burst out of the ether and brutally murder them. A little kitschy, but can this concept hold up a whole book (with a second volume already published)? I'm happy to report: yes! Any good story idea can be exploited from every angle to deliver depth and Yeon Sang-Ho does so here.
A religious group crops up with spiritual answers for this terrifying phenomenon called The New Truth Society with a messianic leader. Is this phenomenon legit or a ploy by this messiah figure? Are these victims being punished for condemnable sins or just randomly? Society begins to spin out of control in its need for meaning as violently fanatic sects of the New Truth emerge and threaten our central characters. The images of unhinged fanatics weaponized by corrupt leaders causing social unrest feel close to home in 2022 (this was published in 2020) and this mania is the true horror of the book.
The top negative reviews for this book are some guys complaining about too much dialogue and not enough monsters (c'mon my dudes, all best horror works know that the scariest thing in the world is the darker shades of human nature). That's a decidedly shallow take on this book, as the dialogue exploring nihilism, free will, fanaticism, depravity, and the nature of God alongside the mounting tension of story are where the meat is (even if it ani't prime meat). Not saying some of the dialogue doesn't verge on melodramatic silliness, but there's interesting ideas being explored even if not masterfully.
Main complaint: though the expressiveness of our characters was incredible, often their surroundings seemed oddly computer generated, like 3D images were just superimposed into the background that don't match the rest of the art style. It was weird and distracting.
Anyway, I'm excited to pick up the next volume as plenty of mystery and tension linger.
I was skeptical this was gonna be mostly cheesy when the book slapped the concept in my face right out of the gate: there's a growing phenomenon of people around the world getting a divine notice that they are going to hell, precisely it will happen, and then demonic monsters burst out of the ether and brutally murder them. A little kitschy, but can this concept hold up a whole book (with a second volume already published)? I'm happy to report: yes! Any good story idea can be exploited from every angle to deliver depth and Yeon Sang-Ho does so here.
A religious group crops up with spiritual answers for this terrifying phenomenon called The New Truth Society with a messianic leader. Is this phenomenon legit or a ploy by this messiah figure? Are these victims being punished for condemnable sins or just randomly? Society begins to spin out of control in its need for meaning as violently fanatic sects of the New Truth emerge and threaten our central characters. The images of unhinged fanatics weaponized by corrupt leaders causing social unrest feel close to home in 2022 (this was published in 2020) and this mania is the true horror of the book.
The top negative reviews for this book are some guys complaining about too much dialogue and not enough monsters (c'mon my dudes, all best horror works know that the scariest thing in the world is the darker shades of human nature). That's a decidedly shallow take on this book, as the dialogue exploring nihilism, free will, fanaticism, depravity, and the nature of God alongside the mounting tension of story are where the meat is (even if it ani't prime meat). Not saying some of the dialogue doesn't verge on melodramatic silliness, but there's interesting ideas being explored even if not masterfully.
Main complaint: though the expressiveness of our characters was incredible, often their surroundings seemed oddly computer generated, like 3D images were just superimposed into the background that don't match the rest of the art style. It was weird and distracting.
Anyway, I'm excited to pick up the next volume as plenty of mystery and tension linger.