Apocalypse Woman by Tyree Q. Kimber

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: Apocalypse Woman
Author: Tyree Q. Kimber 

Author Site

Buy Link

Publisher: Dark Roast Press

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Erotica

Length: 386 pgs.
Other: 

BDSM * M/F * M/F/M * M/F/F * F/F * F/M/M * Ménage * Multiple Partners * Voyeurism

Pagan & Pagan Elements: Yes

Reviewed by: yadkny

About The Book: Selkines Ondine, a minor noblewoman without the means to fulfill her hunger for knowledge and power, faces a lonely life in service to the Aratriconian Church. To avoid this fate she makes a pact with Abryax, a fallen angel who defied the god Aratricon at the dawn of time. In exchange for bearing the demon’s child she will receive one wish for anything her heart desires. Selkines plans to use this wish to gain the wealth and power that society denies her.

But the archbishop of the Church has a secret agenda: an interest in Selkines that goes far beyond the religious. And the servants of Heaven will do anything to keep a soul they have set their sights on from Hell’s grasp.

Meanwhile Selkines’ long suffering admirer, the poet Erasmus, sets out to win her hand as well, unaware that his competition is a creature of ancient and terrible power. Abryax’s motto is that Hell gives us exactly what we want. But Selkines learns that what we want may come in a form we never expected or desired. Heaven and Hell ultimately gather for a showdown with Selkines’ body as the battlefield, but Selkines is shocked at the depth of her own capacity to love when Erasmus selflessly enters the conflict for her sake.

The Review: This story is listed in the dark fantasy erotica genre and I couldn’t agree more with that description. Small warning to those that find certain sexual situations objectionable as there are no boundaries in this story and it can be very graphic. That being said, Tyree Q. Kimber did a fantastic job of creating a riveting medieval world where the characters in the story work together AND against each other as they secretly, and not so secretly, manipulate, scheme, and plot for their own selfish agendas.

Selkines is a very learned woman who, in order to stay out of a life of servitude to the church, takes her fate into her own hands by performing a demon summoning. Her actions after that initial decision proved that she is the epitome of both the bad and good that can be found in everyone, only magnified. Her decisions bring about a domino like effect of results to those around her. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. It is easy to see why Selkines would feel the need to turn to witchcraft and I am a fan of a woman who wants to be independent, but she is also blind. Erasmus understands her completely and would give her anything she desires, but Selkines doesn’t see him as worthy and finds his attentions annoying until they aren’t there anymore. Only after things become increasingly out of control does she realize what she had right in front of her all along.

After many mistakes, Selkines’ path to redemption is commendable and the author did a wonderful job of portraying a slightly twisted happily ever after. There is also a glimpse into what life for Selkines would have been like had she not chosen a different path. This alternate ending may actually appeal to some readers and I actually felt it was more believable.

Overall this is exactly the type of story that once you read it, you’re likely to not soon forget it. It is definitely not a light read and requires much focus to make certain that things don’t become too confusing.

Pagan Elements: Spell casting, demon summoning, charms, rune carving and covens are just to name a few of the pagan elements that are in this book and there is a strong Heaven versus Hell theme.

Cover Art Rating: 5-The cover was average as far as design quality. Although, if I had seen it on a bookshelf I would have picked it up to find out what the story was about since the image doesn’t automatically give the reader any insight. In this case, the mysterious cover served its purpose to capture my attention.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

The Curse of Albrecht Manor by Christopher C. Newman

PAGAN & PEN REVIEW

Title: The Curse of Albrecht Manor
Author: Christopher C. Newman

Author Site

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Publisher: Dark Roast Press

Genre: Horror/Mystery/Paranormal

Length: 179 pgs.
Other: Forced Seduction/Rape/Voyeurism/M/F/F/F

Pagan & Pagan Elements: Yes

Reviewed by: Violet Harper

About The Book: The women of the Albrecht family are cursed! For nearly three hundred years the hex uttered by a witch being burnt at the stake has stalked them down the centuries. Priests, herbal women, and even Inquisitors have been brought in to stop it from driving the Albrecht daughters to sexual-induced madness on their twentieth birthday. Nothing has worked; not even an uprooting from their native Germany to America has stopped it. Soon it just became an unfortunate fact of life if you are a female Albrecht.

It is present-day and Baron Markus Albrecht nervously awaits his daughter Elsa’s twentieth birthday. For a year he has searched for someone willing and able to halt the hex from driving his daughter as insanely mad as his sister, Franziska. Four days before her birthday he finds Noah Ravenswood, a practicing wizard and learned occultist. Noah, armed with hereditary mystical training by his mother, and Doctor Sarah Bookings his associate, he travels to southern Ohio to do battle with the Albrecht Curse.

But who or what is Noah really fighting? Is it truly a hex or perhaps a power-play by one of the Albrecht sons? Could it be the angry and distrustful Maximilan Albrecht, the eldest son and inheritor of the vast Albrecht Estates? Could it be the playboy Hans Albrecht, trying to dethrone his older brother and wrest control for himself? Can Noah and Sarah unravel the mystery before they become embroiled in the family politics, carnal activities, and deadly games at Albrecht Manor?

The Review: The story started out so promising. It seemed a little like The Dresden Files with the wizard man who dedicated his life to using his paranormal abilities to save people. After establishing some plot elements, the story degenerates in several aspects.

The writing style seems a little off. I kept trying to figure out if the writer was an American trying to sound British or an Englishman trying to sound like an American. I do like both styles, but not when cobbled together and not for characters that are American. I also don’t understand the heavy emphasis on the Albrecht’s German ancestry. If the family has lived in the US since before the Civil War, it is highly unlikely any of them would speak German, especially as a first language, or insist on using archaic aristocratic titles. Adding in the British butler and the French maid to a house in Ohio were either a failed attempt at humor or an overly clichéd casting of characters.

Additionally, all of the sex scenes were disturbing, but each for a different reason. Noah ‘forces’ his lover’s legs apart in a scene that is supposed to be romantic. Sarah’s voyeuristic experience ends with her giving head to the elder Albrecht who has children older than her, all in an effort to stop him from telling Noah, her boss, that she was watching two people have sex. I fail to see why Noah would care that she was watching.  During the scene, she describes trying not to vomit while the rest of the descriptors indicate that she is aroused. The first element necessarily cancels out the second for the reader. 

There is nothing remotely erotic about any of the sex scenes, though that may have been by design since most of them have their roots in evil. Some of them were downright disgusting. It would have been a much better story without the gory details.The best parts of the novel were those told through Noah’s eyes. The point of view shifts several times, which is fine, though it could have been a much stronger story if it hadn't. Noah disappears for so much of the novel that the reader forgets he exists He’s supposed to be the hero, the reader’s window into the story, but he ends up being an impotent and irrelevant tool.  Overall, I was very disappointed by something that could have been a great story.

Pagan Elements: Noah Ravenswood is a Pagan with paranormal powers. He uses protective charms and prayers to the gods/goddesses regularly during his cases where he helps people who are the victims of demons, curses, incubi, etc. Noah is a person modeled after Harry Dresden, and so worthy of respect for his adherence to his Pagan ideals. This added to the disappointment of the story because it had so many good Pagan elements.

Cover (Rated 1-10): 4-There’s nothing about it that would make me pick up the novel, but it does fit the storyline.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.