The Three Heretics by Scott Hale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to the author for the chance to beta-read! I'm blessed... or is it cursed? Either way, it's one hell of a good ride.

We don't get much of the previous novel's MC, but that's okay, because I have no problem with getting back into this wonderfully imagined post-Trauma earth, filled with dark magics, dark hearts, dark forests, dark societies, dark gods, and dark character progression.

Did I mention that it's dark? I mean it's horrorshow dark, and that's exactly what I want and need. Let's take all the good bits from the campy horrors, the scream-out-louds, the dark psychologies and the deeply, deeply, disturbing, and throw them into a solid novel led by three MC's this time. Three Heretics? Indeed. Good? Bad? Who the hell knows? The fact is, everything in this world is amazingly complex on the good/evil scale, but let's face it, everything that appears good always gets great and evil reveals. :)

Sound like your cup of tea, my horror fans?

My goodness, though, when it comes to Atticus, the gravedigger? The Second Heretic? Prepare yourself for one hell of a nice treat. I can honestly say that I've never seen such a traumatic character progression in my life, with quite as much reasonable, (or freaking unimaginable,) change.

Keep digging, Atticus. *whew* *wow*

And lastly, I should let you fanboys and fangirls of multiple tie-ins and complexly woven uber-stories, there's a ton of shorts by this author that will come out soon in an anthology that do a wonderful job at building a Hale-ian horror mythos, full of good stand-alones that just happen to enrich an awesome whole.

Do I sound like a fanboy? Well, for good reason. This is a work of great imagination and relentless horror. There's quite a bit of good psychological stuff built right in to the gore, the crazy, and the dark side of the Awe.

No one ought to skip this when it comes out. It's great fun! :)

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