A Silver Falchion Award Finalist for Best Horror (2016)A horror novel reminiscent of old-school Stephen KingA DEMON’S REVENGE… AN ADDICT’S STRUGGLE… THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF A TOWNWhen the children of Glenwood begin vanishing one by one, baffling local and federal authorities alike, the idyllic New England suburb becomes anything but a utopia.Built upon the ruins of a lost colony, Glenwood … upon the ruins of a lost colony, Glenwood harbors a long-forgotten secret, and when three strangers are lured into the midnight woods by the phantom of a Puritan boy, they discover the truth of the town’s dark past and must face a vision of its bloody future.
Together, this unlikely trio—Jay, an alcoholic school teacher, Tim, a wise-cracking new kid in town, and Sarah, a nine-year-old with a handful of imaginary friends—must find a way to rescue the town from a terrifying supernatural force to prevent history from repeating itself.
“A solid horror story with appetizing characters.” –Kirkus Reviews
“An immensely satisfying paranormal thriller that manages to be playful, haunting and engrossing all at once.” –bestthrillers.com
“Cavignano’s Colony of the Lost is a riveting and suspenseful tale of atmospheric horror that calls back to the supernatural suburban chillers of the ’70s and ’80s. Three unlikely heroes are brought together to defeat a violent demon terrorizing their small town. What starts as a string of child disappearances turns into a shocking bloodbath of violent and sometimes sexual terror. A story of redemption and heroism cloaked in the macabre, Colony of the Lost is a winner for fans of kitschy American horror.” -The BookLife Prize in Fiction
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While I’m usually not much of a “monster story” fan this author crafted a very well written story that drew me in and kept me turning pages!
Colony of the Lost
By: Derik Cavignano
5 out of 5 stars
The story Colony of the Lost by Derik Cavignano is a horror book that I loved reading. While reading I had a chill going up and down my spine and was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. It grabbed my attention from the very beginning. It had me reading far into the night as I just had to know how it all ends. I loved reading about Jay, Tim, and Sarah. This trio must work together in order to save the town of Glenwood against a force that is powerful and evil. The town’s children are disappearing at an alarming rate. What is happening to them? Will the unlikely trio be able to defeat the evil or will they become its victims as well? Read this book to find out. The story did a wonderful job of laying out the history of the town and land. The book is well-written with plenty of details. I felt like I was right there with the characters. There are also other characters that you are introduced to and I enjoyed reading about the part that they play in the story and how some of them interact with Jay, Tim, and Sarah. Jay is a man that at first, I had a hard time seeing as someone that could help and be a hero. Then as the story continued, I began to see him in a different light and I was rooting for him to succeed. I have always loved horror stories that include the supernatural and this story is a wonderful example of why. There are times when reading I would have to remind myself to breathe. Highly recommended book.
This contemporary horror story starts out as a ghost story and turns into a ghost-and-beast story. Jay, Tim, and little Sarah must stop the beast.
PROS:
Jay, Tim, and Sarah are flawed and adorable at the same time. It’s easy to get involved in their stories and want them to triumph over the creature.
The book is frightening. I was holding my breath at times because the creature is so vicious, and the mere human town folk are so vulnerable.
The creature is crazy-good-scary. Cavignano has written a creative, evil beast steeped in the town’s history and looking like . . . well, I won’t spoil it.
CONS:
The beginning of the book has so many characters and cut-to scenes that it’s hard to follow everything going on. I’m glad I stuck with it, though, because it gets easier and more exciting to read later on. I took off half a star for the beginning.
The prose is disappointing in places. For example, a wet dog has a memorable smell, so to read “wet dog” to describe a smell more than once is a letdown. In other places I question the verb choice. But the plot does not suffer for the prose, and this may be just my stylistic preferences speaking, so no stars off.
The ending (not the good epilogue, but right before the epilogue) was a little hard to swallow. Portals, okay. Mind control, of course. Interspecies reproduction (ew!), sure. The key to resolving the story, however, was too fantastical. I took off half a star for this.
OVERALL:
Scary read, quick pace, creative creature, and protagonists you can root for. Four entertaining stars.
What a wild ride this book was! I don’t typically read monster horror books but Colony of the Lost did it for me and I enjoyed it a lot.
There isn’t anything original in this book really, but Cavignano does a good job with his characters and the pacing, to make this book a pageturner. I liked that three very different characters had to work together to save theirs and others’ lives. I did find that a lot of information was straight out given to them, so they didn’t have to figure out themselves, especially at the beginning of the book. But overall, the author kept my interest throughout the book, there was a lot of action and many suspenseful moments.
For monster horror fans this book does a good job of delivering a well-written story with good characters as well. There are some disturbing scenes involving children, but that’s up to how much each reader can stomach. Overall, a solid and enjoyable book.
I love a good horror story. Especially when it is all action and few swear words. A drunk and two unpopular kids a brought together by a ghost wanting them to destroy a beast. A lot easier said than done. Well written.
I didn’t care for this book. It was all a little to much.
Creepy, in a wonderful Stephen King way.
I was engaged at reading this mystery
Interesting book. Did seem to be inspired from a few Stephen king novels, but non the less a good read.
A blend of fantasy, sci fi, amd horror. Interesting.
I’ve been going through a phase of somehow picking up only bad books and this book broke me out of it. It’s not especially profound or groundbreaking or life-changing, but it kept me so engaged that I read the whole thing in a day. It has just the right balance of suspense and humor. All the chapters are very short which makes it fast-paced and hard to put down. It would make good airplane reading.
I’m not sure why this book is classified as “teen and young adult.” Not that it’s inappropriate for teens or they wouldn’t enjoy it, it just doesn’t give off those vibes. So if you hate YA, this might be an exception I guess.
My one complaint is some of how the text treats animals. At one point a cat is in danger and he gets away but then he’s left alone for days or weeks and we never hear about whether or not he’s okay. I wish the epilogue had at least passingly mentioned that the cat was okay. There’s also a part where a dog dies. It’s not described in a lot of detail and the dog isn’t in the story long enough for you to get attached. I know, people either really care about whether the animals in the story are okay (like me) or they don’t get it and think it’s silly. A lot of humans in the story die too (I mean, obviously, since this is a horror novel). I know, people think it’s weird to care so much more about fictional animal deaths than fictional human deaths, but fictional humans die so often that I’m pretty numb to it unless it’s a main character.
The underdogs unite and kick butt. Loved it
Well written with great characters, couldn’t put it down!
good story
Did not finish
Creepy!
Not my normal read but, I couldn’t put it down.
I found this one to be difficult to read. The characters never engaged me, and some of the scenarios were difficult for me to believe. I try to suspend disbelief when reading but this one failed to be believable during real-life situations. There are some plot points that start but never develop, the result being that they just add clutter to the story. Overall, it isn’t a book I would recommend.
I loved this book. It started out slow and I was losing interest when it picked up and never slowed down. The story was entertaining and the I cared about the characters. I can usually figure out where a story is going to go, but this one kept me guessing.
It seemed to jump around a lot, but I only read through chapter 5, It just didn’t keep my interest