In his first novel, This Is Horror and Wonderland Award-nominated author Nicholas Day invites you to take a journey into a Hell that is at once uncomfortably familiar, yet unlike anything you’ve ever encountered before: a surveyor finds himself pursued by flesh-eating donkeys in the furthest reaches of Oregon’s desert; a mass-murderer leaves the sanctity of his mountain home to pursue a long-lost … long-lost love, his guide an otherworldly raven possessed by a 19th century American humorist; in nearby Klamath Falls, two estranged childhood friends set off to find a missing father with the help of two aging cowboys; and, a prisoner in her own home sees a vision of death and knows there is no escape. Pain is proselytizing. Death is the one, true faith. And everyone worships in their due time. The Gates of Nihil are wide open and waiting to…GRIND YOUR BONES TO DUST.
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GRIND YOUR BONES TO DUST is a beautifully written, brutal horror novel, but it’s also much more.
Separated into 4 sections, this book delves into creature feature territory, as well as philosophy, (does God exist? Is God insane? Maybe both, maybe neither?), religion, grief, loss, rape, sodomy, guilt and love. I wouldn’t have thought that such a short book could cover so many subjects, but this one was full of surprises. Vicious and extreme horror really aren’t my thing anymore, but this story was different. I think the beauty of the language used tempered the more brutal aspects of the scenes within, if that makes any sense.
Just when I thought I had mapped out the direction in which the story would go, it turned on me. I find that to be an excellent way of keeping the reading turning the pages. It certainly worked on me.
I’m finding it difficult to talk more about this story without spoilers. A few of these characters will remain in my mind for quite some time. One of them might haunt me forever, just because of how cold he was. Cold to every living thing, except for a talking crow that he befriended on his journey. He was so cold I’m surprised my fingers didn’t get frostbite.
I consider myself to be a seasoned horror fan. For that reason, it’s hard to discover plots I haven’t come across before. It’s hard to escape the same old tropes, final girls, haunted houses, unreliable narrators blah blah blah. This book DID escape them, and it escaped by using original ideas, beautiful prose, and by intertwining the normal with the most abnormal of situations I’ve ever come across. For this reason, GRIND YOUR BONES TO DUST gets ALL THE DAMN STARS.
My highest recommendation!
*I was provided a full paper manuscript with illustrations by the author, in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*
After devouring (and loving) Day’s ‘At the End of the Day I Burst Into Flames’ I was keen to check out ‘Grind…’ but like everyone, my TBR is insane and it took me some time to finally get around to it.
Oddly, I’ve only had a few books over the last few years that hit me like this one did, the last being Craig DiLouie’s ‘Children of Red Peak.’ That is, books I absolutely loved but also absolutely infuriated me.
I think with ‘Grind…’s case, this was due to the borderline Bizarro leanings that I found reading this.
What I liked: A gruesome novel, told through interconnected novellas, ‘Grind Your Bones to Dust’ is a very dark read that focuses on bleakness and pain. The beginning opens in the Oregan wilds, a group of Hell Donkeys wreaking havoc on a farm and from there Day doesn’t relent.
I struggle to define stories, but this one had a speculative Bizarro feel to it that worked to allow anything to happen and the characters Day crafted were left to take the brunt of his imagination.
Each story/section worked well to pull the readers along and keep us feeling dirty and on the cusp of collapse, but for me the highlight was just how brutal things were, even when we’d already been subjected to horrific events.
What I didn’t like: As I mentioned, at times this goes bonkers and entered (at least to this reader) Bizarro areas of plot progression. It works to move things along but also threw me for a loop.
Why you should buy this: Day’s a fantastic writer and if the opening of this book doesn’t hook you, the brutality that comes after certainly will. This is one that will either tick all your boxes or make you feel completely repulsed.
Either way, this is one you should definitely check out.
Was able to get a signed and personalized copy of this from the author, he drew a donkey head on the introduction page, great beginning to this book! There are fours parts to the story and all seem to revolve around death, death as a faith. Liked how all parts tied into one another! Most of the characters here die by horrible means…four demonized, flesh eating donkeys roaming the desert in the West is just the beginning. Rather enjoyed this one!
Let’s see, how to describe this book . . . existential, theological, splatterpunk, supernatural, highbrow, masculine, mind-twisting, western horror.
PROS:
I was captivated by the story, but even if I weren’t, I would have kept reading just for the BEAUTIFUL PROSE. The prose is fresh, too, with turns of phrases and vocabulary words I’ve never heard before (like “atramental,” I for sure didn’t know what “atramental” meant!) but without sounding stuffy.
The book is full of Biblical and philosophical allusions which make for a rich, multi-layered read. On the surface it seems anti Judeo-Christian, but I think it’s just exploration and probing and existential questioning.
I have never read a horror book with such unique, ferocious beasts like the ones in this book.
Day depicts brutal violence so well that I physically cringed even though I knew it was just words on paper (or pixels on a screen).
I would have been cast into a funk if it weren’t for a brief glimpse of redemption, bright and radiating, for one of the (many flawed) characters. The glimpse is perfectly timed and executed.
Props to Daniele Serra for the wonderful cover art and the expressive drawings inside the book.
CONS:
The tension and pace drop off toward the end. It gets more surreal and philosophical. But it’s still captivating, so no stars off.
OVERALL:
Disturbing and compelling. Five fat stars.