Sanity Test by K.E. Adamus and Fate's Last Melody by Vanessa Smith

 

Sanity Test by K.E. Adamus 

This review is a summary. The main review is on LitPick.

Sanity Test is a short but very disturbing look at two very troubled, conflicted, and potentially delusional men

This is a series of emails between Hubert Kawka and Wlodzimierz Pawski. Their emails reveal a great deal about their characters and perspectives through the emails. 

It appears that Kawka is a mentally ill patient in a psychiatric hospital and Pawski is his primary carer, but as the emails continue they become more frantic and questionable. The reader starts to wonder who is sane and who isn’t and who exactly these characters are in relation to each other.

Kawka straddles between childlike impulsivity and frightening sociopathic behavior. Through his emails, he describes a series of dramatic means to get Pawski's attention. He harbors an unhealthy fixation to an unhealthy obsessive degree and is gaslighting the other man. 

However, Pawski’s emails also raise concern. He is more emotional and threatening from the initial emails. This is definitely a potential sign that things are not what they seem and adds to the overall uncertainty that we can’t trust either of these men.

As Pawski becomes more unstable, Kawka becomes more reasonable which leaves the reader with questions about who is real, who is fictional, who is sane, who is insane, and who we can trust. The book gives us no real answers and leaves the reader to make their own conclusions to understand this strange and disturbing duo, 

Fate's Last Melody by Vanessa Smith 

This review is a summary. The main review is on LitPick.

Fate's Last Melody has a strong sense of setting and tone by depicting Hell with all of its overall darkness, graphic violence, scares, and ominous energy coming out from every corner. There is a sense of abandonment, hopelessness, and desolation that exists primarily throughout the book. 

Melody is a woman who is abducted during a night on the town with some friends and a potential boyfriend. Her abductor is not a human psychopath. He is a demon named Nyx who takes her to Hell, where she learns that she is the daughter of one of the Fates from Greek Mythology. Melody has to find her way through Hell and learn how to use her inherited powers of seeing and changing other's Destinies before she meets The King of Hell who has his own agenda involving Melody. 

Melody’s first view of Hell is a dark desolate place shrouded in shadows. The descriptions aggravate the senses and the landscape shapes itself to torture those suffering. Needless to say, it's not a pleasant experience.

Smith makes her version of Hell a composite of different mythologies most notably Abrahamic religions and Hellenic Mythology. Hell is led by The King of Hell who is so vaguely described that he could be either Lucifer or Hades, so it could go either way. The Judeo-Christian influence is shown primarily through the 7 Deadly Sins while the Greco-Roman aspects are revealed mostly through the presence of the Fates and the Titans.

There is an overall feeling of helplessness and abandonment until the end when Melody and other characters are inspired to fight against The King of Hell. But there are some potential questions about the actions that were taken to do this which suggests that Hell might end up with another dictator, one who will also torture others for eternity, inflict pain, and control others.

Weekly Reader: The Dark Chorus by Ashley Meggitt; Dark Hypnotic Horror About A Mentally Disturbed Man With Soul Stealing Powers

 Weekly Reader: The Dark Chorus by Ashley Meggitt; Dark Hypnotic Horror About A Mentally Disturbed Man With Soul Stealing Powers

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Ashley Meggitt's The Dark Chorus is a disturbing supernatural novel about a protagonist with an almost hypnotic power of stealing and capturing souls from the body.

The Narrator is a seriously troubled young man who spent most of his life in children's homes and psychiatric wards. His mother just died and he knows because as she died, he took her soul and put it into what he calls, The Dark Chorus, the souls that he collected and he carries with him. He is haunted by this ability, whether he does it out of malice, self-defense, or accidentally.

He is caught in the act of killing a woman during a ritual and he is judged to be mentally insane. His psychiatrist, Dr. Rhodes tries to find out the root of his strange story. The Narrator makes a pair of new friends, Makka and Vee. It isn't long before the trio are on the run with law enforcement and psychiatric services following close behind.

The book begins terrifyingly and pretty much stays that way. The Narrator's opening ritual is nightmarish as the souls wail at him in a chorus that sounds like all of Hell has a sound system just for The Narrator. His ritual ends up depriving his mother of her memories and identity to the point where she doesn't recognize him. It gets worse when he assaults a family friend, Mrs. Johnson, a woman that he insists wanted to die, to exchange her soul for his mother's. It's a mesmerizing and eerie ritual that sets the stage for the rest of the book. 

While the Narrator has this unique power, he is not invincible. In fact, he is often susceptible to other character's manipulations and desires. He becomes aware of this as he hides with Makka and Vee. His two friends are frightened of him but are also motivated by their own avarice, rage, and need for violence against those who have wronged  them. The more that they drag their new friend into hiding with suspicious allies and family members, the more they fuel his connection to the Dark Chorus and his souls. Their desires for an end to their pain only adds to the Narrator's.

While Makka and Vee could be considered The Narrator's friends, they are also interested in their own personal gain. The only one who is genuinely concerned for him is Dr. Rhodes. As they search for the boy, Rhodes doubts his elaborate story. At first Rhodes plays on one of my favorite tropes: whether what is happening is real or just part of Insanity. After all, The Narrator could have imagined the whole ritual in the beginning and Makka and Vee could be playing along with The Narrator's fantasies for their own means. 

However, that changes once Rhodes starts peering into The Narrator's past and finds out about his connections to a mysterious cult. The Narrator's back story serves as an explanation for the strange events and makes him even more isolated because of decisions that were not of his own doing. 

His souls can't connect him to anyone, even himself. This is what Dr. Rhodes connects with him. She is the only person who truly cares for and wants to try to understand him. She wants to see beyond his ability to the real suffering person inside.

The Dark Chorus gives us a unique power and the suffering that a person who has it can go through. They can feel used, misunderstood, discredited, and alone: just drifting along like a soul without a body.