Halcyon by Rio Youers Review - Violent Cult Fun!
I was so excited when I saw this was a fictional book about a cult! I couldn't wait to dive in.
I genuinely loved the characters in this book, particularly Mother Moon. As a kind-of cult leader, she needed to be an interesting and captivating character but she went so much deeper than the standard enigmatic cult leader façade. Her character was immensely complex with a devastating backstory that helps build out both her redeeming and un-redeeming qualities.
10-year-old Edith is another fantastic character. I feel like a lot of authors over or underestimate just how much a child knows, but with Edith's terrible psychic night terrors, you'd expect her to be a little more clued up and I think Youers wrote the knowledge and sensibility of Edith really well.
The story in this is superbly fun and fast paced. I'm not always the biggest fan of supernatural books because they're so easy to get wrong! But luckily, while this book is strongly focused around Edith's physic powers it doesn't completely take over the story and there is plenty of real life creepy going on!
I wasn't at all disappointed by the cult aspect of the book. The Halcyon community is a far subtler creepy cult than I imagined but it worked so well in building tension. The communities pleasant lives made for a wonderful juxtaposition to the terrible secrets Halcyon was home to.
My opinion of the writing in this one was a little hit and miss. It mostly flowed really well, making it an easy book to lose yourself in, however, there were times when a singular line cropped up that put everything out of whack. The story would be moving along as normal and then all of a sudden you're hit with "he liked the back of his balls licked" and you had to pause to recalibrate.
Despite that, overall, I absolutely loved this book! It wasn't quite as spooky as I was hoping it would be but it was thrilling and gory, which is almost just as good. Not to be missed by any violent thriller lover!
(I was sent this by Titan Books in exchange for an honest review)
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