78 Most Popular Series - Devolution
In case you missed it, I’m reading my way through the Goodreads 78 Most Popular Horror List - check out the series here.
“However, as I finished the last page, I couldn’t help but believe her story. I still do. Perhaps it’s the simplicity of her writing, the frustratingly credible ignorance of all things Sasquatch. Or perhaps it’s just my own irrational desire to exonerate the scared little boy I used to be.”
Devolution by Max Brooks is a mixed media horror novel told in journal entries, interviews, and quotes and told as a ‘non-fiction’ story. It follows two disasters that are intertwined. First is the Mount Rainier volcano eruption, and the second is a Sasquatch attack on a high tech colony nearby. The mystery remains whether the Sasquatch attack really did happen, there were no survivors, just a lot of clues, destruction, and a journal written by one of the residents; Katie. As we read through the evidence and the journal entries, it’s up to the reader to determine what truly happened.
For some reason, I was hesitant to read this one. I wasn’t a fan of Brooks’s other books which I think is what held me back, regardless of my love for Sasquatch. (Check out my visit to Harrison Hot Springs, a hot bed for Bigfoot sightings, here) But as a problematic mood reader, when my copy of this book arrived in the mail, the feeling was right and I picked it up and devoured it over two days.
“They all want to live ‘in harmony with nature’ before some of them realize, too late, that nature is anything but harmonious.”
What I really loved about this book was how freakin’ violent this got! The family of Sasquatch that attack the town of Greenloop hold nothing back and the descriptions of the killings were SAVAGE. Just Sasquatch throwing people around, stepping on spines, crushing heads, leaving brain and bits of bone everywhere. I mean….damn. It was awesome to read! And when Greenloop fights back, they get just as violent, throwing spears, axes, setting up glass traps and pikes. “Massacre” is a pretty accurate term to use all around.
I enjoyed the mixed media elements, I always do, I’m a sucker for it every time. While I did have to turn off my logical brain during the journal entries (her town is under attack and she’s writing like 15 page entries with every bit of dialogue remembered perfectly), I thoroughly tucked into this story. The interview parts were fantastic, along with the quotes added at the start of each chapter that alludes to the overarching themes of the tale.
Katie was a total badass and I enjoyed her character arc a lot. At the end, when her brother presents all the different scenarios, I too like to believe she’s out there with Pal in the mountains hunting down Bigfoot and revenge murdering them all. Mostar was also my favourite, just an absolutely traumatized unhinged artist who’s seen some shit.
“One journey ends, another begins. Hard to reconcile the memories of my soft, sensitive baby sister with the predator that might be out there now. Mother of a tribe of two. The killer apes.”
Overall, I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would. And I’m so grateful for this list I’m following that’s introducing me to so many new 5-star reads and new authors.
So with this one completed, I am now at 41 books completed, and another 5-star added to the pile, which makes 31 5-stars so far.