Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Rate this book!
Write a review?
So let's just call them truffles of the gods.Another great taste of cosmic horror from Hodge, I loved Whom the Gods Would Destroy and this just adds to my belief that he is one of the best writing contemporary cosmic horror.The story of siblings bound by a horrific incident early in their lives and how this event forms their relationship and leads them down an unforeseen path.Daphne, though, had been broken. You could point to the date when it happened. She'd been broken, put back together, and
The Immaculate Void’s narrative alternates between two grown siblings, and the way in which they engage the reader’s sympathies drives the story forward from terror to terror. Daphne is living with the damage of surviving a serial killer and trying to do the best she can, although is prone to making bad relationship choices. And Tanner is her brother, wracked with guilt over his role in her misfortunes, and filled with the need to set things right for her. They travel on parallel quests each lea...
Daphne disappeared when she was 6 years old. A child predator serial killer took her to the tool shed, where she suffered horribly. She is the only one known to survive. Two decades later, Daphne disappears again. Tanner, her older brother, is desperately searching for her. All he found is news clips of the strange fate of one of Jupiter's moons and other cosmic events. Down two separate timelines, the siblings find themselves on the hunt for the rarest people on Earth for different reasons. It
The Immaculate Void is a meticulously crafted masterpiece of cosmic horror with a deep and engaging story that instantly pulls you in. You’re taken on a dark and unique journey that can be pretty brutal one moment and the next morbidly beautiful, the prose perfectly illustrates this with a skillful ease. This is the first time I've read anything by Brian Hodge and it certainly won't be the last, I'm really impressed with his writing and imagination. This book is sure to sick in my mind for quit...
I have a small red statue of Cthulhu on the dashboard of my car. Not because I worship Our Aquatic Lord and Master, but because, if on the off chance he arises from the depths while I'm whizzing the flying monkeys around to after school activities in the Toyota, he'll notice the idol and hopefully refrain from devouring my skinny arse, or condemning me to an eternity of servitude and damnation. I should probably do the same with Azathoth, Shub-Niggurath, and the rest of the Old Ones, but little
One of the best and most believable cosmic novels I have ever read. The author combines human weaknesses and intense emotional situations with chillingly well-described atmospheres of otherness that combine to build a page-turning novel into a crescendo of fear and passion. In a world where outsiders are prey and supposed god worshippers are devout and cruel hunters, aberrations in the stars cause both dread and excitement. Here are monsters, both human and otherwise. What does eternity mean...
When Daphne was six years old, she was hunted down by a monster. It was the same monster who had already abused, tortured then murdered nine other children. It was an act of good fortune saw police arrive before Wade Shavers had time to finish with little Daphne.Over time, Daphne's wounds healed - well, the physical ones at least. Oh, and except for the strange circular mark burned into her cheek.When he was twelve years old, Tanner turned away from watching over his kid sister. He only looked a...
He had never witnessed anything that felt more unholy than this. It’s always been difficult to define cosmic horror. It’s one of the most elusive of subgenres. The best way to describe cosmic horror is the fear that comes from witnessing something that is beyond the realm of human comprehension, the fear of something so vast that it defies all logic and understanding. This book is one of the best examples of the genre I've read. It’s a difficult feat to write about something that is
One of the best cosmic horror novels I’ve read since John Langan’s THE FISHERMAN. I could not put this book down.
I couldn't put this book down. Liked it, was gripped but saying that, I'm not entirely what happened at the end! Maybe a good friend of mine will explain it to me over a pint one day.
In any story where the gods, devils, demons, monsters, or whatever are the main focus, I can only cook up to about warm. So much of this book was characters speculating on the universe and what might rule it, there wasn't a great deal of room for the humanity. This is my typical issue with cosmic horror. Good writing. Interesting setting. Cool follow through. Just lacking what I think counts the most.
Many thanks to Janie C. for recommending this book.
THE IMMACULATE VOID is a stellar entry in the fields of cosmic horror and dark fiction!Brian Hodge has long been a favorite author of mine and this novel only justifies his position on my favorite authors list. I'm finding that I don't have adequate words to properly review this book. (Which is the same way I felt about John Langan's THE FISHERMAN.) I was lucky enough to read both of these novels in 2019 and I'm just worried that nothing else I read this year will be as good as these two books.
I don’t even know what I just read but it was gruesome and weird and the literal kind of awesome. You’re going to love this one, I promise. The writing was beautiful, the voice was strong and captivating, the world building was… out of this world, the pace was perfect (I read this in four hours) and the overall feeling I was left with is: I can’t wait to look this guy up and read everything he’s ever written. So yeah. Definitely give this one a go!
Loved this. Brian Hodge is a unique writer. I look forward to checking out more of his stuff. If you are a fan of cosmic horror, you have to read this.
When Daphne and Tanner were kids, something terrible had happened to his sister, and since then he's blamed himself. Abducted and tortured, Daphne was lucky to survive, but the scars remained, deep ones both physical and mental. And Tanner has always made it his mission to watch out for his wandering and wayward sister, even as adults. But now she's gone once again, and this time he can't find her. But Daphne is on a dark journey, to find meaning for the darkness that has consumed her since the
Wow. This story was grungy and got under my skin right from the get-go. I haven't read something quite like this at least since Nathan Ballingrud's "The Visible Filth". This was a powerful cosmic/weird fiction tale with Lovecraftian overtones. It hits you running and just keeps going, making you feel completely uncomfortable along the way but keeping you from stopping, for you need to know how it all ends.
Somewhere between M. John Harrison's Light and John Langan's The Fisherman floats The Immaculate Void, the newest accomplishment by Brian Hodge.If those reference points excite you--and they should, if you're into thoughtful and frightening weird writing--it is easy to recommend Hodge's novel, wherein he plays cleverly with structure, time, and style while connecting tiny constellation dots and heavily burdened characters with some violent red slashes. A brother and sister, rock climbing, a chil...
My interest in the book ran like an inverted bell curve. It got 4 stars out of me because it finally managed to ring the necessary bells for my genre fetish. Otherwise 3 would have been aspirational. The author intermittently says interesting things. The plotting lacks grace and feels a little like somebody did what they could with Elmer's Glue and Scotch Tape to patch the scenes together after an unknown number of pages got lost in the wind and nobody cared enough to find or replace them.Still,...
4 AND 1/2 STARSAuthor Brian Hodge once again delivers an astounding novel on a truly epic scale. I love small, intimate stories set against a larger, cosmic backdrop, and this really hit the spot. You really have to be 'all in' to get the full effect of the story, but if you are, it is so worth it. Unique, flawed characters tangled in a dark journey of fate. Filled with dread and brutal, spontaneous violence, Hodge never slows down for the reader, pushing the narrative along to some very uncomfo...