Abomination by Gary Whitta
He is England’s greatest Knight, the man who saved the life of Alfred the Great and an entire kingdom from a Viking invasion. But when he is called back into service to combat a plague of monstrous beats known as abominations, he meets a fate worse than death and is condemned to a life of anguish, solitude, and remorse.
She is a fierce young warrior, raised among an elite order of knights. Driven by a dark secret from her past, she defies her controlling father and set out on a dangerous quest to do what none before her ever have, hunt donw and kill an abomination, alone.
When a chance encounter sets these two against one another an incredible twist of fate will lead them toward a salvation they never thought possible – and prove that the power of love, mercy and forgiveness can shine a hopeful light even in history’s darkest age.
I was completely hooked within minutes of picking this up and despite intending to just initially read a sample I could not keep away and finished it in just a few sittings.
Gary Whitta has written an exciting and intimate story that has a staunchly heroic protagonist reminiscent of David Gemmell’s finest. He has teamed him with a wonderfully strong girl who kicks an absolute ton of ass but whose youth means she has much to learn about anger, resolve and revenge. These two characters and their story make up the majority of the book and it is beautifully small scale and local whilst also giving us a threat that could destroy the world, and magic that can summon foul monstrosities, create illusion, ward armour, track at great distance and more.
The battle and fight scenes are well written, fluid and easily imaginable, as is the often almost impossible task of helping us picture an ‘abomination’. I imagine Whitta trying to describe them in the early days and think he might have felt a little like John Carpenter back in 82.
Well see the dog sort of turns inside out and something bigger comes out of it. It has a bunch of tentacles or spines, some pointy bits. It’s really weird and scary. It’s…..this…..thing
What sort of thing
A big scary fuckin thing okay!! Trust me. The kids will love it!
The abominations could have gotten very messy and lost their ability to induce fear in the reader if it were not for how skilfully they are written I’m not particularly squeamish but I was getting those sickly feelings I generally get when reading something by Nick Cutter or most recently, Peter Newman’s The Vagrant. After reading a bit of Sebastien De Castell I had almost lost my faith in knights so it was fantastic to see one that was a true hero working his way through the world and dealing with inhuman scum in the more traditional sense.
The story twists and turns on itself providing great surprises and some genuinely original ideas that were are a blast to explore. I am really surprised at the tightness of the writing and the pace considering it is Whitta’s first novel but he is also the writer of the very cool The Book of Eli as well as a bunch of Star Wars stuff so I’m not surprised he excels at writing this type of tale.
Abomination is an immensely satisfying combination of everything we love about fantasy and horror but so rarely see together in the same book. I cannot recommend it highly enough and will definitely be keeping an eye to see what Whitta produces next.
5 Stars.
