The Library at Mount Char

The Library at Mount Char Scott Hawkins 4/5	Published 2015 First Sentence "Carolyn, blood-drenched and barefoot, walked alone down the two-lane stretch of blacktop that the Americans called Highway 78."
Publisher's Description: Neil Gaiman meets Joe Hill in this astonishingly original, terrifying, and darkly funny contemporary fantasy. Carolyn's not so different from the other human beings around her. She's sure of it. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. She even remembers what clothes are for. After all, she was a normal American herself, once. That was a long time ago, of course—before the time she calls “adoption day,” when she and a dozen other children found themselves being raised by a man they learned to call Father. Father could do strange things. He could call light from darkness. Sometimes he raised the dead. And when he was disobeyed, the consequences were terrible. In the years since Father took her in, Carolyn hasn't gotten out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father's ancient Pelapi customs. They've studied the books in his library and learned some of the secrets behind his equally ancient power. Sometimes, they've wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God. Now, Father is missing. And if God truly is dead, the only thing that matters is who will inherit his library—and with it, power over all of creation. As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her. But Carolyn can win. She's sure of it. What she doesn't realize is that her victory may come at an unacceptable price—because in becoming a God, she's forgotten a great deal about being human.
Dear Reader, Let me start off by saying how STRANGE this book is. It reminded me a little of how confused (in a good way) I was when reading "John Dies at the End" by David Wong. I liked this one ten times better, though. Scott Hawkins is now in my pocket, categorized under "must read horror - on release date". Hopefully, this guy is planning on doing more. Recently, I have been pleasantly surprised by two upcoming Authors in the horror genre, this one and Josh Malerman who wrote "Bird Box". Anyways, back to this book. I finished this almost a month ago, so this is going to be difficult to review, but I'll try. What did I love so much about this book? Not only is it UBER strange but freakin hilarious. I can't even count how many times this book had me chuckling, most of it very random. The characters in this book grew up away from society, under extremely odd circumstances. Each child was "selected" to become a librarian (very loose term - not the type we think of), where they learn a specific topic and ONLY that topic. They aren't allowed to talk about their topic extensively to the others. The leader is a pretty messed up dude who doesn't treat them like children but more like minions. This is all very hard to explain. The point I'm getting at is this... because they don't know much about the world outside of the "library", they look at things from a humorous perspective. For example... "In the corner was a box called a "television" or "teevee" that could show moving pictures, but you couldn't step inside it or touch things." I loved getting to know these characters, even though they were unlikable gremlins. I love books that show things from that perspective... the evil one. As much as I hated the main character, I loved her too. I think the comedic relief helped with that. But before you think the only thing the book offers is humor... you would be VERY mistaken. I would not recommend this one to Arianna (squeamish), the blood and gut scenes even made me a little queasy. I felt terrified of certain characters in the book, reminiscent of "Hellraiser". If you love that kind of stuff, I would highly recommend checking this one out (with an open mind). This was a unique style of the horror genre and I'm glad to have come across it. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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