Thursday 10 October 2013

Mark R Faulkner

Mark Faulkner writes these stories so engagingly.  There's horror but there are flashes of sensitivity and understanding which highlight and contrast.  Lovely stuff.

The Dark Stone

Amazon.com The Dark Stone

My review - 

This is the story of Sam who was a survivor of a terrible plague which killed all his family and almost everyone in his small town. He was befriended by another young boy, Joshua and eventually taken away by a group of monks with whom he found a happy and peaceful life. A couple of years later the monastery was sacked and Sam was the only survivor. As he escaped, he took a dark stone with him, which gradually but inexorably altered his behaviour. 

The writing is fluent and descriptive and I loved the away the story flowed. The author is able to describe both beauty and horror and to evoke both disgust and pity. This is sensitive horror. I felt for Sam as he had to cope with the death of all those he loved, and later as he found his own actions were beyond his control. I felt his anguish as he lost his innocence and fell prey to the power of The Dark Stone. A great story with its own built-in horror.

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