Hellweg’s Keep – Justin Holley | Book Review

Space, mystery, law enforcement, paranormal? Right up my alley. First time delving into horror, though, and I didn’t know what to expect. The blurb looked good! Hellweg’s Keep seemed like a good light read that I might avoid at night.

A few chapters in, the brand name-dropping and pop culture references made me think it was a much more near-future setting than I’d imagined. There was significant product placement throughout the book for brands I wouldn’t expect to continue to exist in 50-100 years. I found that pretty jarring, and it took me out of the moment every time. Consuming media from 50-100 years ago, outside of an anthropological setting, doesn’t make sense.

The setting and plot concept were fantastic. The idea of being isolated somewhere with deadly paranormal activity is terrifying. Add in SPACE as an extra layer, and I was ready for it to dial up the tension. Despite its potential, space ended up playing a really small role. 

In Hellweg’s Keep’s first half, Zak and Kendra repeatedly have the same conversation. When a question is asked, avoided, or declined, the response is, “Fine, when you’re ready, but we need to talk about it.” Yes, there’s a dark backstory that is painful to share—I got it the first time!

The paranormal aspect was cool. I enjoyed its magic, mechanics, and framing. I did not find it scary, nor did I feel much tension. There was a deus ex machina moment at the end, but it didn’t resolve anything for me. There were 3 or 4 loose ends when the book abruptly finished that were significant aspects of the story. It wasn’t clear whether it was a setup for another series. I may have missed an inference that more people were aware of the paranormal aspects, but it was pretty vague. I read the last chapter 2x to ensure I got all the critical pieces of information about why it ended the way it did and why everyone seemed okay with it.

Overall, Hellweg’s Keep has an exciting concept and medium execution. However, the pacing is a little off. The middle drags, and the ending comes from nowhere. The storyline needs some more polish and cleaning up. This was a new foray into the horror genre, and I probably should have chosen a classic for my first horror read. It’s close to an excellent read, but the few things that stand out affect the quality. 

Thank you to NetGalley, Flame Tree Press, and Justin Holley for an advanced reader copy.

Highlights:

– if this is the first in the series, it could just be a rough start to something that ends up being really well-polished and presented

Lowlights:

– tell me you don’t menstruate without telling me you don’t menstruate…. It didn’t add anything to the plot or tension. I found it -super- weird, and the exaggeration of it was strange. 

– The characters were pretty standard, and the rest of the world-building/plot, etc, wasn’t complex or well-executed enough to make up for it

Links

thestorygraph
Justin Holley’s Website