Brood of Vipers

I loved this book. Religious horror I'm a sucker for. This author really knows the good/bad book. In this story a pastor gets a chance to redeem all sinners in his macabre blood soaked ways. I also related to the main character and his past drug use. It's very hard when faced with situations and wanting to do right for family and self. I really enjoyed this. Will be reading more by this author. There badass angels in this as well. :)

I loved the premise of this novella and if this was the first hundred pages of a longer work I would rate it higher, but as is it ends just as it’s getting really interesting! I love the rivalry between Seth and Ezra and I do hope there is more to come.

This is a religious horror which takes the ferver of belief and twists it into something very dark and disturbing.

When the pastor of a successful church is in an accident, he loses his wife and finds out he will never walk again. His faith is quickly reduced to ashes and in a moment of grief, he cries out for a sign. But what appears before him isn't exactly God. This being will heal him and claims to be able to make him a powerful prophet. Of course, these things will require sacrifices. The pastor glady accepts.

In a halfway house in town, two younger men are looking forward to their future free of drugs. They're on the road to happiness and just need to spend their time there going to meetings and church services.

These two worlds are going to meet in a gruesomely bloody way as the pastor now serves his new master and will stop at nothing to gain more power. Oh yes, there will be blood.

This is a novella and the story goes by quickly. It gets right to the meat of the story and doesn't expand too much into detail. Which, for the most part, works. However, I wanted a little more exposition. I wanted to know what the characters were thinking and feeling. Sometimes it just jumped from scene to scene. That's a minor complaint though. Because the sacrifices are gleefully brutal and the battle between good and evil will get a big life altering pay off!

I recommend this book.

3.5. This was definitely a creepy read, at 115 pages it’s also a super quick one. I will warn that there is some animal abuse. It kept me turning pages although the content was a bit disturbing.

4.5* A fast paced horror indeed, and by fast paced i mean apostle to apostasy in one flap of an angels wings. Ezra Solomons faith is found lacking following a tragic accident and he is eager to prove his faith in his new saviour at any cost… Guinness world record for how low can you go is 8.5 inches, well i bet Ezra could do 6.66

The one thing holding this back for me from a 5* review is just that i wish we had a little more chance to get to know the characters. From page 1 you are straight onto this religious rollercoaster, but I’d have liked a little more background or time to get to know the characters personalities and relationships before they’re catapulted into chaos to fully feel the losses and changes they go through during the story.

The ending was giving me bad wig and sunglasses having an old friend for dinner IYKYK and i was living for it, and I do really want a sequel.

I’m a sucker for religious horror, so I was very excited to be approved for this ARC.

This story shows what grief can do to a person (although I would have liked more about Ezra’s grief, instead he curses out God once and not long after is a changed man) and it shows exactly how far one will go to have power and feel like a God.

It’s fast paced, the story goes by so quickly and the battle between good and evil is so dark and disturbing. The overall story was very engaging with some good twists and turns. The ending had me questioning a lot of things and I would have loved a bit more development on the characters.

I give this one 3.5 stars.

Thanks to the author, Translucent Eyes Press and NetGalley for the ARC. I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

A Brood of Vipers
Joseph Fulkerson

3.75 / 5 Stars

Ok, so ...

This one is a really fast paced horror story that drops us (literally) right into the driver's seat from page one.

It's dark, gory and grotesque, in the best ways.
It's got some really well written, vivid horror scenes ... My only minor critique would be that some of the dialogue could use a little punching up, in my personal opinion. Other then that, I found this tale of twisted faith to be an intriguing and disturbing read.

I recommend sacrificing some time for this religious horror novella.

I look forward to what he writes next!

Thanks to Netgalley, Translucent Eyes Press, and Joseph Fulkerson for this ARC eBook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book early in exchange for an honest review! I gave this novella 3.5 stars

3.5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC

I'm a big fan of religious horror, so I had a good time with this one. The pacing was fast and it was a quick read. I loved the gore/body horror. I couldn't give this 4 stars, mainly because it felt too short. I wanted more explanation of a few events. More detail about the way things worked.

Brood of Vipers is sooooo good. I couldn't stop reading it. I recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic and the story is immaculate.

⚠️⚠️Triggers and spoilers⚠️⚠️
Graphic animal abuse, murder, sadism, cannibalism, filicide, mentions of suicide

"Seph remembered the angel, causing chills to run down his spine. Was it a messenger from heaven? It didn’t look or act like any angel he had read about in the Bible. Had he been taught wrong from the start? Was God not loving and merciful like the stories he remembered learning as a child in Sunday school? How is it even possible?"
"Seph couldn’t help thinking how ludicrous this all was. Grigori, fallen angels, words that are alive. The God of the Bible has some terminal illness and is on his deathbed. He glanced at the supernatural creature patiently standing before him, waiting for his next move. So, he decided to take a leap of faith."


⚠️⚠️Triggers and spoilers⚠️⚠️

💭.
Dr. Ezra Solomon is the pastor of Living Way Tabernacle, a medium-size church, with a congregation of close to a thousand. He started questioning his faith after his car accident which crippled him and killed his wife. Shit started to go crazy after his encounter with Matanbuchus (who is actually Belial- a fallen angel in disguise) who supposedly heard his prayers and healed him. Believing he was called by Matanbuchus to consecrate himself, to be his prophet. He promised to worship Matanbuchus and in return, he'll be imbued with incredible powers like 'miracle healing'. All he needed to do was prove his loyalty by making certain sacrifices and rituals - one of which is to offer and kill his own son.
It's up to Seth, the protagonist, to figure out how to stop one crazy-obsessed, religious nut and the cunning, deceiving Matanbuchus/Belial from freeing Azazel (sin eater) to cause further havoc and destruction.
Insane, wild and ludicrous...funny, amusing read that one shouldn't take too seriously. The ending was a cliffhanger and we're probably expecting a sequel along the way? Again, I would have rated this higher if it did not contain graphic content of animal abuse. (Cat lovers be warned!)

📖 If you like:
💀 Fast paced religious / cult horror
💀 The Stand, Revival and Midnight mass vibes
💀 Good Vs evil trope

Thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the arc!

3.0✨