"Once…upon…a…death.." is a unique way to open a story but then James Herbert has a penchant for uniqueness that keeps him at the top of the British horror writing totem pole. This was the only remaining book of his that I hadn’t read, what with this particular author dominating his genre since ... Read review
Once is the latest in the welcome new phase of James Herbert's career after he distanced ... more
himself from the straightforward "horror" tag afforded to him by earlier novels such as the Rats trilogy and cannily reinvented himself as a writer with considerab...
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Once is the latest in the welcome new phase of James Herbert's career after he distanced ... more
himself from the straightforward "horror" tag afforded to him by earlier novels such as the Rats trilogy and cannily reinvented himself as a writer with considerab...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Free!
Onceis the latest in the welcome new phase of James Herbert's career after he distanced ... more
himself from the straightforward "horror" tag afforded to him by earlier novels such as theRatstrilogy and cannily reinvented himself as a writer with considerably ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
What if one day you found out that fairytales of elves, wicked witches and goblins were ... more
true? What if you met the fantasy and it was all so very real? That's what happened to Thom Kindred: the wonders were revealed to him, but so were the horrors.
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: in stock
Onceis the latest in the welcome new phase of James Herbert's career after he distanced ... more
himself from the straightforward "horror" tag afforded to him by earlier novels such as theRatstrilogy and cannily reinvented himself as a writer with considerably ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Once is the latest in the welcome new phase of James Herbert's career after he distanced ... more
himself from the straightforward "horror" tag afforded to him by earlier novels such as the Rats trilogy and cannily reinvented himself as a writer with considerab...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Check Site.
Once is the latest in the welcome new phase of James Herbert's career after he distanced ... more
himself from the straightforward "horror" tag afforded to him by earlier novels such as the Rats trilogy and cannily reinvented himself as a writer with considerably more psychological insight and elegance of style. Trading on a grotesque reinvention of fairy stories, Herbert has his protagonist Thorn Kindred encountering witches, goblins and demons, and being obliged to turn to some very strange sources to save his soul. The new ambitiousness of Herbert's writing may be found in the underpinning of the narrative here: this is a grim and persuasively realised spin on Nietzsche's epigram: "When fighting monsters, beware of becoming one yourself." But long-time readers needn't worry about a lack of grisly chills: Herbert is too fine a writer not to keep us permanently on the edge of our proverbial seats. And he's better than ever at orchestrating his fear-filled climaxes, so that there is a carefully worked out structure to the book that never has the stop-and-start jerkiness of the early novels. Rather in the nature of Sondheim's musical Into the Woods, fairy tale motifs are exploded and reconstituted in this dark and erotic fable. After reading Once, fairy tales will never seem the same again. --Barry Forshaw
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Advantages: Well written, Well paced Disadvantages: You might not take it seriously
...faery creatures?
Once is an interesting departure for Herbert into a land of faeries and elves. You could be forgiven for thinking that the great British doyen of Horror Land had been reading Tolkien or maybe JM Barrie, such is the sprinkling of macabre pixie dust that comes with this particular territory. I suspect that Conan Doyle would have been an influence during the writing of this story too. OK, this book does work. The reason ... ...a story and gauge the pace so that it quickens as you press on through the chapters. For me, this kept the pages turning even though it isn't one of his stronger books.
Probably the book’s greatest strength is the author’s immaculate pen pictures of his main characters. Thom Kindred is the kind of under-played hero that we would all like to be (although the carpenter parallels with Jesus towards the end are plain barmy) whilst Nell ... more
"Once…upon…a…death.." is a unique way to open a story but then James Herbert has a penchant for uniqueness that keeps him at the top of the British horror writing totem pole. This was the only remaining book of his that I hadn’t read, what with this particular author dominating his genre since the early 1970’s.
Thom Kindred is a 27-year-old male who has just had a stroke. A self-made man with his own furniture-making business, he is severely affected and travels back to Castle Bracken in Shropshire to recuperate. The stroke had caused him to crash his car although a mysterious golden light had fleetingly appeared in his eye line just as the crash occurred. This becomes significant later in the plot.
Castle Bracken is an ancestral home set deep in the countryside. Replete with sprawling grounds, an austere owner and a faithful but scary man servant, Castle Bracken is the archetypal English stately home that looks more at home in a ghost story. Thom is allowed the use of Little Bracken – a twee cottage that backs onto beautiful yet ominous woodlands.
During his convalescence, Thom is reacquainted with his boyhood friend – Hugo Bleeth – son of Russell Bleeth, the owner of the residence and all the accompanying lands. Thom's relationship with Hugo is that of boyhood friend and Russell Bleeth as generous benefactor during a difficult upbringing due to the death of his mother and previous disappearance of his unknown father.
The story really gets going with the introduction of Nell Quick, the alluring, yet dangerous, housekeeper who pops in on Thom to check his progress. Thom finds himself attracted and yet repelled by her presence suggesting an alternative agenda hidden amongst the flirtatious chat that soon follows their meeting.
One fine day, Thom decides to take a stroll in the woods. It’s not long before he encounters curious bright lights that hover a bit like dragonflies although with “…tiny, almost pellucid wings”. On going deeper into the woods he discovers a beautiful, sylph-like girl, masturbating in a small clearing. Thom finds that he simply has to watch although the subsequent assault by a variety of strange creatures as he runs away after being discovered makes him wonder whether it was a good idea after all.
Having returned to the cottage, Thom soon finds himself asleep, exhausted from the events in the woods. However, the sexual dream he has soon turns into a nightmare as he finds an ugly creature called a Succubus trying to steal his semen via oral sex (the woman writhing with him in his dream turns out to be the creature in reality). Fortunately, Thom is aided by a small, wee man called Rigwit who is a kind of elf-cum-pixie who helps our hero get rid of the nasty creature. Thom is left to reflect on how a seemingly normal existence has spiralled into a world of fantasy straight out of a Victorian picture book.
By now you may get an idea where this plot is going. The threads may make you wonder what Nell Quick’s agenda is; what will be the impact of Russell Bleeth’s death and who and what are all of these sprite like faery creatures?
Once is an interesting departure for Herbert into a land of faeries and elves. You could be forgiven for thinking that the great British doyen of Horror Land had been reading Tolkien or maybe JM Barrie, such is the sprinkling of macabre pixie dust that comes with this particular territory. I suspect that Conan Doyle would have been an influence during the writing of this story too. OK, this book does work. The reason it works is because of Herbert's natural ability to build a story and gauge the pace so that it quickens as you press on through the chapters. For me, this kept the pages turning even though it isn't one of his stronger books.
Probably the book’s greatest strength is the author’s immaculate pen pictures of his main characters. Thom Kindred is the kind of under-played hero that we would all like to be (although the carpenter parallels with Jesus towards the end are plain barmy) whilst Nell and Hugo are pantomime villains with enough shaded grey to make the reader uncertain as to whether dislike them or pity them for their relative inadequacies. I particularly liked the Nell Quick character as her foibles as an attractive kind of metaphorical historical figure with a basket of oranges fit for a king contrasted with her darker Wiccan motives that provide the catalyst for the story. Typically descriptive, Herbert describes Nell Quick “…Long black hair fell in wild tangles to her shoulders and her eyes, set wide above her wide cheekbones, matched its darkness. Hollowed cheeks led to a firm but gently pointed jaw and her nose, while still feminine, was strong, the nostrils flared slightly.” It’s the power to paint a picture in the readers mind that enables the author to move his characters around and create a 3-D image that’s as powerful as anything on screen.
As always, Herbert’s almost rhythmic style is easy to read. Chapters are short and punchy with his tried and tested cliff-hanger finish to each one designed to keep the reader interested. On this occasion, the magnitude of the cliff-hangers is less than usual although this didn’t diminish the way the story accelerates as it goes along.
On the debit side, the plot is well worn. A mesh of duplicitous villains, intercepted wills and evil witches has been done before and probably better than this. Just to compound the potential flaws in this effort, there are several lengthy passages that centre on sexual encounters including one lesbian exchange that lasts for several pages. Nothing wrong with that, per se, although some will baulk at such graphic depiction whilst the ensuing violence following one exchange is cringe inducing even for Herbert. Moreover, the amount of sexual content overall is far more than I’ve been used to in any of Herbert’s previous books. To be fair, it’s hardly gratuitous and reasonably well described for a writer not renowned for erotic content.
Herbert does manage a big finish as you would expect although there isn’t really a significant twist as such. The threads are brought together neatly with some crossing over of sub-plots which explain more about Thom’s parents and his true relationship with those established family members at Castle Bracken.
I did wonder whether I would enjoy this one. Having read the first few chapters, the notion of faeries and elves seemed lame but James Herbert’s overriding ability to weave a tale and his flowing style recovered things enough to present an enjoyable read. This won’t be for everyone especially with so much sexual content but it’s unusual enough to warrant a few hours of most people’s time and, of course, it completes my set.
Thanks for reading
an_enigmatic_brummie
Notes: 470pp ISBN 0-330/37613-6
Book originally retailed at £6.99, published by Pan Books. I should imagine you can pick up a copy for next to nothing via Amazon or even try your library for a copy.
Advantages: Unputdownable..is there such a word? Disadvantages: Gets a bit cold when sitting on that magic mushroom!
...because the horror within Once .. isn't about the gory stuff that he used to write about. In many ways this book reminds me of the Magic Cottage. The horror within both books are similar. The constant fight against good and evil, the balance of life and what happens when someone delves into something that they don't know anything about. Its more subtle but still has the impact of making you think. Perhaps this is the true horror. Horror of nature, ... ...James is going, its going to take a little getting used to but I think I will still like it.
So if you like subtle horror about fairies, love, passion and belief, get this book and sit under the big toadstool in the garden. But remember, take the heater out there... .its cold! ...
chrissiepops 27.12.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Once - James Herbert
Herbert was once an old favourite of mine but for some reason I stopped reading him some years ago as his books just weren't frequent enough for me and sometimes a little hit & miss. Browsing through the local WHSmith last week, desperate for some new reading material, I decided to give Once a try; I'm glad I did. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~About the author.~~~~~~~~~~~ James Herbert is billed as the most successful British writer of horror in the ... ...~~~~~~~~~~~About the book.~~~~~~~~~~ Once was published in 2001 by Macmillan and retails at £6.99 for the paperback. I bought my copy for the bargain price of £3.99 at my local branch of WHSmith. The cover is black with a circular cut-out under which you can view the inside cover on which a rather nice illustration nestles. The quality is good and suggests a good old spooky read. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The story~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the tale of Thom Kindred, ...
Kes30 03.06.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Once - James Herbert
Advantages: Full of fairies and elves Disadvantages: Full of nasty fairies and elves
James Herbert has for many years been at the forefront of British horror writing. His output hasn’t been prodigious but for the main part, it has been well crafted and original. This fairly recent book is: ‘A scary Tale of Faerefolkis & Evildoers, of Lovers & Erotic Passion, of Horror & Belief. Written only for Adults by James Herbert’.
I can’t argue with this description, provided by Herbert himself. In fact, should I bother with the rest of this ... ...of the book is introduced by the author in the old fashioned tradition of a brief synopsis of the part. For example, Part one is introduced thus:
‘In which a young man returns to his childhood home and learns of things he never though possible’. A nice touch and fits with Herberts aim to produce an old-fashioned fairy tale for grown ups.
However, you can get too much of a good thing.
The main character in the book is Thom Kindred (yes, really!) ...
MarkKerr 13.10.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Once - James Herbert
Advantages: an enjoyable read Disadvantages: slightly disturbing
...a copy of James Herberts Once and thought I’d give it a go. I’m glad I decided to try this book however it was not exactly what I was expecting, slightly less of the gruesome horror and more of a book to make you think about whats real and whats not but don’t get me wrong theres still a hint of the traditional horror. Once is about a guy called Thom Kindred who suffers a serious accident and after leaving hospital returns to his ... ...Hugo also lives in the estate as it is owned by his now dying father, Sir Russel. Thom moves in to Little Bracken, where he grew up with his mother until she committed suicide while Thom was just 10 and Hugo and his father still live in Castle Bracken, these are some distance apart. When Thom has moved back in he is flooded with memories of his mother and is safe to say that he is portrayed as mentally a little unstable. Soon, however, events begin ...
Lynne83 07.01.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Once - James Herbert
Remember the fairy stories you were told as a child? The tales of tiny, magical, winged beings and elves, wicked witches and goblins, and demons ...What if one day you found out they were true? What if, when you became an adult, you discovered they were all based on fact? What if you met the fantasy and it was all so very real? That's what happened to Thom Kindred. The wonders were revealed to him. But so were the horrors, for not far behind the Good, there always lurks the Bad. And the Bad had designs on Thom. The Bad would show him real evil. He would see the hellhagges and the demons. He would be touched by perverted passion, and corruption. And he would encounter his own worst nightmare. The Bad would seek to destroy him. And only the magic of the little beings would be able to help him.
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