The Magi

Author: Jonathan Winn
Category: Supernatural, Short Story
Suitable for: 17+
My Rating: 2 Stars
Format Read for Review: Kindle copy provided for judgement in the Indie Horror Book Awards.
Pages: 68

Review:

Maybe I am missing something massive by not reading the first 4 in the series but I found this book to be very confusing. The lack of editing and run-on sentences didn’t help (quote included below). I love a good run-on but some of these were too much, also many paragraphs starting with the word “and” was throwing me off. At times the poetic prose was beautiful but other times it was a verbose psychedelic nightmare. It was kind of hard to follow and it didn’t seem to have a strong plot read alone. I never felt drawn into the story and if it hadn’t been so short I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish it. In the end I was left with more questions than answers. If you like poetic dark fantasy you might enjoy this series, but start at the beginning maybe. The story was not scary and there were minor horror elements. Contains violence and gore.

“The rain having ended, the clouds above eerie and quiet, I looked at rows upon rows upon rows faces as the tower of water collapse, the water, harmless again, returning to lap the shore as, the wall of screams reaching me, two great wings grabbed me from behind, gripped me close and lifted me into a safe world of silence and darkest black.”

I’m including the book description from Amazon below.

Blurb:

From the blood drenched depravity of The Wounded King, the ancient curses of The Elder, the sadistic betrayal of Red and Gold and the cruel heartbreak of The Tall Priest, we now follow The Magi as he begins his descent into destruction and madness.

It begins with doubt.

Blessed with powerful magic, shrouded in savage infamy in a land one thousand years before Christ, the immortal Magi is feared and revered. The counsel to shamans and kings. His authority unquestioned. But when faced with a dangerous choice, he stumbles.

Driven by false hope, he walks into the darkest of magic. Encouraged by the whispered promises of an impossible priest, he’s witness to monstrous sights. Ignoring the dire warnings of an ancient witch, he kneels, the goal at hand, but his soul broken. And, the journey at an end, the most dangerous of deeds having been done, he stumbles again, burdened by a regret that follows him for millennia.

A man battered beyond repair. An immortal desperate to reclaim his darkness. A legend trapped in a nightmare without end borne by the consequences of choice.

This is…The Magi.

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