Review: Fantastic!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 24, 2011
Horror is a much broader genre than most people realize. I think it is the best one for holding up a mirror to humanity, and allowing us a look at everything the human race is capable of doing. G. R. Yeates does just that with WWI as a setting for The Eyes of the Dead, the first book in the Vetala Cycle. He brings to life the horror of trench warfare in a way stayed with me long after I had finished reading. Yeates uses his mastery of the English language to paint a bleak picture of a hellish time in world history. Another unusual thing about this book, and the whole trilogy, is the Vetala themselves. They are vampires based on Hindu mythology, so they are quite different from what a western audience would be expecting. Yeates uses them and their more abstract nature to bring nightmares to life. This is horror at it's best; it is both frighting and thought provoking. Highly recommended.