Review: A Journey into the Beautifully Terrible Land of Dreams
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 8, 2014
Night Sea Journey stands out as one of the more intriguing horror novels currently available. While the imagery is haunting in a more subtle way than many horror writers tend to accomplish, this subtlety results in a great deal of “fridge horror” that might leave the reader pondering if their dreams are truly mere musings of an idle subconscious or something much more.The relationship between protagonist Kip and Father Ray is almost as intriguing as the more supernatural elements in the book, showing two very different characters who wind up in a hellish battle against the same figure of darkness. This is not to say that the book is all action and romance. While a lopsided attempt at mixing genres has been a failing plaguing the horror genre for some time now, this book manages to balance mood and tone exquisitely. This balance helps to maintain a certain suspension of disbelief, as the reader will not often find themselves torn from the story due to the appearance of a writer who is trying too hard.The balance of themes is also handled incredibly well. The number of themes is great from an intellectual standpoint, but for strict genre fans this may be a negative quality; the one downside to Cappa’s even-handed treatment of multiple themes and aspects of genre is that not all readers will find fridge horror to suffice on its own. While there are no jump-out scares, this is still a fascinating read and should be appreciated by any open-minded reader who is willing to give it a chance for more than just a few frights. This book proves on nearly every page that the true heart of the writing is the intellect behind it, and Cappa’s intelligent writing rarely disappoints.