3 out of 4 stars
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Spyder Bones by Oliver Phipps is a metaphysical and visionary fantasy book. Coming in at 255 pages, it is an exciting tale that deals with the good versus evil conflict, with the surprising inclusion of vampires and werewolves.
It is the summer of 1969. Aaron Prescot, aka Spyder Bones, has surprisingly re-enlisted in the army as a medic following a voluntary tour of duty two years earlier as a cavalryman. Sent to Vietnam, Spyder splits his time between the army, playing guitar, and spending time with his Vietnamese girlfriend Ping. His life follows this rhythm until the day he is critically injured in the jungle, leaving him in a coma on the brink of death for months.
While in a coma, Spyder is exposed to the eternal fight between good and evil that controls all conflicts that take place in the mortal world. He is recruited as a soldier in this ultimate war and gets to work as soon as he awakens. Following seemingly vague clues, while wondering if his experience was real, Spyder travels to New Orleans to begin his mission. While there, he encounters demonic souls possessing people, some of whom have the attributes of vampires and werewolves.
Although Spyder Bones begins as a standard war book, it soon turns into an enthralling read about the ultimate good versus evil conflict. Oliver Phipps has a simplistic yet succinct style of writing. He doesn't bog down the story with unnecessary explanations, but the reader is never left in the dark as everything you need to know is explained simply but well. The story follows a consistent pace, never feeling slow or boring. The war scenes at the beginning of the book were intense, and I found myself straining my ears to hear the slightest noises in the jungle that the army men were listening for.
I enjoyed reading about the laid-back lifestyle of the late 60s and early 70s. The character of Sunny perfectly personified the era, and her delightful and honest soul made her my favourite character in the book. Spyder's character was also intriguing, and I was pleased to see him constantly evolving throughout the book.
The only downside to the book is the grammatical mistakes. Most of the mistakes are missing commas and periods, or misplaced quotation marks. In a few instances, the incorrect word is used - three times I found 'arraignment' used instead of 'arrangement'. These mistakes didn't detract from the book, but an additional round of editing would clear up the few issues.
Although the mistakes weren't distracting, there were enough to show that the book hasn't been professionally edited. For this reason, I have to rate Spyder Bones 3 out of 4 stars. It is written simply, but I still found myself fully immersed in the story. I would recommend this book to fantasy fans and those looking for a different spin on the classic good versus evil theme. Sex, drugs, alcohol, violence, and death are all present in this book, for this reason, I wouldn't recommend this book to younger readers.
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Spyder Bones
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Like Zhariah's review? Post a comment saying so!
I didn't find the mistakes distracting, but I did notice them. I would have given the book 4 out of 4, but the review process won't let you do that if you find 10 mistakes.
. I think it would be a great read but there are erotic scenes as you said and that can be irritating but i can ignore them for a good fantasy read. Thanks a lot for the review Zhariah☺
