I, for one, can’t wait to see what Dez does the first time he encounters Satyrs with us along for the ride. My point is The Raven shows us the potential this world holds and leaves up to our imagination what some of the other corners might look like. Add to that, Dez discovers new monsters alongside the reader. Some of these characters make up a large part of the story, some make brief appearances, others are never heard from at all. The exposition at the beginning names some of the more common creatures the narrator has had to contend with. The argument could be made here that exploring just this small corner of the newfound world actually contributes to Janz’s world-building. Not counting some flashback scenes, we spend a very short period of time exploring about three different locations, all in close proximity to each other.įorgive the minor spoiler, but the way this novel ends sets up future stories to be told in this world. By comparison, The Raven is relatively self-contained. It should span 500 plus pages and even something thinner, like The Road, should explore a variety of different locales.

An unwritten rule states that a post-apocalyptic book should be sprawling and epic. There is an aspect to this book that I can see not working for some people. While it might seem like it goes against the careful character who has somehow survived in this world, it also speaks of a man who is desperate to get back the only person left making it worth staying alive. Such clear-cut reasoning allows the reader to back off when Dez does something like enter a bar full of horrific creatures. Dez’s motivations are clear enough, searching for his lost wife, kidnapped by Keaton, the main antagonist. There are parts where he comes across as almost superhuman in areas like weapons training, fighting, planning, but it’s competently explained that in this new world, any latent (normal human) that makes mistakes, doesn’t survive.

The main character, a perfectly normal human being awash in a sea of horrifying beasts, is Dez McClane. Don’t worry, I didn’t spoil much, I left the part I wish I’d thought of for you, future Raven reader, to discover for yourself. Janz sets the table for a post-apocalyptic wasteland based on an act of terrorism (seemingly a staple of the genre) that unleashes monsters from folklore all over the world (less of a staple). As soon as I got a few chapters in, The Raven made me say, Boy I wish I’d thought of that. Eventually he would have to hit post-apocalyptic. Jonathan Janz has paid a visit to pretty much every sub-genre of horror literature imaginable.

The Raven by Jonathan Janz