Genre: Horror
Publisher: Bad Day Books / Assent Publishing
Publication Date: 6th July 2015
Pages: 136
MY REVIEW:
A copy of The Waning was sent to Confessions of a
Reviewer by the author Christina Bergling in exchange for an honest review.
This is said review. This book is published by Bad Day Books / Assent Publishing.
I was super impressed with Christina Bergling’s first
book, Savages. When she asked me if I would be interested in a copy of her new
book The Waning for Confessions of a Reviewer I could not refuse. Repeat
reviews for an author are a perk of running this type of blog. When you get
writing as good as this, it turns out to be one of the best perks in the world.
Beatrix is a workaholic. At least until she gets her big
break and earns her right to be a partner in the company. It looks like it
could be on the cards if she lands this latest account. Her partner Lei is
dreaming of the day it all falls in to place so they can finally stop hiding
their romance and announce to the world
they are a couple. Beatrix seems to think that “coming out” would be a mistake
before she gets her big break.
When the results of the negotiations come in, Beatrix
could not be happier. All her dreams are coming true. She just cannot wait to
get home and tell Lei.
As she is reaching her car in the car park, someone grabs
her from behind. The next thing she knows, she is inside a metal cage in a
dark, damp concrete cell.
This is the beginning of a horrific journey of self-discovery,
self-preservation and the quest for simple answers such as who has taken her
hostage and why?
So – stories where the main character has been kidnapped
and is being kept against their will in a cell with seemingly no way of
escaping the torture and hell that they find themselves in. You have probably
all read one right? There are quite a few books I have read with a similar
plot. I guarantee you have never read one like this. Christina Bergling has
written his story in such a unique way that for me, after just finishing the
story, I feel dirty, I feel evil and I feel ashamed.
When I read Christina’s first book, Savages, one of the
things I mentioned in my review that enthralled me so much with it was the
fact the characters had no names until about 70% into the story. This just made
it totally different for me. Unique. Normally by that stage of a story we know
the names, family history, medical history, number of pets and how many times a
day they take a shit. It was just so different to be reading a story that had
two people battling for survival when you knew so little about them. She has
added the unique twist again in The Waning.
The story is told in the first person. It is told through
the eyes of Beatrix. She has no idea who her kidnapper is. She has no idea of
their name or anything about them so therefore no idea at all why she is there
in the first place and what the outcome of the whole thing might be. Because
she has no idea of the kidnappers name she needs to call them something to tell
the story doesn’t she?
She calls them “You”. For example:
“You opened the door and entered the cell”
“You unlocked my cage and led me out”
“You lifted the scalpel”
Now the above are not actual quotes from the story. I’m
not going to give anything away from it but do you get my drift? By using the
word “You” over and over throughout the story, you, as in the reader, slowly
start to believe that you are in fact the kidnapper. It is very unnerving. It
totally immerses you in the story to the point you actually believe you have
this girl locked away in a cell somewhere in your house for whatever purposes
Ms Bergling might have mind. This is another very unsettling fact when you read
the story. You believe the “you” is yourself but you have absolutely no control
over what is happening because you can only do what is written for you to do.
You are not in control of anything you are doing. It’s scary. You don’t want to
do the things that are happening in the story because you may not be that type
of person but you can’t help it because you are not the one writing it.
This aspect of the story is absolutely, stunningly,
fantastic. I have never read a book before so powerful that you feel totally
out of control.
In terms of characters, there are really only two.
Beatrix and you. You will get what I mean about “you” when you read it. Beatrix
on the other hand goes through the most intense mental and physical torture I
have ever seen anyone go through. I think this is also made worse by the fact
that it is “you” doing it to her. She has to adopt from being a very strong,
directed individual who knows exactly what she wants and exactly how she is
going to get it (and doesn’t mind who she steps on to reach her goal) to a
subservient, meek woman giving in totally to a new master and his every whim.
She has no idea of why she is there and what the outcome will be and can only
go with the flow and follow the direction her mind wants her to go at any
particular time. This is headfeck of the ultimate kind.
In many respects there isn’t much to this story. No big
elaborate scenes and no huge amount of characters. Also I felt it could have
done with a little bit more on the scary side but that is a personal choice.
The power and emotion and the skill in the writing more
than make up for that with me though. This book is superb. This is a book that
I will remember probably forever as being the one book that was truly
interactive for me. It grabbed me and sucked me into the story in such a way
that not only did I believe it but I felt like I was responsible for it. That
is some mighty fine, powerful writing to be able to do that to a reader.
To summarise: An old plot that has been done many times
before. I have never, however, read something done in this style that makes you
feel as if it’s all your fault. This book will bring emotions to the surface in
you that you never knew you had. This is must read exercise in psychological
headfeck that will be very very hard to beat in my humble opinion.
General rating:
★★★★★ Perfect.
Horror rating:
★★★ Could have been some more scares in it for me.
You can buy The Waning here:
Book Synopsis:
Beatrix wakes in a small metal cage with only a
persistent dripping sound to keep her company. Lost in the darkness, she reels
to remember how she ended up locked within these bars. She had been leaving
work to celebrate her promotion, a promotion that was the culmination of her
entire ruthless, driven career, a promotion that would cement her status with
her marketing firm enough for her to take her relationship with her girlfriend
out of the closet.
Beatrix had finally made it. And then she was here,
disoriented and petrified in a black she could not define.
Yet the reality of her Master may be even more terrifying
than the crushing darkness and enveloping isolation. He appears as an ominous
shadow in the doorway of her cell, and he never speaks to her. Instead, he
teaches her the language of pain and torture, of submission and obedience, of
possession.
With each passing day, the fight and hope in Beatrix
begins to shrivel and wane. With each savage beating, her survivalist instincts
rise up to overwhelm the person she was. With each dehumanizing condition, she
begins to forget who she was and the life from which she was ripped.
Can Beatrix ward off the psychological breakdown of her
Master? Can she resist the temptation to survive and thrive through submission?
Either Beatrix will succeed at surviving and escaping the torments of her
Master or her Master will succeed at breaking her completely and reforming her
into his design for a human possession.
Colorado-bred writer, Christina Bergling, sold her soul
early into the writing game. By fourth grade, she knew she wanted to be an
author, and in college, she actively pursued it and started publishing small
scale. However, with the realities of eating and paying bills, she hocked her
passion to profession and worked as a technical writer and document manager,
even traveling to Iraq as a contractor.
Assent Publishing brought her back to her art publishing
her debut novella, Savages, to be followed by a second, The Waning. Bergling is
a mother of two young children and lives with her family in Colorado Springs.
You can see more of Christina at her website.
Christina’s author page is here.
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