Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Review: Domitianus by Nicholas Forristal


Genre: Dark Fantasy/Zombie/Humor

Description:

“Once the Emperor of Rome, he was murdered by his subordinates – only to find himself alive and lost in a world he once knew so well. This is the story of one man’s journey from man to monster; from sanity to sadism. His immortality will take him from ancient Rome to the forgotten Atlantis, while the entrails of his enemies pave the way.”

Author:

“Nicholas Forristal has a B.S. in Psychology (aka a B.S. in BS). With his ‘free’ time, he regularly dislikes house work, remodeling his home and a sordid list of other lousy tasks. When no one is looking, Nicholas works on The Chronicles of M, an ever growing series of fantasy books that range from Historical fiction, to modern day wackiness. He's published some other stuff in the past. For example, a psychological paper on perception, but no one cares about such things. That's for nerds.”

To learn more visit Mr. Forristal’s website or follow him on Facebook.

Appraisal:

This isn’t just another zombie story. It’s a unique tale from the very first zombie, Domitianus, narrating the story of his second life to a man named Charles Uhler who wants to document Dom’s centuries as a zombie. Dom starts his second life as what seems like a typical zombie, a mindless, wandering, eating machine. The twist here is that Dom is not mindless, he is essentially a passenger in his own flesh and is horrified by what he is doing. Mr. Forristal does an exceptional job in conveying Dom’s inner feelings, thoughts, and dialogue as Dom evolves over his long second life.

The ever-changing scenery is well described as Dom wanders around parts of Europe and America. In his later years, Dom has evolved enough to blend with humans somewhat. He has lived long enough that time is irrelevant. His greatest desire is to build an army of zombies to conquer the world. In his demented, arrogant mind, he considers zombies superior beings.

There are many unexpected twists in this book, including the end, which struck me kind of like the ending of The Sixth Sense – forcing you to go back through the book and look for the clues you should have picked up on, but missed because you were enjoying the story. One of my favorite parts was when Kandake/Candace, Dom’s sort of mate, sends him to the market for cumin. They have become civilized enough to start cooking some of their meat to prepare dishes, instead of ripping the meat off the bone and devouring it raw.

Mr. Forristal writes with an intelligent, sharp wit of dark humor, which is woven throughout the whole book. If you enjoy zombie stories with a twisted sense of humor, you will enjoy Domitianus.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Twisted fantasy with a few F-bombs, dark humor, and gore.

Format/Typo Issues:

Small number of proofing errors. None of which threw me out of the story.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words

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