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James Brogden

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Hekla's Children Kindle Edition

by James Brogden (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.0 686 ratings

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An ancient evil lurks just beneath the surface of our world in this splendidly dark horror tale inspired by ancient folklore, history, and mythology—for fans of Tim Lebbon and Christopher Golden.

A decade ago, teacher Nathan Brookes saw four of his students walk up a hill and vanish. Only one returned—Olivia—starved, terrified, and with no memory of where she’d been. Questioned by the police but released for lack of evidence, Nathan spent the years trying to forget.

When a body is found in the same ancient woodland where they disappeared, it is first believed to be one of the missing children, but is soon identified as a Bronze Age warrior, nothing more than an archaeological curiosity. Yet Nathan starts to have horrific visions of the students, alive but trapped. Then Olivia reappears, desperate that the warrior’s body be returned to the earth. For he is the only thing keeping a terrible evil at bay . . .

Editorial Reviews

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“The engrossing plot features steadily intensifying dread, a diverse cast of characters, and expert world building. Brogden takes readers on a fast-paced and terrifying ride as everyone tries to solve two mysteries, one modern and one ancient, but both with strong ties to a supernatural evil. This is a horror novel and a standout thriller that can hold its own against the best in either genre today. Give to readers looking for tales of ancient evil like those by Graham Masterton or Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Genuinely scary . . . it will keep readers enthralled. Brogden’s U.S. debut is a wonderfully odd mix of dark Bronze Age fantasy and modern-day thriller, and it works.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A smart blend of science fiction and horror.” —B&N SFF blog

“Without any kind of doubt - one of the best and most outstanding horror novels of the year, so please, make yourself a big favour and read it as soon as possible. You simply can't afford to miss this novel.” —Rising Shadow

“Brodgen’s writing is what makes this novel move. A step above much of the mainstream, he imbues the fantasy world with a strong sense of a reality which comes across as utterly natural. His characters (who show up during the course of the story and would ruin any surprises) break through any tired tropes and sing with originality and carry with them wounds that define them and their role in this story. Hekla’s Children just might remind readers of Tim Lebbon or Chris Golden.” —Cemetary Dance Magazine

About the Author

James Brogden is the author of The Narrows, Tourmaline and The Realt. His horror and fantasy stories have appeared in anthologies and periodicals ranging from The Big Issue to the British Fantasy Society Award-winning Alchemy Press. He spent many years living in Australia, but now lives in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire with his wife and two daughters.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01GYPMK8O
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books (March 7, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 7, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2817 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #754,534 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #496 in British & Irish Horror
- #772 in British Horror Fiction
- #1,147 in Vampire Thrillers

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4.0 686 ratings

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James Brogden

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James Brogden is a British writer of horror and dark fantasy. A part-time Australian who grew up in Tasmania and the Cumbrian Borders, he has since escaped to suburbia and now lives with his wife and two daughters in the Midlands of the UK, where he teaches English. When not writing or teaching he can usually be found up a hill, poking around stone circles and burial mounds. He also owns more lego than is strictly necessary.

His short stories have appeared in various anthologies and periodicals ranging from The Big Issue to the BFS Award-Winning Alchemy Press. His most recent novel, ‘The Hollow Tree’ was published by Titan Books in March 2018, and his new novel ‘The Plague Stones’ is due in 2019. Blogging occurs infrequently at jamesbrogden.blogspot.co.uk, and tweeting at @skippybe.

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JylaLee

Unexpectedly a good read

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2021

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I say it was unexpectedly a good read. So many authors follow a formula, predictable paths... Not this author! There were unexpectedly twists and turns. I thoroughly enjoyed this story!

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

belatedly

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2022

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I had actually read this a while back--i think i was recovering from a literally shattered elbow and forearm--and don't recall that i had reviewed it. I revisit books, and reread this today, and i have to say, i had forgotten how good it was. It is layered and twisty and very very clever.

One person found this helpful

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Debbie McAlister

Strange

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2021

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At times I would be really into the story but then when it started jumping all over the place I was completely lost.

One person found this helpful

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Nancy S Campbell

Great story

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2021

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Loving this storyline and would recommend this book! A twist I didn’t see coming kinda threw me off a bit but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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Gunlord

Very inventive otherworld, makes up for the story's other flaws...

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2021

Eh...This did have some cool ideas. The story starts off in a prehistoric period, where a demon is apparently possessing stone age tribesmen attempting to survive the aftermath of a volcanic eruption and making them eat each other (although initially it's ambiguous if it's actually a demon or just rationalizing their hunger). So they perform a ritual and bury their strongest warrior in a bog to keep the demon, called an Afaugh, trapped in the spirit world.

Tens of thousands of years later, in modern-day England, a whiny teacher named Nathan Brookes, having an affair with one of his colleagues, Sue, spends too much time trying to comfort her after a pregnancy scare and loses track of his team of 4 kids as they wander around on a field trip. The kids disappear, only one of them comes back (very traumatized). and Nate is accused of being a pedophile and loses his job. A few years after that, some archaelogists exhume a bog mummy in the area, which has had its leg replaced by...one of the legs from one of the missing kids! This obviously gets Nate's attention back, but it doesn't take long for people to start getting eaten as it turns out the afaugh was very much real, the ceremony in the opening was what allowed the stone age warrior to keep it locked up, and without his body in the bog, his spirit is weakened and the afaugh possesses people. But why did that warrior need the kids that disappeared before the story, and why does a prehistoric demon seem to have such an interest in Nate specifically? The story follows his attempts to answer both those questions before the afaugh escapes and just eats everyone in England.

Eeehhh...this was really well written, with good action scenes as well as a really fascinating take on the spirit world/afterlife--I don't wanna give anything away, but believe me, the true nature of the warrior's duty and the place in which he ended up, along with the fates of the kids, is both bizarre and utterly intriguing, moving the story to more than just fantasy horror but quite possibly a neat introduction to an entire fantasy setting on its own. However, it does have some problems. Nathan is incredibly unlikeable (though, again, no spoilers, his true relationship with the afaugh was a huge surprise I didn't see coming, and ties into how inventive the story's spirit world is), and none of the other characters are very appealing either. Also, I thought the opening chapter gave a little too much away, I think it ought to have been spread out over the course of the book so there was a little more mystery about the supernatural foundations of the plot. Also, just as a note--this isn't a big spoiler and I figure some folks might be interested in it, but Nathan seems to be bisexual and enters into a same-sex relationship later on in the story. If you like representation in your novels thats a plus, but his sexuality isn't even alluded to earlier so I thought it was kind of out of left field, the author could have mentioned him having both male and female relationships before but until like halfway through I thought he was exclusively heterosexuak. No big deal though. Finally, the title is a little misleading..."Hekla" doesn't actually have much to do with the story at all. But aside from those caveats I'm pretty happy with my purchase. 4 stars easy.

3 people found this helpful

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clemsontigergrl

Great read!

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2017

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Well-written, interesting, original novel from beginning to end. I read it lightning fast within two days. Highly recommend the book!

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2017

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It was okay I guess. Readable. But I wasn't impressed. The author was kind of all over the place. One moment you're fighting a monster who can possess and take over your body, the next you're in middle earth.

9 people found this helpful

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P. Wilber

GREAT Good Read!!!

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2017

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This is one of those stories that pulls you in and won't let go. Imaginative and yet sensible,told with a feel for history and horror

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aguzzoli francesco

peggior libro di sempre

Reviewed in Italy on September 13, 2017

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peggior trama di tutti i tempi, senza senso e scritto in maniera pessima. Veramente e vivamente sconsigliato tempo e soldi buttati

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constance

myth and mystery

Reviewed in France on December 11, 2017

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I really enjoyed this book about a man lost in a mythic landscape. I'm very fond of myth and stories and this book really used them in a powerful way.

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Ginger Nuts

A Dark Twisted Modern Legend

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 11, 2017

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Great Britain is blessed with a rich and varied folklore, from the Celtic legends of Scotland, Wales and Ireland to the pagan folklores of rural England, and they all share a common thread. A thread of darkness and malevolence. These are not your Disney Elves or Faeries, even the so-called heroes of our legends are cursed with a dark streak.

This dark thread of our collective consciousness as been utilised by numerous writers and filmmakers over the years, Hekla's Children by James Brogden is the latest novel to take us on a journey through the stygian darkness of our primeval fears.
When School teacher Nathan Brookes leads a group of students on a walk on a hike through Sutton Park in the Midlands, he never would have thought that tragedy would strike when four of them would disappear from the face of the earth. Only for one of them to turn up the next day in total shock and bewilderment. Oliva is a broken girl, traumatised by her experiences to the point where she has no memories of what happened to her.

Fast forward a few years and Nathan is still suffering from the tragedy that befallen him and his charges, no longer a teacher, and barely part of the modern world, he is man cast adrift from society and a ghost of the man he once was. However, things are about to get much worse for him. When a mummified body is discovered in Sutton Park and Osteoarchaeologist (think Bones without the annoying support staff) Dr Tara Doumani is called in to help with the police investigation, all Hell is about to break lose as a primordial adversary is let loose in a modern world to wreck havoc, death and destruction.

Hekla's Children masterfully combines a traditional thriller mentality with a dark, brutal and at times heartbreaking horror story. In some ways, the book resembles classic era Graham Masteron, with a deeply flawed protagonist, out of his depth facing a powerful enemy from mythology brought to life. Nathan Brookes is a hard character to get behind fully, selfish, and at time self-pitying he isn't your classic hero. Despite his obvious and many flaws he struggles to do the right thing. People often talk about an everyman hero, and Nathan is the perfect example of this, with his flaws helping us to connect and feel for his plight. Without entering spoiler territory, while Hekla's Children starts off as his story, the intelligent and inspired way in which Brogden shifts the focus from Brookes to another character. From this point in the book takes on a whole new meaning and one that in many ways is more akin to individual themes of the book.

The collision between the prehistory world of "The Un" and the modern world is handled in an adroit manner. The mundane, unmagical modern world is a perfect counterfoil to mythical lands of The Un. The grey concrete world stands as a stark mirror to wild and untamed lands of the Un. Brogden development and world building with regards to The Un is exceptional. This is the world that is entirely different to ours, with different laws and socio-political concepts that would be abhorrent in our world. The level of detail and depth in which he goes into gives the novel a firm foundation from which to build the culture shock story.

Every great horror story needs a great monster and Brogden has created a highly memorable monster with the Afaugh. Brutal animalistic and devoid of any emotion other than hunger and hate, this primal force of evil just wants to destroy and run free. Brogden development of the Afaugh, however, is such that it never comes across as just a one-dimensional creature, whose sole purpose is just to be "the monster". The Afaugh taps into our fears of the dark places, the wild woods at night where things unseen roam wild and free.

Hekla's Children is a compelling thriller, filled with great characters, a fantastic world building, and an intensive thrill ride narrative that evokes a sense of dread, that will leave you scanning the trees for any sign of a figure with a big spear, and praying that there is nothing there.

35 people found this helpful

Rhiannon

Very Inventive

Reviewed in Canada on April 23, 2022

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∞ ∞ ∞

Now that I have finished it I need to reread it... such a difficult one to describe.

Prehistoric myth and legend, time-travel, anthropology, alternate dimensions, an ♾ loop of a plot that was cleverly crafted, topped off with The Furies/Fates...

Chloe Smith

Truly genius and unexpected ending with wonderful twists

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2017

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Hekla’s Children is described as being a combination of surrealist horror and mythical fantasy, telling the tale of four children who go missing when out hiking on a school trip. Their teacher, Nathan Brookes, is the one guiding them and meant to be keeping an eye on them but becomes distracted by some issues within his own life. As he sees the children rise over the terrain to then become hidden again, Nathan loses sight of them altogether – they have vanished into thin air with nowhere they could possibly be. A mere twenty-four hours later, one of the children is found, starving and suffering from shock and hypothermia without any indication of where she has been. James Brogden provides a narrative that, though filled with horror and fantasy, is also mysterious, mythical, and full of Britain’s history.

The majority of this book is spent following Nathan Brookes and the guilt he feels at not having supervised the missing children properly, worrying about issues within his own life instead of those of others. Having moved on from his life as a teacher and now working as an outdoor activities instructor, Nathan is plagued with images of the remaining three children walking the tracks of the mountain he is working on. Each and every time he cannot believe his eyes and feels motivated to go in search of these children and bring them back; each time he is faced with nothing, or a series of adult hikers that, from a distance, seemingly looked like those three children. Nathan, aside from his guilt and regret, is a man who lives simply, spending all of his time living at the quarters where his work is based. He has all but lost his career in education after it is believed that he has withheld information or, that he was somehow involved in the children’s disappearances. His early dialogue and interactions with side-characters pose him as someone sarcastic and witty, quick to make a comeback but also able to have a laugh – especially in relation to Robbie, his colleague.

The horror and mythical elements come, mostly, later on in the book and are related to the more historical elements of this novel. Brogden has clearly spent a lot of time researching the past of Britain, providing quality information about the Bronze Ages as well as in relation to archaeology and bog mummies. It is information such as this that I truly find interesting as I know that I am learning about history but it does not feel forced or imposed upon me. I am a willing student! It is hard to explain events without spoiling the book but Brogden uses fantasy to bring together the world of Un, a place that can be called hell, the afterlife, and many other names by many other cultures. It is a place that is outside of time and physical laws and, it is in Un, that we meet Bark Foot and the afaugh; Bark Foot being the guardian who keeps the afaugh locked away in Un unable to terrorise the real world. However, it is the unearthing of Bark Foot in the real world that shifts the balance leaving the afaugh in a position it has been seeking for a long time, and leaving the way open and vulnerable.

It is the afaugh itself that I found most horrific; in the way in which it is described, as well as the roll it plays within the narrative and historical cultures. I loved the way that Brogden interweaves the afaugh, and Bark Foot, into the narrative putting significance on their roles and highlighting that there is more to it than meets the eye – something that is revealed later on within the novel. The way in which the afaugh haunts and terrorises is what I feared the most throughout the novel with Brogden writing these scenes with a fast-pace and in a way that makes you feel like you are going through shock and have been at the scene, unable to comprehend what has taken place. It is a fast blur that seems unimaginable.

I feel like I haven’t really said a lot about this novel, but it is one that I find hard to describe with everything being linked to everything else. I believe that if I was to go into too much detail I would spoil events within the novel and ruin it. I went into this novel without knowing anything except the contents of the synopsis which originally drew me in. And, though I was waiting for elements that had been mentioned in the synopsis, I was more shocked, horrified, and full of fear from those that I knew nothing about. I was pleasantly surprised by events I was not expecting and the way that the novel twisted towards the end highlighting how each character came to be where they are, and it was truly genius and unexpected. It is not horrifying in that you will shit your pants in fear and won’t be able to sleep for days in end, it is more the concept of the myths and legends that is horrifying and what they are capable of doing. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the overall concept. I was hooked throughout as each event unraveled and the truth of the events was spelt out for me. You definitely need to read this!

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