In The House of Leviathan by B.D. Bruns

"Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride." (Job 41: 33-34, KJV)

Those two verses are the end of a chapter dedicated to describing the Leviathan, a humongous sea-monster described in the Bible. If you're a fan of Disney, you might remember it from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. My bro might know it from Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu. What it actually is, is debated, but for a very long time, it's been seen as a demon.

In The House of Leviathan, as you can guess, is about evil and demons. It follows Giuseppe, after he sees the devil appear at his family's paper mill one night. After that, people start dying, and strange signs come from the sea. In order to protect his sister, Giuseppe is going to have to overcome a lot of challenges.

Frankly speaking, this book pulled me in. I started reading it on the train, and when I looked up, I finished about half the book (don't worry, I got off at the right stop). Considering that I was in a reading slump that ended the day before I started the book, I was pretty amazed. I haven't been drawn into a story for a few weeks, and I've missed that.

The descriptions in the book were fantastic, and made me feel like I was actually in 19th century Italy. The village of Amalfi came to life for me, along with its characters. Speaking of characters, the main characters would be (as I see it), Giuseppe, his sister Carmelina and Lucio, the guy that loves her. Supporting characters were Marie, Lucio's sister, Grapaldi, the old man who has worked for them since forever, and Milani, the old priest. And a few others. I can say that I liked almost all of them (except for one, and if you know who, you'd know why), and thought they were all well-written characters. If it weren't for the fact that this book is basically dark and gothic, I'd want to spend some time at Amalfi (maybe before all this started?)

I may have gotten this book as part of a blog tour, but I am not lying when I say I loved it. It has beautifully written descriptions, a haunting story and wonderful characters. It was an awesome book to read coming out of my reading slump.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher as part of a blog tour in exchange for a free and honest review.

About the Author

Adventurer B.D. Bruns has traveled to over 50 countries to gather material for his bestselling books. He’s won 19 national and international book awards, including three national Book of the Year awards. Bruns’ first fiction book, The Gothic Shift (2014) won the International Book Awards Best Short Story Collection. He also contributes to Yahoo Travel, BBC, CNN, The Daily Beast, and The Travel Channel.

Bruns’ travel adventures span from entering the Pyramids of Giza and swimming in the Panama Canal to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and touring Torture Museums in Estonia. He has attended ceremonies from the descendants of cannibals in the South Pacific and has been consulted by a ghost tour in Malta. After residing in Dracula’s hometown for several years, Bruns moved to Las Vegas with his Romanian wife, where they live with two cats, Julius and Caesar.

For more information, please visit www.bdbruns.com or connect with Bruns on:

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