Thursday, March 9, 2023

Uncanny Valley Days by C.J. Sampera
















Rating: ★★★★★ 

Genre: Horror/Occult

Format: eBook

Pages: 223

Read: 03/04/23

Synopsis: 

Rocked by grief and recurring apparitions of her dead brother, Olivia is losing her grip on reality and may have inadvertently invoked a cybernetic, serial-killing slasher demon. Or is it all in her head?

Olivia Peramo is a writer and an artist at heart, barista by trade who struggles with multiple mental health issues. All of which have only been intensified by the recent loss of both her parents and her older brother Alejandro. And to top it off, she may have just inadvertently invoked an evil entity with one passive-aggressive rage tweet.

Soon enough, the people that cross Olivia start winding up dead, and she’s being made to watch each grisly murder as they unfold. Is she part of some elaborate hoax? Is this sinister force really breaking her reality and murdering innocent people? Or has Olivia completely lost it and started killing them herself? Not to mention, the ghost of her dead brother keeps popping up every time she smokes a little weed.


Review:


“T H I S. I S. N o T. A. G a M E.”


"He’s a glorified guard dog in Hell, an agent of pure chaos and pestilence, but a guard dog, nonetheless."


Life has not been easy for Olivia. She lost her parents and her brother in a plane crash. She misses them so much and she feels quite alone. Working in a job she really doesn't care for, she is just trying her best every day to make it or break it. Her mental illness keeps her in some very dark places and the guilt she feels inside for not being with her family on that fateful day has her wishing that she could leave this life behind. 


When she decides to make a post to Twitter of a summoning circle she sets in motion a series of events that puts herself and others around her on a path of destruction. She is now not only fighting her own demons, she is fighting a demon from hell. One that was created through a cybernetic summoning that took on a life of its own and stepped through the veil into our world. The only way he can be destroyed is by being permanently deleted deep within the system of which he was created. Until then he destroys everyone connected to Olivia and he is becoming stronger as he feeds on Olivia's darkness. 


“When we are in our bodies, on Earth, there are certain frequencies that we can’t tap into. The spirit world is all around us, but we can’t see it because it’s behind the veil. When you take something that alters your state of consciousness it opens your perception and sort of lets you peek behind that veil. See, hear, feel things you wouldn’t be able to normally. Of course, to do this, it also has to shut down something else, like common sense or your inhibitions… sometimes motor functions if you’ve taken too much of something hard.”



This story not only creates a character suffering from mental ilnesses, pain of loss, and fighting ones own inner demons, it has given life to a new kind of demon that feeds on all the darkness inside humanity, creating even more pain as his desire is to destroy life. He revels in death and the knowledge of being untouchable. 


I started reading this without knowing much about it. I avoided reading the synopsis as I wanted the element of surprise and wow what a surprise it was! Not like anything I have ever read before, I found myself completely engaged in the story, connecting to the characters and being utterly horrified by the cybernetic demon. Just the thought that the demon was practically impossible to destroy and was able to slip past the veil was frightening. The atmosphere was chilling as the demon appeared and the descriptiveness of his death blows were gruesome and shocking. 


Exciting storyline, great characterization, and an excellent build up to a great ending!

























Goodreads Author Link:


https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/


Amazon Author Link:


https://www.amazon.com/stores/C.J.-Sampera/author/


Review Links:


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/


https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/


































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