Ancient Eyes

By: David Niall Wilson

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

There is an ancient evil lurking in the mountains of California. One peak over from Friendly, California, there is another, darker place. In that place there are two churches. Displaced from a time and place far distant, an ancient carving watches from an alcove above the door of a broken-down, nearly forgotten church. When the evil it embodies reaches out and snags the soul of Silas Greene, roots creep down into the mountain and out into everything they touch. There is another church on the mountain. It is made of stone, carved into the stone of the mountain, and also all but forgotten.

A message goes out to Abraham Carlson. "He's Back. Come home, boy." When young Abraham returns to the mountain, and to that stone church, a battle is rejoined that should have ended decades in the past. When the cleansing began - and was never completed. The only question is, does Abraham have the strength? Or will he, and everyone he loves, fall into the depths of those evil, ancient eyes?

©2007 David N. Wilson (P)2012 David N. Wilson

Nightfall

This was one of the scariest books I have listen to in a long time. I could not read it at night before going to bed. Spirits snakes crazy people believe in crazy things. I would highly recommend this book.

A Tale of Two Churches

Ancient Eyes is a small town supernatural horror tale, about a creepy backwoods town and a fight between good and evil, a resumed battle which was left unfinished many years before.

The main and side characters were well explored I felt, and at many times in the story it digressed to backstory flashbacks, covering significant events of the past, some personal/character related, some wider story. The story covered various character views and plot lines, including the wife of the main protagonist, who gets involved in a nasty substory when coming to support her husband, unbeknown to him.

And John Lee as the narrator. What more can I say? He could read a shopping list and make it sound spectacular. He is one of my favourite narrators, all the Peter F Hamilton novels, the Jo Nesbo books, and I'm eagerly awaiting his performance on Clive Barker's new book The Scarlet Gospels. A well deserved narrating powerhouse.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I feel the audio performance made it even more enjoyable.

Good versus Evil in the Calfornia backwoods!

What made the experience of listening to Ancient Eyes the most enjoyable?

It was a very good listen. Very atmospheric writing style and a slow buildup so everything wasn't revealed in the first chapters of the book. The story was very interesting and I wanted to know how it was going to unfold as the book wore on through several twists.

What other book might you compare Ancient Eyes to and why?

Can't think of one particular book it matches per se, the story is a simple one of good vs. evil which is found in many books of the horror genre, in some ways his atmospheric story and writing style did remind me of Dennis Wheatley and his early occult novels from the 1930's The Devil Rides out and To the Devil A Daughter.

Which character – as performed by John Lee – was your favorite?

Abe Carlson. Very good voice acting for the male characters in general.

Who was the most memorable character of Ancient Eyes and why?

Again I would say Abraham Carlson. He is a somewhat reluctant hero who is drawn to fight a repeat of the battle his father lost against an ancient evil many years ago.

Any additional comments?

A very good book with a dark brooding feel running through it. I would be interested to read more from the author David Niall Wilson.

This review is from my review copy of the audiobook, and is unbiased.

Ancient Eyes

Any additional comments?

This book is fast paced and full of rituals and mystery.Abe is getting mail and phone calls telling him to go home.Home is a place where there are two churches, one good and one evil.Abe is descended from the keeper of the good church and when evil awakens he is the only one with any chance of saving the day.A fantastic read...or listen as the case may be.John Lee narrates with wonderful success!
"I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com"

Better than the sum of its parts

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No. I wouldn't recommend the audiobook, but I would recommend the print or eBook. The story is incredibly well written and is quite the cerebral type of horror. By that I mean it's sort of a slow burn, it takes its time to build and slowly draw you into the story. It's a terrifying read in this epic battle of good vs evil.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I can't really name just one. Each character was fleshed out, and in this battle of good vs evil there were things about each character I liked. It was easy to hate Silas Greene and it was easy to sometimes dislike Abraham, which was pretty great!

How could the performance have been better?

Each word seemed to be so over the top melodramatic that it made the important scenes just blend in with the regular scenes. I'm going to be 100% honest, and say that I didn't finish the audiobook. I picked up the ebook to finish. It was just droning on and on and there was no separation of weight in the scenes. Abraham driving down the road was treated just as intensely as the final conflict. Plus, there was not enough of a gap between character separations. One second you're with Abraham, the next you're not.

Any additional comments?

*received free in exchange for an honest review

Ancient eyes

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ancient Eyes?

This is a very intense story..The characters and setting that the author created were easily imaginable and at once, familiar. I was drawn along into the story and really wasn't sure how it was going to end.

Hard to listen to

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I'm not sure who would enjoy it more than me, but what turned me off was the reader--every sentence was read as if it were the dramatic conclusion of the story. There should have been more variation in the intensity of the reading--not every thing warrants a high level of drama.

What do you think your next listen will be?

More horror.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of John Lee?

Someone else.

What character would you cut from Ancient Eyes?

All of them. Too predictable.

Any additional comments?

Hate to give a harsh review, but I'm being honest.

Nothing new

This was okay, but nothing different from all the stories about an 'ancient evil in isolated, primitive town'

That wasn't the problem, though. I can deal with plots less than original if the characters are interesting, but they weren't :/

Add to that that the narration wasn't particularly good either, and the end result is mediocre at best.

Oh, well, let's hope the next will be better :P