Krampus

The Yule Lord

By: Brom

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Santa Claus, my dear old friend, you are a thief, a traitor, a slanderer, a murderer, a liar, but worst of all you are a mockery of everything for which I stood. You have sung your last ho, ho, ho, for I am coming for your head.... I am coming to take back what is mine, to take back Yuletide....
—from Krampus

The author and artist of The Child Thief returns with a modern fabulist tale of Krampus, the Lord of Yule and the dark enemy of Santa Claus.

One Christmas Eve in a small hollow in Boone County, West Virginia, struggling songwriter Jesse Walker witnesses a strange spectacle: seven devilish figures chasing a man in a red suit toward a sleigh and eight reindeer. When the reindeer leap skyward, taking the sleigh, devil men, and Santa into the clouds, screams follow. Moments later, a large sack plummets back to earth, a magical sack that thrusts the down-on-his-luck singer into the clutches of the terrifying Yule Lord, Krampus. But the lines between good and evil become blurred as Jesse's new master reveals many dark secrets about the cherry-cheeked Santa Claus, including how half a millennium ago the jolly old saint imprisoned Krampus and usurped his magic.

Now Santa's time is running short, for the Yule Lord is determined to have his retribution and reclaim Yuletide. If Jesse can survive this ancient feud, he might have the chance to redeem himself in his family's eyes, to save his own broken dreams... and to help bring the magic of Yule to the impoverished folk of Boone County.

©2012 Gerald Brom (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

the yule Lord is coming

this is by far the best audio book I have ever listen to. I read this book in hardcover last year so was excited to revisit the story again through audible. I would recommend this story to anyone who likes a great deep rich story with a dark humor wrapped inside.

Fun and entertaining story.

A very entertaining story. The story teller was excellent. I enjoyed his characters and the mythology he wove in his tale . Thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a few gruesome scenes .

Good story

I've been a fan of Brom since I was a teenager, he always spins an excellent and compelling story, albeit somewhat stereotypical. Encouraged for anyone who is a fan of dark modern fantasy steeped in well researched mythology.

As good as horror fiction gets!

If you could sum up Krampus in three words, what would they be?

A-Ma-Zing!

Any additional comments?

Horror has become such a taudry formulaic genre. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I'm reading a Sci-Fi Channel original movie script reject with some of these stories. Krampus is a very exciting, off the beaten path, kind of horror story that is as much action and suspense as it is horror. Bravo, Brom!

A weird and winding Christm...Yule tale.

Any additional comments?

This is a strange tale which seems follows it's own whimsical beat. The story is made up of moments of light-hearted levity, somber and dark tales, a few graphic and confronting sequences, and fast paced action. It twists mundane reality together with just enough fantasy to make things really weird. It's a book that hooked me in and kept me listening. The narrator's performance is particularly noteworthy in this one.

Very cool story!

Very interesting Christmas read! Not the book version of last years movie....Dark, fantastical, engrossing, but also laugh out loud funny at times. Very possible in a many ways...It will have you wondering if Krampus isn't so bad....and just how Santa came to possess so much magic. This narrator is right up there with the ranks of R.C. Bray and Duke Fontaine.

an original and intriguing Dark Christmas tale

I was smitten with this story from the beginning. The head strong "leap don't look" attitudes of the hill people and the urban fantastic creatures portrayed. Definitely a must read by any fan of dark tales.

One of my favorites!

Kirby is a master reader and has the best voice changes! Get this book and enjoy the story!

amazing!

this was everything I never knew I wanted for the holidays! long live krampus!
- Belsnickle

Needs to be a Movie

This is a much better "KRAMPUS" story than any of the movies of the same name. Most of them are going for the gore and "Christmas Monster" while this story goes deep into the original myths and lore of The Yule Lord, and while he is definitely still a "bad guy" here he is not the heartless devil bent on reeking destruction on all.
The story of Jessie and his struggles to protect his ex-wife and daughter is engaging and would have been an interesting story on it's own, if not for the intervention of the Holiday.
Personally I like the idea of Santa as a warrior (see Lion the witch and the wardrobe and The Immortal Nicolas for more like this) This Santa is very much like the one in Legend of the Guardians. A rough (and likely tattooed) brawler.
Complaints: While there is not a lot of Gore perpetrated by the Yule Lord himself, this was a very violent story when it came to the humans. A character has his hands litterally drilled through, and is later beat nearly to death. He has large nails shot into his legs with a nail gun. Others are torn apart, while another loses his head litterally.
But more offensive to me were several graphic descriptions of sex acts. While there is little to no actual "sex" in this book, one man is trying to rile up another to take action against him and describes how he is going to molest a woman he loves. KRAMPUS himself, is insulting Santa and "God" and uses vile language to describe his contempt. These could have very easily been deleted/ rewritten without damaging the story. Needlessly offensive.
Ultimately this is a good non traditional Holiday story and is definitely better than anything else I've seen using the KRAMPUS name.
The reader here was very good and did an excellent performance, and while he doesn't do "voices" so much the accents and characterization was on point.