Revenant: Book one of the Tatterdemon Trilogy

By: Steve Vernon

Narrated by: Rick Gregory

Length: 1 hr and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

In 1691 the town of Crossfall taught the witch Thessaly how to die. They beat her, they shot her, they hung her - but nothing worked. When they finally tried to bury her alive Thessaly set the field against them. The first man died as a gust of wind harrowed the meat from his bones. A root, flung like a dirty javelin, cut a second man down. Many more deaths followed. The Preacher Fell impaled the witch upon her very own broom, but she dragged him down into the field to wait for three more centuries.

Three hundred years later, Maddy Harker will murder her bullying husband, Vic. She will bury him in the field as she buried her abusive father years before that. The very same field where the revenant spirit of Thessaly Cross lies waiting.

In three days Vic will rise again - a thing of dirt, bone, and hatred.

Men will call him the Tatterdemon.

And hell - and Thessaly - will follow.

This is the first volume of a big fat three-part novel.

©2014 Steve Vernon (P)2018 Steve Vernon

This is your brain, this is your brain bashed in

This story starts out 300 years ago and tells about the killing of a witch. Fast forward 300 years later and the town is experiencing some strange happenings. The setting is a nice little town and it is full of interesting characters. This book in the series really just develops some of the main characters as we follow them all in a random day. Many of the characters haven’t really interacted with each yet, but it is clear that they are all going to be tied to each other because of the strange happenings.

This is definitely going to be an interesting trilogy. This story is funny, horrific, and quite bizarre. I have to say that the author’s descriptive ability is quite perfect. The descriptions or analogies speckled throughout the story really add to the humor I found in the story but also provide immense grotesque mental images.

As this is the first story in series this is really just basic plot explanation and character development. There isn’t a whole lot of story and ends quite abruptly. I wouldn’t think of this as your traditional trilogy but more of a chopped up story. That said I am completely on-board and ready for book number 2.

These types of stories must be written with Rick Gregory’s voice in mind. He voices these stories perfectly and provides the right amount of grittiness for the characters. There isn’t another narrator I think can voice this one better.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Surprising!

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this!!

We start with the scenes of the witch and how she was murdered by the towns people. Flip to 300 years later and she is stirring. The towns people start acting weird. Maddy is the first, she murders her abusive husband and buries him in the field, he rises again, and that's just the beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, it was fast paced and addicting and I flew through it!

It's only an hour and a half long, but the author makes it feel like it's so much longer. There's a lot packed into this story and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Rick Gregory was clear and concise. He read it with enough tones and inflections and brought the story to life. He had different tones and voices for the characters and it was easy to follow who was talking.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

An ntense, graphic, and grisly gorefest

This story starts off like an M-80 that set off a mushroom cloud. It is fast, furious, and bloody and just the way I likes it! I make no pretense of Steve Vernon being one of my favorite writers, seriously than man can write just about anything and make you feel like it is his forte; no matter the genre. One minute he is wowing me with humor and the next he is scaring my socks off. Revenant is just the kind of story I love. It is brutal and ballistic and fueled by revenge and regret. Vengeance from the grave is always fun!! The characters are fully fleshed out, and are realistic to the point that you will really come to hate some of them. Vernon can really paint a personality.

One thing I loved is how the old witch gets to stew in her anger for three hundred years before she finally has a chance to get her due. Of course, the best part is that the people who are giving her her payback have had nothing to do with what happened to her other than they opted to live in the wrong place at the wrong time, or are descendants of the folks who were involved with her getting a broomstick up her bum and buried. Witch Thessally could give three squats of naught over that fact and she sends out her Tatterdemon to dole out death at her command.

The book really has a feel like that classic film, Pumpkinhead, which also deals with witches, monsters from the grave, and revenge. Those are all cursory connections, but it did bring it to my mind readily enough. Hell, I could almost hear Thessaly saying, "Ed Harley" real nice and slow. Either way, the revenant, which is a restless spirit/undead that returns from the grave to slake its thirst for revenge (The Crow), and here facist bully boy Vic makes his comeback under the empowerment of the many centuries dead witch. The action is cruel and vicious and when Vic comes there is no mercy. I love that this is part of a larger tale, and that there are two more stories to come, because this first tale wasn't enough to feed my need for Vernon's stories.

Master narrator, Rick Gregory, takes this tale and lifts it up with his cultured voice. I have yet to hear him voice a story that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. He is a vocal craftsman of the Nth level, and I could listen to him tell stories all day long. I really liked how he handled this story, and cannot wait to hear even more from him in the future.

I have to say that I am very surprised at just how much was packed into this one and a half holong tale, but then it did hit the ground running. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. Getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

Grindhouse Horror

I'll start by saying this isn't my favorite Steve Vernon work (that would be 'Sea Tales'). It is very reminiscent of the old-school 70's exploitation horror films, full of over the top violence, gore, and other in your face gross out material. There is certainly some delightfully black humor to it all. Rick Gregory does a descent job narrating, although the dialogue portions were lacking. My only real complaint is the sheer number of metaphors people use over and over again. Once you notice it, it can be a little annoying. Aside from that, if you enjoy over the top horror that delights in the shocking, this is the book for you.

I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Excited to finish the story!

I’m just getting into fiction audio books and this one was a very easy one to get into. The writing and narration were both clear. I’ll be finishing the trilogy. Check it out!

First horror audiobook

I can't speak for the genre at large but this was ok. The author repeated the same idea several times, and the beginning was a bit rough to get through, overall it was enjoyable enough and different enough from my standard reads that I'd try the next one, in the series, if it is priced well enough.

Revenant

Wow!300 years ago a witch puts a spell on a family.A bit gorey but good.Rick Gregory is a great narrator.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Great Beginning to a Trilogy

I would say that I liked and enjoyed this book. For me, this is said to be part of a trilogy, but with the length, it seems like a trilogy in that it is more of a three part series of one complete novel. Revenant has a good, creepy beginning that sets up a good trilogy or set of chapters to build into one large tale. This is not for the faint of heart, it is grisly and graphic, but that is not an issue with me, as this is what I enjoy reading generally. The action in this book starts right away, so no need to worry about waiting for it to get intense, it almost feels like you missed something, the way it starts right away with the fast moving pace. I was surprised at the narrator, at first listen, I thought it was Wil Wheaton, just for the briefest of moments. I felt with the audio there were a couple of sound issues, but that is not to be reflected on the author, but rather the narrator or production. I would say this is a great beginning, and look forward to listening to more.

I Can't Wait for the Next Book!

Seriously creepy, this story follows several characters who do awful, depraved things. it has the feel of an episode in a serial, rather than the first book in a series, as nothing really gets explained or resolved, other than the killing. It's a really good story so far, and I'm looking forward to the rest. The narrator was perfect for this.

More Please!

This book is a short and sweet buildup for the trilogy. If you’re into horror it is well worth the price of admission. For being such a short book plenty of world building was packed in. Obviously being the first book of a trilogy the characters aren’t as fleshed out as they can be, but I’m intrigued enough to follow through to the end.
I received this book for free to submit a review, which in no way affected my opinion.

I tried it twice but just no...

I received a free copy in return for an honest review, so here it is.

I tried this book twice now thinking maybe i'd given up too early and not given it a chance but nope I really hadn't.

The witch in the first scene "Maybe it's up your bunghole" just seemed totally out of place, there's a lot of swearing and the descriptions sometimes..."like he was possessed by the spirit of an everyday bunny of destruction"...or..."Shoot the pussy out of a pregnant flea". What?

The story is mostly concerned with really unlikable characters, I couldn't really care what happened to them honestly.

The narrator tries his best but talks in a general monotone he tries to put emotion and do voices but they don't always come across that well. He does sometimes read incorrectly too, he mispronunciation of witches name in chapter 2 and i'm sure there were other bits I didn't note down. How much was him or the original text I don't know.

Lastly be thankful Audible remembers where you are because the chapters in the book don't match up to the chapters in the app so no idea whats going on there.

The blurb sounds ok but the actual book and narration just didn't do anything for me I'm afraid.