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The Sopaths
Killing children is an ugly business, but the alternative is so much uglier. Abner Slate just watched his five-year-old daughter, Olive, kill his wife and son. Olive is a sopath. Born without souls, sopaths are children who will lie, cheat, rape, and murder to get what they want. There's one in every family these days, destroying America's heartland from within. After murdering his daughter in self-defense, Abner is taken in by a secret network of sopath victims called Pariah. Through Pariah, he meets other sopath victims who band together to form a temporary nuclear family. But the sopath threat is getting worse, and soon their quaint little neighborhood is overrun by murderous, drug-running children. Now, on a mission for Pariah, Abner and his makeshift family must travel across the country to a mysterious town that contains a secret powerful enough to stop the sopath crisis. Instead, they find the most seductive and ruthless sopath of all. Her name is Autopsy, and she would like to add Abner to her slave collection. The old morality is dead. Now the sopaths will stalk the earth.
196 pages, Paperback
First published February 27, 2011
51 people are currently reading
645 people want to read
About the author
Piers Anthony
441 books4,216 followersThough he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.
Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.
Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
November 23, 2016
2.5 stars!
The Sopaths got my attention when I noted it on a list of books featuring evil children. What horror lover can pass up a story with evil children? Not this one! At some points, though? I wish I had.
The premise here is that the population has grown so much, there are no longer any souls left to go into newborns. Therefore, said newborns enter the world without any souls at all. The name Sopath is invented to describe these soul-less sociopaths. And let there be no doubt about it, these are truly evil children. It's a great premise, even though there are some tank-sized holes in it. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to its potential. Instead, it got...weird.
Every other review here at Goodreads already goes into how uncomfortable this book made them feel-mostly because of the heightened sexuality of the children. Sopaths often used sex to achieve their goals, even if some of them were only 5 or 6 years old. (Please be aware that no outright pedophilia takes place-however everything else but DOES, including graphic sexual discussions with children.) This was most certainly disgusting and gave me the heebie-jeebies, but it wasn't the main reason I didn't care for this book.
THAT was because the story just wasn't engaging. I might as well have been a sociopath for the lack of feeling that I had for any character in this book. I continued listening because it was kind of like a train wreck-I was disgusted but couldn't look away. The whole time I just kept thinking about how great a story this could have been.
The Sopaths would have been, could have been...great. Instead it exploded in a burst of exciting flames and then...slowly fizzled out. Even a seasoned lover of horror and evil children will most likely be skeeved out by this tale, due to its lean towards pedophilia, but on top of that-the story just wasn't good.
Unfortunately, I can't recommend it to anyone.
The Sopaths got my attention when I noted it on a list of books featuring evil children. What horror lover can pass up a story with evil children? Not this one! At some points, though? I wish I had.
The premise here is that the population has grown so much, there are no longer any souls left to go into newborns. Therefore, said newborns enter the world without any souls at all. The name Sopath is invented to describe these soul-less sociopaths. And let there be no doubt about it, these are truly evil children. It's a great premise, even though there are some tank-sized holes in it. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to its potential. Instead, it got...weird.
Every other review here at Goodreads already goes into how uncomfortable this book made them feel-mostly because of the heightened sexuality of the children. Sopaths often used sex to achieve their goals, even if some of them were only 5 or 6 years old. (Please be aware that no outright pedophilia takes place-however everything else but DOES, including graphic sexual discussions with children.) This was most certainly disgusting and gave me the heebie-jeebies, but it wasn't the main reason I didn't care for this book.
THAT was because the story just wasn't engaging. I might as well have been a sociopath for the lack of feeling that I had for any character in this book. I continued listening because it was kind of like a train wreck-I was disgusted but couldn't look away. The whole time I just kept thinking about how great a story this could have been.
The Sopaths would have been, could have been...great. Instead it exploded in a burst of exciting flames and then...slowly fizzled out. Even a seasoned lover of horror and evil children will most likely be skeeved out by this tale, due to its lean towards pedophilia, but on top of that-the story just wasn't good.
Unfortunately, I can't recommend it to anyone.
April 28, 2016
In a word: VILE. Absolutely vile. This isn't even in the "put in stack to sell back to used bookstore" but ritualistically burn in your backyard category (I'm just going to throw it away).
I thought the plot was the familiar but still interesting twist--like Romero's "No more room in hell" to another book I read recently that when population hit a special magic number Cthulhu would be reawakened, so I figured this would tread the same kind of ground: there's a fixed number of "souls" and once the maximum was reached, children were being born soulless, murderous monsters. A world filled with greedy Rhodas Bad Seeding it.
The book fails on basically the first page. There's an Author's Note at the end that has an explanation, if there can be an explanation other than "you're a pedophile," that makes it even worse, if that is possible. Piers Anthony has been working on this book since 1979, so this is 31 years in the making and says this: "I suspect this may be a traditionally unpublishable novel, not only because of its occasional gore or the horror of its thesis, but because it recognizes the sexuality of children." We're talking about five year old children by the way.
The only person this book could appeal to would be a pedophile. It never really explores the idea of souls or how the hell the preschool administrator is the one that helpfully explains what's going on page one. The main character, Abner, accepts that his child is one of the "sopaths" and goes home to tell his wife, who also blandly accepts it. Apparently it's a huge enough thing that the police do not investigate murders committed by or done to children, but it's escaped the notice of the press or anything that would make this book interesting or having any depth other than the slimiest penny.
Anyway, his sopath child kills her brother and mother, and Abner responds by killing her by swinging her into the wall. The police investigate shrugging on their third return to the house in the same day. Oh well. The lack of any outside forces makes this book a joke. Or anything remotely believable. How Anthony can justify this as "serious work" is one of the grossest thing ever.
Because from here on out, the rest of the book is basically child porn and when not child porn, child abuse. The 7 year old sopath that falls in love with Abner (as do all women--it's his powerful masculine soul)--who within 24 hours of his family's demise already is shacking up with a new woman and has adopted two children, a 5 year old rape victim and 7 year old boy, and is wildly inappropriate in front of them. Watching "adult channel," frequently naked and aroused, having sex in front of them, discussing sex graphically in front of two traumatized children. That's the rest of the book. They move from town to town, but every twist of events invariably leads to child sex, which as seen as okay because the children want it as bad as the male hero.
How does it end? Well he rapes the teenage leader of the sopaths to death with a knife, becomes a beloved industry titan, and dies happy. Everything about this book is bad. From the wooden unrealistic dialogue, to all the characters, to the disgusting sexism, the inherent hypocrisy, the total unbelievability of it all (not even 100% sure what country this was supposed to be in--UK?). This is the worst book I have EVER read. Nothing in the ridiculous amount I've probably read in my entire life is as bad as this book.
I thought the plot was the familiar but still interesting twist--like Romero's "No more room in hell" to another book I read recently that when population hit a special magic number Cthulhu would be reawakened, so I figured this would tread the same kind of ground: there's a fixed number of "souls" and once the maximum was reached, children were being born soulless, murderous monsters. A world filled with greedy Rhodas Bad Seeding it.
The book fails on basically the first page. There's an Author's Note at the end that has an explanation, if there can be an explanation other than "you're a pedophile," that makes it even worse, if that is possible. Piers Anthony has been working on this book since 1979, so this is 31 years in the making and says this: "I suspect this may be a traditionally unpublishable novel, not only because of its occasional gore or the horror of its thesis, but because it recognizes the sexuality of children." We're talking about five year old children by the way.
The only person this book could appeal to would be a pedophile. It never really explores the idea of souls or how the hell the preschool administrator is the one that helpfully explains what's going on page one. The main character, Abner, accepts that his child is one of the "sopaths" and goes home to tell his wife, who also blandly accepts it. Apparently it's a huge enough thing that the police do not investigate murders committed by or done to children, but it's escaped the notice of the press or anything that would make this book interesting or having any depth other than the slimiest penny.
Anyway, his sopath child kills her brother and mother, and Abner responds by killing her by swinging her into the wall. The police investigate shrugging on their third return to the house in the same day. Oh well. The lack of any outside forces makes this book a joke. Or anything remotely believable. How Anthony can justify this as "serious work" is one of the grossest thing ever.
Because from here on out, the rest of the book is basically child porn and when not child porn, child abuse. The 7 year old sopath that falls in love with Abner (as do all women--it's his powerful masculine soul)--who within 24 hours of his family's demise already is shacking up with a new woman and has adopted two children, a 5 year old rape victim and 7 year old boy, and is wildly inappropriate in front of them. Watching "adult channel," frequently naked and aroused, having sex in front of them, discussing sex graphically in front of two traumatized children. That's the rest of the book. They move from town to town, but every twist of events invariably leads to child sex, which as seen as okay because the children want it as bad as the male hero.
How does it end? Well he rapes the teenage leader of the sopaths to death with a knife, becomes a beloved industry titan, and dies happy. Everything about this book is bad. From the wooden unrealistic dialogue, to all the characters, to the disgusting sexism, the inherent hypocrisy, the total unbelievability of it all (not even 100% sure what country this was supposed to be in--UK?). This is the worst book I have EVER read. Nothing in the ridiculous amount I've probably read in my entire life is as bad as this book.
July 3, 2017
This is my first one star review in quite some time. Years even. I don't like to rate one star, and I find that you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. I've been literally stalked and harassed on the internet and accused of "having an agenda" over one star reviews in the past, to the point that I quit writing them. If a book was so bad that it was going to rate one star I would just quit reading it and not leave a review. That opened the door to a new accusation. "You leave 4 and 5 star reviews for every book just because you got it for free."
In reality, I leave 4 or 5 (and sometimes 3) star reviews because if a book does not rate at least 3 stars it's not worth my time and I will move on to the next in the long line waiting to be read. 5 stars is pretty rare from me. I'm picky. I read a lot. 5 stars is the highest rating, it means it's one of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. It's not something I give out willy nilly just because my cousin's friend's brother's wife self published a kindle book and needs help getting it to sell. I tell you all that, to tell you this..
This book is foul.
No I do not mean the subject matter, I am not easily offended, I don't think I have ever read a book that offended me. Disgusted me perhaps, tested my gag reflex even. This is just plain trash.
"The black hair opened his mouth and bit the tow's nose. It was no token effort; blood spurted as the black hair wrenched his face from side to side, ripping off the nose."
I purchased this book through a link in an internet newsletter, (where they get paid if you buy through their link.)
I bought it under the guise of it being one of the "top 10 true crime" under the heading of evil children. That is NOT what this is, though if you check out the 5 star reviews you will see one person who says it's frightening to think this is real, so apparently the false advertising did work, up to a point.
My only experience with Piers Anthony until now had been one single short story "IN THE SHADOW OF THE SONG" which appeared in an anthology I reviewed previously. Other than that I had not heard of this "New York Times–bestselling author"
**spoiler alert**
The story is weak. The plot is ridiculous, the writing is poor, there is nobody to root for, I could not have cared less who lived or died. The world is running out of souls, so children are being born without them. Having no souls these children have no conscience, no concept of right or wrong, and for some reason are also hyper sexualized. A man who has killed his daughter because she murdered his son over a candy bar, and then killed his wife as well seems to be the "hero" of the book. He is a "good" man who tries to curb his sexual interest in the 7 year old who keeps throwing herself at him. Meanwhile he has acquired a new family, replacing his dead children with other survivors of these sopaths and replacing his wife with a woman who has no where else to go.
Fear not because this can all be cured with a fungus, called Fungo. All the world needed was a fungus that acts as birth control while increasing your sex drive. This will slow the birth rate so that there are enough recycled souls from dead people available to be reborn to new babies.
In reality, I leave 4 or 5 (and sometimes 3) star reviews because if a book does not rate at least 3 stars it's not worth my time and I will move on to the next in the long line waiting to be read. 5 stars is pretty rare from me. I'm picky. I read a lot. 5 stars is the highest rating, it means it's one of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. It's not something I give out willy nilly just because my cousin's friend's brother's wife self published a kindle book and needs help getting it to sell. I tell you all that, to tell you this..
This book is foul.
No I do not mean the subject matter, I am not easily offended, I don't think I have ever read a book that offended me. Disgusted me perhaps, tested my gag reflex even. This is just plain trash.
"The black hair opened his mouth and bit the tow's nose. It was no token effort; blood spurted as the black hair wrenched his face from side to side, ripping off the nose."
I purchased this book through a link in an internet newsletter, (where they get paid if you buy through their link.)
I bought it under the guise of it being one of the "top 10 true crime" under the heading of evil children. That is NOT what this is, though if you check out the 5 star reviews you will see one person who says it's frightening to think this is real, so apparently the false advertising did work, up to a point.
My only experience with Piers Anthony until now had been one single short story "IN THE SHADOW OF THE SONG" which appeared in an anthology I reviewed previously. Other than that I had not heard of this "New York Times–bestselling author"
**spoiler alert**
The story is weak. The plot is ridiculous, the writing is poor, there is nobody to root for, I could not have cared less who lived or died. The world is running out of souls, so children are being born without them. Having no souls these children have no conscience, no concept of right or wrong, and for some reason are also hyper sexualized. A man who has killed his daughter because she murdered his son over a candy bar, and then killed his wife as well seems to be the "hero" of the book. He is a "good" man who tries to curb his sexual interest in the 7 year old who keeps throwing herself at him. Meanwhile he has acquired a new family, replacing his dead children with other survivors of these sopaths and replacing his wife with a woman who has no where else to go.
Fear not because this can all be cured with a fungus, called Fungo. All the world needed was a fungus that acts as birth control while increasing your sex drive. This will slow the birth rate so that there are enough recycled souls from dead people available to be reborn to new babies.
August 6, 2016
Where do I begin? I don't mind the grotesque murders, I don't mind the awful sex, I don't even mind the idea of children being sociopaths and killing their families. I do mind the child rape. So content wise, this isn't really a winner.
Further, the writing style is simply ghastly. There is no description, just the author telling us what's happening. A man who lost his wife and son, whom he loved should actually mourn their loss. Not walk into another relationship, hollow as his was. The characters are not believable.
The dialog is awful. As I read I kept thinking that no one talks like these people. No one who sees something as horrific as their child slit the throat of their other child and is calm about it. No one who is dealing with having just killed their son approaches a man and talks about the strategy behind him taking them in. It's all stilted and forced.
This had such a great premise. How terrifying would it be to know your 5 year old was plotting your death? That is terrifying. But this book is beyond ridiculous.
Further, the writing style is simply ghastly. There is no description, just the author telling us what's happening. A man who lost his wife and son, whom he loved should actually mourn their loss. Not walk into another relationship, hollow as his was. The characters are not believable.
The dialog is awful. As I read I kept thinking that no one talks like these people. No one who sees something as horrific as their child slit the throat of their other child and is calm about it. No one who is dealing with having just killed their son approaches a man and talks about the strategy behind him taking them in. It's all stilted and forced.
This had such a great premise. How terrifying would it be to know your 5 year old was plotting your death? That is terrifying. But this book is beyond ridiculous.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2014
The fiction of Piers Anthony: twisting sex, self-loathing, and patriarchy into a sick lump at the back of my belly since 1995.
This is right up there with some of the choice short stories in Anthonology, which have stuck in my mind like the foulness of a rotting flower since I read them in early high school.
Insightful. Sickening. Psychological. Horrific, truly. Can't recommend it, but was mesmerized as one would be by a particularly grisly roadside accident scene from the first few pages. Luckily it is short, and a quick read. I only hope I can wash it from my active memory as quickly. Blech.
This is right up there with some of the choice short stories in Anthonology, which have stuck in my mind like the foulness of a rotting flower since I read them in early high school.
Insightful. Sickening. Psychological. Horrific, truly. Can't recommend it, but was mesmerized as one would be by a particularly grisly roadside accident scene from the first few pages. Luckily it is short, and a quick read. I only hope I can wash it from my active memory as quickly. Blech.
June 18, 2016
This was one of the worst picks in my life. And I am not talking about the theme of the novel or its individual elements of underage sex and gruesome murders. I had picked this one up after I found out that the author has a huge repertoire of successful novels in his bag and also that most of his readers criticized this novel as well as the author himself for having a generous dosage of underage sex and gruesome bloodletting in the novel. After all an author should have the independence of choosing a theme and plot elements without being judged for the choice. However what the author owes his readers, I believe, is a coherent plot, meaningful dialogues between characters and a vivid story. And all of these are missing in the novel. The characters are extremely thinly etched and the dialogues they mouth are pedantic. The narrative itself seemed so badly written. I dislike novels where the narrative solely comprises small sentences. And Piers Anthony seems to make an obsessive choice of small sentences to fill the trashy narrative. On top of that the conversations between adults and children (even those who are not Sopaths) are outright silly. A five year old normal girl (scarred by a rape attempt by her seven year old Sopath brother) asks the adult protagonist something like "Daddy, what is Vee Dee?" and the "Daddy" replies "The letters V D stand for venereal disease. Its a group of illnesses that spread sexually..." I found that exchange surreally silly - one among many such exchanges. The climax is sillier and the solution to the problem of Sopaths (and also to the problem of population control) is the silliest. How an experienced author could write such trash is beyond my comprehension. I don't suppose I am going to read Pier Anthony again, any time soon.
October 12, 2016
Thinly Veiled Glorification of Child Sex.
I figured the other reviewers probably just didn't have the stomach for a truly disturbing horror story. I should have read the reviews instead of disregarding the one star status, because the problem has nothing to do with a squeamish audience... unless you mean squeamish about child sex. This is not a horror story, this is a child porn story that features horror. Unsurprisingly, it is also incredibly misogynistic and incestuous. I suppose this content could have been easier to stomach in a solid performance but there is absolutely no character or plot development whatsoever. It follows a pattern of "major event survived with thin emotion and sex in the midst, gratuitous sex, major event wvebt survived with..."
I understand that porn stories are popular, but once you choose to write one, you should choose to market it as such so it may reached by an appreciative audience. Instead of, for example, me.
I figured the other reviewers probably just didn't have the stomach for a truly disturbing horror story. I should have read the reviews instead of disregarding the one star status, because the problem has nothing to do with a squeamish audience... unless you mean squeamish about child sex. This is not a horror story, this is a child porn story that features horror. Unsurprisingly, it is also incredibly misogynistic and incestuous. I suppose this content could have been easier to stomach in a solid performance but there is absolutely no character or plot development whatsoever. It follows a pattern of "major event survived with thin emotion and sex in the midst, gratuitous sex, major event wvebt survived with..."
I understand that porn stories are popular, but once you choose to write one, you should choose to market it as such so it may reached by an appreciative audience. Instead of, for example, me.
April 19, 2016
I feel so dirty
So gross. I feel like a child molester just reading this book. I couldn't even make it half way through. I'm pretty sure law and order: svu may come and arrest me tonight. This could have been an awesome story. The execution and the explicit sex talk from a 7 year old ruined it. I
So gross. I feel like a child molester just reading this book. I couldn't even make it half way through. I'm pretty sure law and order: svu may come and arrest me tonight. This could have been an awesome story. The execution and the explicit sex talk from a 7 year old ruined it. I
January 9, 2017
Don't waste your time and money. The only good thing this book could achieve is to be used as a bad example of plot, premise, dialogue and narration. Ugh. To the author: you may be successful now but that doesn't mean everything you ever wrote is golden. Shame on you for letting this pedophile/serial killer fantasy be published.
June 7, 2016
Revolting and distasteful. Probably one of the worst horror novels I've ever read. Not only does it lack oomph in the horror department, but it tries to replace this oomph with desire and shock value. Honestly this one was a complete dishrag.
April 25, 2016
This book gets 2 stars because despite its absolutely horrible writing, it was a page turner. A page turner like a car accident. You know you shouldn't keep reading, but you can't help it. It read like some fourteen-year-old boy's fanfiction for his favorite horror porn.
The ideas about women in this book are horrible, the sexualization of children in here is horrible. Everything else was interesting at least in concept. But the writing was just sooooo bad.
The ideas about women in this book are horrible, the sexualization of children in here is horrible. Everything else was interesting at least in concept. But the writing was just sooooo bad.
June 7, 2017
So promising , so dissapointing ...! I didn't even finish it.
August 11, 2017
And... this is just a bad book. I'm wondering how Piers Anthony used to be one of my favorite authors. Was he always this bad at writing? Or is this a recent thing? It's unreadable.
January 28, 2012
Piers Anthony. Few writers have had as long and successful a career as he has. He is best known for his science fiction and fantasy works. In “The Sopaths,” however, he takes a remarkable turn towards horror. Not the blood-and-entrails variety, but a deeply disturbing, soul-searing narrative that will leave you more scarred than scared.
The premise is simple: overpopulation leads to children born without souls. In this world the soul is the seat of conscience, and the kids who are born lacking engage in all manner of depravity to meet their wants. Killing their siblings for candy, their parents for attempting to discipline them, trading sexual favors for anything they decide they want; nothing is sacred to these little beasts.
In the midst of this terrifying set of events, a man rises from the blood-soaked ashes of his dead family, forms a new one with survivors of other “sopath” children, and manages to change the world for the better in spite of the horrible state society begins to devolve into. He finds love, both familial and romantic. He rationally approaches the problem, and does what is necessary to remedy it. The reader quickly finds that while he will do what is needed, his actions leave their mark.
This is not the light fantasy of “Xanth,” nor is it similar in tone to the “Incarnations of Immortality.” This book is far darker, more serious, as it should be. At times it can be sickening, and it will take you to places that you never wanted or imagined going. Even with all of this, you will not want to put it down. The story is just that good, because for all the grotesque and unimaginable imagery Mr. Anthony presents there are still glimmers of what makes life so wonderful.
Without spoiling the tale, it may be necessary to add a few words of caution to this review. While there is no overt or graphic child/adult sex, pedophilia is referenced. Toddlers kill their siblings with kitchen knives, and parents kill their toddlers in self-defense. The sopaths have “Buffalo Bill”-level depraved minds, but contained in the bodies of children. They are the ultimate monsters. This book is not easy, and never claims to be. If you have a strong stomach for truly realistic horror, get this book.
The premise is simple: overpopulation leads to children born without souls. In this world the soul is the seat of conscience, and the kids who are born lacking engage in all manner of depravity to meet their wants. Killing their siblings for candy, their parents for attempting to discipline them, trading sexual favors for anything they decide they want; nothing is sacred to these little beasts.
In the midst of this terrifying set of events, a man rises from the blood-soaked ashes of his dead family, forms a new one with survivors of other “sopath” children, and manages to change the world for the better in spite of the horrible state society begins to devolve into. He finds love, both familial and romantic. He rationally approaches the problem, and does what is necessary to remedy it. The reader quickly finds that while he will do what is needed, his actions leave their mark.
This is not the light fantasy of “Xanth,” nor is it similar in tone to the “Incarnations of Immortality.” This book is far darker, more serious, as it should be. At times it can be sickening, and it will take you to places that you never wanted or imagined going. Even with all of this, you will not want to put it down. The story is just that good, because for all the grotesque and unimaginable imagery Mr. Anthony presents there are still glimmers of what makes life so wonderful.
Without spoiling the tale, it may be necessary to add a few words of caution to this review. While there is no overt or graphic child/adult sex, pedophilia is referenced. Toddlers kill their siblings with kitchen knives, and parents kill their toddlers in self-defense. The sopaths have “Buffalo Bill”-level depraved minds, but contained in the bodies of children. They are the ultimate monsters. This book is not easy, and never claims to be. If you have a strong stomach for truly realistic horror, get this book.
October 1, 2016
I hate writing reviews like this one. This book was just a mess. The subject matter and events in the book did not offend me as it seems to have with other readers. It was more bizarre and contradictory than disturbing to me. The sopath's nature is reiterated numerous times but that ends up being all of them except this one sopath's. That one apparently is different. Some aspects of the book just don't add up. I could imagine the basis of the story, in another author's hands, as a successful storyline. Some other parts are just never explained. The writing is also just bad and unbelievable. The nature of the humans in this book is also rediculous. People don't act the way these characters do. It was a waste of time.
June 20, 2018
This book was crap. Having been a fan of Piers' Xanth series, I was excited to read this. Let's just say he should stick to the "adult conspiracy" in his stand-alone novels (also Firefly).
The blurb gives the impression of killer kids, but it's more like rapist, sex-crazed kids who kill people when they don't get their way. Child prostitution, children seducing adults, adults admitting their mutual desire, children raping children. Children aged 5-8. The children portrayed seem to be way older based on their understanding of things and their vocabularies. The dialogue was over-explanatory and juvenile.
I read chapter 1 and kinda got into it, but it took a dive after that. Crappola.
The blurb gives the impression of killer kids, but it's more like rapist, sex-crazed kids who kill people when they don't get their way. Child prostitution, children seducing adults, adults admitting their mutual desire, children raping children. Children aged 5-8. The children portrayed seem to be way older based on their understanding of things and their vocabularies. The dialogue was over-explanatory and juvenile.
I read chapter 1 and kinda got into it, but it took a dive after that. Crappola.
May 26, 2016
I want that four hours of my life back. This might be the biggest piece of trash I've ever laid eyes on, and I read 50 Shades of Grey. Not only was the writing crap, but the subject matter was absolutely disgusting. I cannot imagine how this would appeal to anyone but illiterate pedophiles.
November 22, 2016
In the words of the notorious Dorothy Parker- "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.".
Bad... just bad.
Bad... just bad.
September 24, 2019
Hahaha, okay. What a creep.
September 11, 2020
0 stars for this garbage. Anthony clearly just wants to write Lolita-esque child sexual encounters and came up with a plot where he could do that. Gross. DNF at 5%.
February 23, 2022
Yuck
Seems like one man's gross sexual fantasy from beginning to end with the author/main character the recipient of the 'preacher's of underage sex.
Seems like one man's gross sexual fantasy from beginning to end with the author/main character the recipient of the 'preacher's of underage sex.
January 9, 2018
For some reason this was profoundly interesting, I really got into it and found the whole idea of it quite horrible and rather disturbing, which is of course the idea. Take away the big series, and I'm running out of Piers stuff to read, which will be a very unfortunate time.
December 30, 2024
Interesting idea for a book, but written so oddly/clinically that it loses a lot of its edge.Wants to be provocative, but more like titillating.
April 14, 2019
I can't recommend this book because of the way it graphically sexualized small children as seducers. Small children don't groom and seduce adults into sex, and it turned my stomach to see them portrayed that way, even in fiction. I will however, give the book a review:
I liked the premise of Sopath...kind of The Bad Seed multiplied by thousands. The book started in a promising way with Abner and his homicidal 3 year old. However, as the book goes on it gets into child sexual abuse and some of the narration is rather graphic. That was a little tough to stomach. The other aspect of this was portraying the child (7 and a teen) as the seducer. Even though the children doing this graphic seduction are "Sopaths" it was still disturbing to read knowing that in the real world victimized children are sometimes blamed, or blame themselves, for their own victimization. There was even some sexualization of the two "Souler" children, (under age 7).
I got through those parts to see how it ended. The saving grace, ironically, was Nefer. Nefer was the 7 year old Sopath who is so graphically sexualized as a seducer of men. She was a fine character without all of that and I came to really like her inspite of it. Actually she was the most likable character. The Abner, Bunty, Clark and Nedra were all too robot like and Stepford-ish and the writing was stilted. Real people just don't talk like that. They say words like "Don't" instead of "do not" and "isn't" instead of "is not". I don't think there was one contraction in the whole book. Strange writing. The jist of it though...pedophilia and little kids talking like porn stars.
I liked the premise of Sopath...kind of The Bad Seed multiplied by thousands. The book started in a promising way with Abner and his homicidal 3 year old. However, as the book goes on it gets into child sexual abuse and some of the narration is rather graphic. That was a little tough to stomach. The other aspect of this was portraying the child (7 and a teen) as the seducer. Even though the children doing this graphic seduction are "Sopaths" it was still disturbing to read knowing that in the real world victimized children are sometimes blamed, or blame themselves, for their own victimization. There was even some sexualization of the two "Souler" children, (under age 7).
I got through those parts to see how it ended. The saving grace, ironically, was Nefer. Nefer was the 7 year old Sopath who is so graphically sexualized as a seducer of men. She was a fine character without all of that and I came to really like her inspite of it. Actually she was the most likable character. The Abner, Bunty, Clark and Nedra were all too robot like and Stepford-ish and the writing was stilted. Real people just don't talk like that. They say words like "Don't" instead of "do not" and "isn't" instead of "is not". I don't think there was one contraction in the whole book. Strange writing. The jist of it though...pedophilia and little kids talking like porn stars.
September 24, 2020
I'd like to start this review by saying I am a huge fan of Piers Anthony. The Xanth novels, Bio Of A Space Tyrant, and The Incarnations Of Immortality are some of my favorite books of all time. That being said, this novel was a chore to finish.
It begins with a great premise; the world's supply of souls is dwindling and children are being born without a conscious. No remorse, and a serious penchant for violence at an early age. Great, I can get in to this. Enter Nefer, and from her first appearance the entire book becomes hard to read. The over sexualization of Nefer, as well as other underage characters is nothing short of disgusting to me.
Yes, I finished the book, but in the way that you can't avert your eyes from looking at a car wreck you pass on your morning commute. I enjoyed everything up to the point where Nefer was introduced and the overly explicit and graphic description in the writing of the scene where she meets Abner made me just want to stop there.
Thankfully the book was short, and I was able to finish it in just a few hours, but it wasn't easy, and there were a few times I had to get up and walk away.
This will certainly never get a reread from me (unlike some of Piers's other works) and I am completely fine with that.
Now to go cleanse my mind with some good humor or mystery.
It begins with a great premise; the world's supply of souls is dwindling and children are being born without a conscious. No remorse, and a serious penchant for violence at an early age. Great, I can get in to this. Enter Nefer, and from her first appearance the entire book becomes hard to read. The over sexualization of Nefer, as well as other underage characters is nothing short of disgusting to me.
Yes, I finished the book, but in the way that you can't avert your eyes from looking at a car wreck you pass on your morning commute. I enjoyed everything up to the point where Nefer was introduced and the overly explicit and graphic description in the writing of the scene where she meets Abner made me just want to stop there.
Thankfully the book was short, and I was able to finish it in just a few hours, but it wasn't easy, and there were a few times I had to get up and walk away.
This will certainly never get a reread from me (unlike some of Piers's other works) and I am completely fine with that.
Now to go cleanse my mind with some good humor or mystery.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2016
This book destroyed my high opinion of Piers Anthony
I couldn't believe that this came from the mind of one of my favorite authors. The Xanth series was one of my favorites and I was shocked and really confused when I started reading Sopaths. I wasn't sure if Anthony was going to make a religious statement about souls and psychopaths or if he was making a plea for birth control to stem the overcrowding of the earth. I still don't know even after reading the explanation at the end of the book. I really tried to find his purpose in writing of the book but I was very disappointed. I found the writing poor (no real writing style to compare this to) and the subject of children at kindergarten age wanting and having sex with graphic descriptions as disgusting. He indicated that he wasn't sure if this book could be published -in my opinion this book is trash. I like sexy books and fantasy, too, but this book doesn't qualify as being worth the time to review.
I couldn't believe that this came from the mind of one of my favorite authors. The Xanth series was one of my favorites and I was shocked and really confused when I started reading Sopaths. I wasn't sure if Anthony was going to make a religious statement about souls and psychopaths or if he was making a plea for birth control to stem the overcrowding of the earth. I still don't know even after reading the explanation at the end of the book. I really tried to find his purpose in writing of the book but I was very disappointed. I found the writing poor (no real writing style to compare this to) and the subject of children at kindergarten age wanting and having sex with graphic descriptions as disgusting. He indicated that he wasn't sure if this book could be published -in my opinion this book is trash. I like sexy books and fantasy, too, but this book doesn't qualify as being worth the time to review.
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June 1, 2016Not what I thought
I gave this rating not because of the book its self, but for the incredible point made by the author afterwards. The idea of the story is a great one, however the writing is atrocious. With characters named Bunty and Autopsy, not to mention the towns of Sweetpea and Sauerkraut this guy was obviously in the deep clutches of dementia. He was after all 75 at the time. And the story pretty much reads like I guess kiddie porn would. He is spot on tho on the hypocritical ideals of society today.
I gave this rating not because of the book its self, but for the incredible point made by the author afterwards. The idea of the story is a great one, however the writing is atrocious. With characters named Bunty and Autopsy, not to mention the towns of Sweetpea and Sauerkraut this guy was obviously in the deep clutches of dementia. He was after all 75 at the time. And the story pretty much reads like I guess kiddie porn would. He is spot on tho on the hypocritical ideals of society today.
April 13, 2016
Excellent book. This book had me captured from the first chapter. I can see how this could happen and it is scary! There are a lot of Sopaths in today's world......makes you think about how this could be real and accept the fact that it could happen just this way
October 24, 2023
Evil children - sign me up, right? Unfortunately, as Anthony says in the afterward, this was a story idea he had been sitting on since the '80s and he knew that he wouldn't be able to publish it traditionally because of the overt sexualization of children (and frank discussions of sex with children). Boy, I wish I had read the afterward first. The biggest issue (yes, even bigger than that) with this, however, is that, as he mentioned in the afterward, he was 75 at the time of this book's publication and his goal was to finish off old WIP. Well, technically he finished it, but it's clunky, it could use editing, and it would take a whole lot of additional content to flush out the story, which could have been good if not for that heavy focus. It was like he forgot what the main focus of the story was (soulless children) and he wanted to put in all the horror in all the newspaper clippings that he had saved as ideas for this story. This is one of Anthony's few horror novels, and it's certainly horrific, but it's not well written. (Not author bashing - I like Anthony's fantasy; I just think too many things went wrong with this book.)
Also, don't let the half-naked green gal on the front fool you - there's nothing like that in the story. Not really sure why she's there. She is, however, the reason that this book kept getting shuffled into the orc smut pile by accident (though don't let that fool you, that's just a side issue of the green lady - there is zero smut in this book - this is straight up horror through and through).
Also, don't let the half-naked green gal on the front fool you - there's nothing like that in the story. Not really sure why she's there. She is, however, the reason that this book kept getting shuffled into the orc smut pile by accident (though don't let that fool you, that's just a side issue of the green lady - there is zero smut in this book - this is straight up horror through and through).
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