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The Golden Child Trilogy #1-3
Unborn Evil: The Complete Golden Child Trilogy
This is the incredible story of Cambodian Nhean Thavy and her three children. Her first son is a child of rape, and she wants to end his life. She could not have known the power and the danger hidden in his tiny body.
Her second son is the result of a marriage of convenience, but she loves him deeply and desperately—more than any mother should love her son. But Sammy has a secret power over the dead, a power which he develops while living with the Shama Indians in the Amazon.
Thavy’s daughter Luna lives for only a few days before dying quietly in her mother’s arms. Enter Vanessa McBride, a witch born in Africa and adopted by American missionaries. She tells Thavy that her daughter is not dead and that her two sons are coming home. But Sammy and his brother don’t trust Vanessa—they plan to kill her and rescue Thavy. Reuniting with her will give them a power unequaled since time began.
Her second son is the result of a marriage of convenience, but she loves him deeply and desperately—more than any mother should love her son. But Sammy has a secret power over the dead, a power which he develops while living with the Shama Indians in the Amazon.
Thavy’s daughter Luna lives for only a few days before dying quietly in her mother’s arms. Enter Vanessa McBride, a witch born in Africa and adopted by American missionaries. She tells Thavy that her daughter is not dead and that her two sons are coming home. But Sammy and his brother don’t trust Vanessa—they plan to kill her and rescue Thavy. Reuniting with her will give them a power unequaled since time began.
708 pages, Paperback
Published June 27, 2016
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About the author
Cameron Macauley
10 books21 followersCameron Macauley has published short fiction in Prism International, The North American Review, The Sonora Review and Quick Fiction. After getting degrees in anthropology, psychology, and medical science, Cameron Macauley spent thirty years working in disaster relief and international health. During his career he has worked in a refugee camp in Thailand, a besieged city in Angola, a Yanomami Indian village in Brazil, and a mission hospital in Sumatra.
He teaches at James Madison University.
He has co-authored two novels with his father Robie Macauley: CITADEL OF ICE (2014), and THE ESCAPE OF ALFRED DREYFUS (2016), both from unpublished manuscripts found after Robie's death in 1995.
His short story collection is SIGHTSEEING IN HELL (2017).
Cameron is also the author of a supernatural adventure series, THE GOLDEN CHILD TRILOGY: THE TALISMAN CHILD (2014) and THE FOREST OF REGRETS (2015), and THE WARRIOR DEAD (2016). The complete trilogy is available in a single volume, UNBORN EVIL (2016).
He teaches at James Madison University.
He has co-authored two novels with his father Robie Macauley: CITADEL OF ICE (2014), and THE ESCAPE OF ALFRED DREYFUS (2016), both from unpublished manuscripts found after Robie's death in 1995.
His short story collection is SIGHTSEEING IN HELL (2017).
Cameron is also the author of a supernatural adventure series, THE GOLDEN CHILD TRILOGY: THE TALISMAN CHILD (2014) and THE FOREST OF REGRETS (2015), and THE WARRIOR DEAD (2016). The complete trilogy is available in a single volume, UNBORN EVIL (2016).
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 6, 2017
I read the three books in the trilogy as they were released, but having them in one volume made it worthwhile to reread the entire set. The story is complex but fascinating and richly detailed as we go from Pol Pot's holocaust-ravaged Cambodia, to the Thai refugee camps, to Boston, to a New Hampshire boarding school for boys, to a Brazilian gold mine, to a Yanomami village in the Amazon, to colonial Mozambique, back to Boston, and finally to modern-day Mozambique. Along the way we are introduced to magic, sorcery and witchcraft from all of these places as the Golden Child becomes increasingly malevolent.
The characters are vivid and often unpredictable: Thavy, a genocide survivor and the mother of the Golden Child, is alternately strong and weak, swinging from survivor mode as a soldier and guide, to a suicidal mother longing for her son who has been taken away from her. Sammy goes from being a naive teenager struggling with a sexuality constantly exploited by other people, to an abused schoolboy, a murderer, a slave in a gold mine, and finally a pseudo-Indian in an Amazonian village, studying magic while taking hallucinogenic drugs. And finally Vanessa, kidnapped as a 12-year-old by her grandfather and forced to learn his black magic trade, a profession she eventually embraces. Adopted by a missionary couple from Ayer, Massachusetts, she becomes a professional exorcist before her past catches up with her and she ends up in prison.
All these stories come together as Sammy and Vanessa fight over Thavy's fate, while an army of undead soldiers lays siege to a mountain stronghold. There are enough magic spells and ghosts in this book to satisfy anyone who loves the supernatural and the exotic rituals of witches from other cultures. The three volumes are available separately as The Talisman Child, The Forest of Regrets, and The Warrior Dead.
The characters are vivid and often unpredictable: Thavy, a genocide survivor and the mother of the Golden Child, is alternately strong and weak, swinging from survivor mode as a soldier and guide, to a suicidal mother longing for her son who has been taken away from her. Sammy goes from being a naive teenager struggling with a sexuality constantly exploited by other people, to an abused schoolboy, a murderer, a slave in a gold mine, and finally a pseudo-Indian in an Amazonian village, studying magic while taking hallucinogenic drugs. And finally Vanessa, kidnapped as a 12-year-old by her grandfather and forced to learn his black magic trade, a profession she eventually embraces. Adopted by a missionary couple from Ayer, Massachusetts, she becomes a professional exorcist before her past catches up with her and she ends up in prison.
All these stories come together as Sammy and Vanessa fight over Thavy's fate, while an army of undead soldiers lays siege to a mountain stronghold. There are enough magic spells and ghosts in this book to satisfy anyone who loves the supernatural and the exotic rituals of witches from other cultures. The three volumes are available separately as The Talisman Child, The Forest of Regrets, and The Warrior Dead.
Displaying 1 of 1 review