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The Keeper of Pulau Purba: Living Darkness, Dead Marines.
From an emerging writer in Singapore, a Military-Horror Novel set in the unique backdrop of a first world Asian country's backwaters. Alex Kee, an author, is working on his magnum opus when he is called up for military reservist duties. At 35 years old, this is far from the first time he is doing this – Except he has been transferred to a new branch of the military camped at Pulau Purba, a previously undeveloped island south of Singapore. Unable to write, he finds solace instead in his old army buddies. The closest amongst them is Nur Aidah, who is voluntarily serving despite the law requiring only men to do so. While old wounds are reopened, new ones Alex finds that there is something wrong with Pulau Purba. The soldiers stationed there are tense even by conscript standards. Anger boils in the hearts of many and violence is common. Meanwhile, a grotesque creature stalks Alex in his sleep. Although he suspects that he isn’t alone, no one talks about it - and it is going to get a lot worse. A thunderstorm’s coming, and it will threaten everything that Alex holds dear. 20 June 2017: Thank you all for your honest feedback. The '11th Edition' of The Keeper of Pulau Purba is now largely done. About 2,200 words have been cut out, the majority of which are from the first 20 chapters. The effect is that the first act of the novel is slightly shorter. Furthermore, Alex is no longer referred by his occupation as often - about 90% less often to be precise.
- GenresHorror
418 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 16, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 12, 2017
I tried, I tried so hard to finish this. The setting and the ideas were really fascinating, but nothing could make up for the choppy writing and unbearable main character.
At first I blamed the stilted writing and odd language usage on a poor translation, and then I found out that there was no translator, but the writer is from Singapore. I'm not saying that I could write a book in my second language--sometimes I can barely form a coherent sentence in my second language--but before this was published in a primary-English speaking country an editor should have gone over it to smooth it out a little. There's slang and phrases in various foreign language mixed in, especially with the dialogue, that I had to rely on context to try and guess at. I'm not knocking someone else for writing a significant work in his non-primary language, because I certainly couldn't do it. But that doesn't fix the issue of prose so muddled and stilted that I was barely able to keep from attacking it with a red pen.
My secondary issue was with the characters--I disliked virtually all of them, and I wanted to punch the main POV character in the mouth most of the time. I don't think it's a cross-cultural issue or what the island did to him; I found him unbearable from the first page he showed up on. As I've said before, don't populate a horror novel with unlikeable characters, because that means no one's invested when they start dying.
I was going to give this a one star, I found it so aggravating, but I went back and added another star because the setting and plot really are interesting. Wanting to know what was going on got me to 23% in the book, when otherwise I probably would have bailed at 10%.
At first I blamed the stilted writing and odd language usage on a poor translation, and then I found out that there was no translator, but the writer is from Singapore. I'm not saying that I could write a book in my second language--sometimes I can barely form a coherent sentence in my second language--but before this was published in a primary-English speaking country an editor should have gone over it to smooth it out a little. There's slang and phrases in various foreign language mixed in, especially with the dialogue, that I had to rely on context to try and guess at. I'm not knocking someone else for writing a significant work in his non-primary language, because I certainly couldn't do it. But that doesn't fix the issue of prose so muddled and stilted that I was barely able to keep from attacking it with a red pen.
My secondary issue was with the characters--I disliked virtually all of them, and I wanted to punch the main POV character in the mouth most of the time. I don't think it's a cross-cultural issue or what the island did to him; I found him unbearable from the first page he showed up on. As I've said before, don't populate a horror novel with unlikeable characters, because that means no one's invested when they start dying.
I was going to give this a one star, I found it so aggravating, but I went back and added another star because the setting and plot really are interesting. Wanting to know what was going on got me to 23% in the book, when otherwise I probably would have bailed at 10%.
October 28, 2022
When Horror Meets Love Story
Let me start by saying that I think Brian J.W. Lee is a very talented writer in a genre I am very fond of and have read a great deal about, horror. I give great credit to his imagined premise of an ancient and malevolent evil that inhabits an island, Pulau Puba, which is where the newly formed Singapore Marines are training and preparing for a military parade that will be attended by family and friends. What Lee manages to do is successfully intertwine a love story of two of the marines into the fray while they desperately try to survive the onslaught of horrors by the Keeper.
I learned a great deal about the Singapore military because it was an integral part of the story and added much to its realism but it also gave me a group of unlikely heroes conscripted to service that I became emotionally invested in. Pulling from so many elements to make a cohesive framework is no small feat but Lee pulls it off.
The only suggestion I would have is to improve the pace by foregoing so many adjectives that are not necessary to describe every bit of minutia, which only bogs it down and drags it out. However, when Lee does use it effectively, he knocks it out of the park and I was vividly swept up in their circumstances and environment.
I hope this author continues with this saga because there were several questions he left unanswered that I would like a follow-up on. With just a bit more polishing and better editing I think Mr. Lee could be a contender for the Horror Hall of Fame, he certainly has the talent.
Let me start by saying that I think Brian J.W. Lee is a very talented writer in a genre I am very fond of and have read a great deal about, horror. I give great credit to his imagined premise of an ancient and malevolent evil that inhabits an island, Pulau Puba, which is where the newly formed Singapore Marines are training and preparing for a military parade that will be attended by family and friends. What Lee manages to do is successfully intertwine a love story of two of the marines into the fray while they desperately try to survive the onslaught of horrors by the Keeper.
I learned a great deal about the Singapore military because it was an integral part of the story and added much to its realism but it also gave me a group of unlikely heroes conscripted to service that I became emotionally invested in. Pulling from so many elements to make a cohesive framework is no small feat but Lee pulls it off.
The only suggestion I would have is to improve the pace by foregoing so many adjectives that are not necessary to describe every bit of minutia, which only bogs it down and drags it out. However, when Lee does use it effectively, he knocks it out of the park and I was vividly swept up in their circumstances and environment.
I hope this author continues with this saga because there were several questions he left unanswered that I would like a follow-up on. With just a bit more polishing and better editing I think Mr. Lee could be a contender for the Horror Hall of Fame, he certainly has the talent.
June 28, 2017
Add this to the "DNF" pile.
The prologue was interesting. Great setting, mysterious jungle, hidden temple, very Indiana Jones with a dash of OMG WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE.
But after meeting the main character, I simply just couldn't invest any more time into this book. The writing is stilted and choppy. There are random phrases from I think Malay, maybe Chinese, and it was up to me to try to figure out what most of them meant through context. THe main character is self involved and a bit of a hopeless jerk, a hermit, and basically a guy that doesn't want to do anything but go home and write a novel he'd been putting off for most of his life. COme on, making the POV character a writer? Isn't that a bit cliche?
Don't waste your time. I'm glad I got it for free because I'd be angry if I'd spent money on this.
The prologue was interesting. Great setting, mysterious jungle, hidden temple, very Indiana Jones with a dash of OMG WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE.
But after meeting the main character, I simply just couldn't invest any more time into this book. The writing is stilted and choppy. There are random phrases from I think Malay, maybe Chinese, and it was up to me to try to figure out what most of them meant through context. THe main character is self involved and a bit of a hopeless jerk, a hermit, and basically a guy that doesn't want to do anything but go home and write a novel he'd been putting off for most of his life. COme on, making the POV character a writer? Isn't that a bit cliche?
Don't waste your time. I'm glad I got it for free because I'd be angry if I'd spent money on this.
July 6, 2017
Doesn't translate well
It's clear the author has a love of language, but sometimes less is more. Many passages have untranslated phrases, and an assumption the reader would know certain acronyms. Additionally for a sentence or two the excessive descriptions are fine to create a mental image for the reader, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph just made me want to kick the whole book back with a note to edit for clarity. It took me weeks to slog through, where normally I can read a book or two a day.
It's clear the author has a love of language, but sometimes less is more. Many passages have untranslated phrases, and an assumption the reader would know certain acronyms. Additionally for a sentence or two the excessive descriptions are fine to create a mental image for the reader, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph just made me want to kick the whole book back with a note to edit for clarity. It took me weeks to slog through, where normally I can read a book or two a day.
August 9, 2017
In all my years of reading there have only been a handful of books that I didn't finish. This one nearly joined the list. I found it to be so tedious that I read three other books before I could finish this one. The first third of the book was repetitious and boring but I had hopes that once the action actually started it would be exciting. Not so much, as it turned out. It had its moments but ultimately it was a very disappointing read.
May 26, 2024
This book had potential. I did not toss it aside and say forget it, but the main character, Alex the author, was so dislike able that I actually started rooting for the never really explained paranormal baddies. If Alex would have stopped moping about not being able to get to work on his novel he might have actually told Aidah how he felt and there wouldn’t have been any supposed angst.
February 5, 2022
Horrendous. Choppy writing, huge chunks of dramatic, nonsensical prose, plot that went nowhere. Author inserts random big words to show that he knows how to use a thesaurus. Laughable, insipid, uninspiring, tedious.
June 24, 2017
Nice plot, but the main character drove me nuts. At times, I was wanted him to be killed and get on with the story.
July 10, 2017
Had to put it down
Sorry, I tried to get into this but just couldn't bring myself to finish it. The characters weren't well developed so I didn't even care when they were in danger.
Sorry, I tried to get into this but just couldn't bring myself to finish it. The characters weren't well developed so I didn't even care when they were in danger.
January 27, 2018
What a great first novel!
I am 65 years old and I felt I knew the people he wrote about. I saw fallen comrades and lost friends in the characters of this book. Thank you.
I am 65 years old and I felt I knew the people he wrote about. I saw fallen comrades and lost friends in the characters of this book. Thank you.
October 19, 2018
Scary
Great book to read but I did get irritated with the way Alex did so much 'thinking' through the story. It is a fantastic story though and I did enjoy reading it
Great book to read but I did get irritated with the way Alex did so much 'thinking' through the story. It is a fantastic story though and I did enjoy reading it
August 24, 2023
Was about 200 pages too long. I almost gave this one up a third of the way in and ten things if interest started to happen, so stuck with it. But far too wordy.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews