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Blood Rite
Abandoned in the woods by a fumbling blind date, Karen Mallon witnesses a demonic sacrifice and finds herself pursued relentlessly by two evil creatures.
156 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 21, 2020
Simple, bland, boring.
A newspaper reporter goes on a date with a terrible jerk into the woods. A duo of possessed "woodsmen" terrorize her and some assorted locals.
Nothing happens in this book you haven't read elsewhere, and it's likely written better wherever you did. The single most pedestrian, plotless book I have read in a while.
At least it's VERY short.
Can't recommend this at all.
A newspaper reporter goes on a date with a terrible jerk into the woods. A duo of possessed "woodsmen" terrorize her and some assorted locals.
Nothing happens in this book you haven't read elsewhere, and it's likely written better wherever you did. The single most pedestrian, plotless book I have read in a while.
At least it's VERY short.
Can't recommend this at all.
April 22, 2025
The literary equivalent of a really bad 1980s slasher film, Blood Rite was originally published in the U.K. under its original (and crappier) title, The Woodsmen. Lured by the stunning artwork on this U.S. edition, I pretty much knew what to expect, but was still disappointed. After all, even a bad slasher can be very entertaining, but this story wasn’t at all. If it wasn’t for the gore (which isn’t as extreme as you’d think), this could almost pass as a YA novel. The writing is simplistic and unengaging, the action boring. The characters are bland and lifeless, and they behave in a very stupid fashion. At least it’s mercifully short, so reading it was fairly quick and painless.
October 30, 2024
Average hillbilly horror with a dash of supernatural. Enjoyable but nothing too mind blowing. It’s pretty short which means it does move at a steady pace.
April 22, 2008
This book really isn't that bad. It's actually kind of creepy in spots. The idea isn't the most original, but, for a slasher book, it works out pretty well. Anderson isn't the best writer, but, oh well, this is cheap, half-assed fiction at its best.
May 12, 2023
After being abandoned by her date, Karen comes across a church in the backwoods. She approaches it, seeking sanctuary. Instead, she stumbles in on a crime scene! Two woodsmen have murderer a priest and a young girl. And now... they're chasing Karen. Ruthlessly. But these two are no mere fanatical killers. They've been blessed by their dark master... and no matter how hard Karen fights back, Clay and Oates just won't die!
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Michael Falconer Anderson's BLOOD RITES carries all the trademarks of books I tend to like. It's briskly written, prioritizes action, gore, and atmosphere over plot... and it's about Satanist, backwoods zombies! In fact, this book is so catered to my tastes... I'm jealous I didn't write it first!
.
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This is proof that og splatterpunk is just as hardcore as the new stuff too. We get a lot of gore in a short amount of time. From a crucified priest to a man twisted up like a pretzel... to the EPIC climax, which devolves into a knock-out brawl between two survivors and the two undead fiends!! There's a lot of concussive and gory gun violence too, which always makes me happy. And it's amplified by the fact that the baddies don't ever just lay down and die, even when their limbs and heads have been mangled up by lead!
.
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The characters are fairly weak but that's not the point. You don't come to a b-grade special effects driven shlock fest, then complain that it doesn't contain any pulitzer prize worthy dialogue. Nah. This ain't Great Expectations... this is fuckin' BLOOD RITES, motherfucker.
.
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I love when authors take a more creative approach to zombies. Bite-y, infection based zombies are cool and all... but the genre can and should have more personality. This is unequivocally a zombie novel... only, these zombies don't infect others. They just butcher them.
.
.
BLOOD RITES is a harder book to track down, but my god is it worth the effort. For an oldschool splatter fan like me, it doesn't get any better than this!
.
.
Michael Falconer Anderson's BLOOD RITES carries all the trademarks of books I tend to like. It's briskly written, prioritizes action, gore, and atmosphere over plot... and it's about Satanist, backwoods zombies! In fact, this book is so catered to my tastes... I'm jealous I didn't write it first!
.
.
This is proof that og splatterpunk is just as hardcore as the new stuff too. We get a lot of gore in a short amount of time. From a crucified priest to a man twisted up like a pretzel... to the EPIC climax, which devolves into a knock-out brawl between two survivors and the two undead fiends!! There's a lot of concussive and gory gun violence too, which always makes me happy. And it's amplified by the fact that the baddies don't ever just lay down and die, even when their limbs and heads have been mangled up by lead!
.
.
The characters are fairly weak but that's not the point. You don't come to a b-grade special effects driven shlock fest, then complain that it doesn't contain any pulitzer prize worthy dialogue. Nah. This ain't Great Expectations... this is fuckin' BLOOD RITES, motherfucker.
.
.
I love when authors take a more creative approach to zombies. Bite-y, infection based zombies are cool and all... but the genre can and should have more personality. This is unequivocally a zombie novel... only, these zombies don't infect others. They just butcher them.
.
.
BLOOD RITES is a harder book to track down, but my god is it worth the effort. For an oldschool splatter fan like me, it doesn't get any better than this!
December 17, 2013
Simplemente de imaginarme todo lo que pasa en este libro hace que me den escalofríos!! Sentí cómo las ramas de los árboles me arañaban la cara y el sudor en la frente mientras Karen corría desesperada por el bosque.
La historia no es muy distinta a todas las demás de zombis, pero la forma de escribirla, la forma en que actúa Karen, es MUY MUY CREÍBLE y creo que podría merecer la pena leerla.
Algo que no me gustó mucho fue el fina, creo que la decisión que tomó Karen fue algo fuera de contexto, después de todo no es una historia muy romántica, y para darle lugar a eso el libro debería haber sido más extenso. De resto, está muy bueno.
La historia no es muy distinta a todas las demás de zombis, pero la forma de escribirla, la forma en que actúa Karen, es MUY MUY CREÍBLE y creo que podría merecer la pena leerla.
Algo que no me gustó mucho fue el fina, creo que la decisión que tomó Karen fue algo fuera de contexto, después de todo no es una historia muy romántica, y para darle lugar a eso el libro debería haber sido más extenso. De resto, está muy bueno.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews