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Trem
When she was a little girl, Gabby Morgan entered a strange manor house on a dare. Inside, she saw a ghost. Years passed, and now the older Gabby finds herself drawn to that house once again.
Inside, she finds new ghosts, odd creatures, and a mysterious woman who is responsible for it all. Her name is Trem, a Manzazzu, an ancient cult of ghost summoners stretching back hundreds of years. Trem shows Gabby a world like no other and as their journey continues, they begin to form a bond.
Meanwhile, sinister forces dwell within the manor, a conspiracy reaching back decades and something dwelling within the Styx, the passageway between the world of the living and the afterlife.
For Gabby Morgan, nothing will ever be the same.
Inside, she finds new ghosts, odd creatures, and a mysterious woman who is responsible for it all. Her name is Trem, a Manzazzu, an ancient cult of ghost summoners stretching back hundreds of years. Trem shows Gabby a world like no other and as their journey continues, they begin to form a bond.
Meanwhile, sinister forces dwell within the manor, a conspiracy reaching back decades and something dwelling within the Styx, the passageway between the world of the living and the afterlife.
For Gabby Morgan, nothing will ever be the same.
402 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2018
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 9, 2019
“Trem” starts out on a high note as college-aged Gabby discovers an old mansion populated by a cast of unique characters, most of them ghosts or “Etemmu”. We first meet the charming horror starlet, Jenny and her partner Skye, a feisty pirate gal, as well as the Manzazzu who summoned them into being, Trem. It’s an engaging start, face-paced and full of unconventional characters and world building.
The writing itself is simplistic, making it a quick read. There are some grammar issues and cliches in the text itself, so if you read for story and character, you’re in the clear, but if you read for exquisite word choice, this won’t be the book for you. The plot is interesting and certainly unique, but the pacing a little off at times. Really, the characters are what I’m here for. Jenny is an absolute sweetheart and Gabby and Trem have a wonderful relationship.
This book has a lot of fun in it, it feels earnest, like was truly written to be enjoyed. You’ve got light-hearted dueling ghosts, snappy dialogue, and of course puns: "She was not a morning person, but considering what happened yesterday, she wasn't exactly a mourning person either.” There are great horror elements mixed in with urban fantasy and adventure. I mean, look at this: "He was on all fours, his spine having burst free from his back and a chunk of flesh hung from the top of his head.” Body horror? Check, check, check. It’s gross. It’s gruesome. It’s great.
All this coupled with just the right amount of romance. It’s a good slow burn, you really feel like these characters are friends first, you understand where the attraction is coming from and it’s delightful.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the sequel!
The writing itself is simplistic, making it a quick read. There are some grammar issues and cliches in the text itself, so if you read for story and character, you’re in the clear, but if you read for exquisite word choice, this won’t be the book for you. The plot is interesting and certainly unique, but the pacing a little off at times. Really, the characters are what I’m here for. Jenny is an absolute sweetheart and Gabby and Trem have a wonderful relationship.
This book has a lot of fun in it, it feels earnest, like was truly written to be enjoyed. You’ve got light-hearted dueling ghosts, snappy dialogue, and of course puns: "She was not a morning person, but considering what happened yesterday, she wasn't exactly a mourning person either.” There are great horror elements mixed in with urban fantasy and adventure. I mean, look at this: "He was on all fours, his spine having burst free from his back and a chunk of flesh hung from the top of his head.” Body horror? Check, check, check. It’s gross. It’s gruesome. It’s great.
All this coupled with just the right amount of romance. It’s a good slow burn, you really feel like these characters are friends first, you understand where the attraction is coming from and it’s delightful.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the sequel!
February 28, 2021
Trem is the debut novel from Alex Baxter Scott, self-published on Amazon in 2018, and currently the first in at least a three-novel series. For full disclosure purposes, I have personally spoken to Scott over direct messages on Twitter which is where I was made aware of Trem’s existence, however, I shall strive not to let my personal feelings of friendship for the author affect the way this review is written. It’s a novel which could accurately be described as an urban fantasy romance novel, with some flavorings of gothic horror thrown in for good measure. The plot of Trem is primarily concerned with Gabby Morgan who stumbles upon a world of magic: an alien Manzazzu called Trem has been living in an old manor house near Gabby’s home for years, bringing back benevolent spirits for company, and really just minding her own business and getting on with her own life. From there the novel splits into two primary threads, the first being the conspiracy of the Manzazzu and the budding romance between Gabby and Trem that arises over the course of the novel. These two plotlines are enough to fill a book, but Trem is a novel which falls into the trap of writing a story with almost too many threads, common in first time writers, meaning that much of what Scott includes isn’t as fleshed out as perhaps it could have been. Still, props to Scott for daring to include musings on the nature of death and how people would react if they discovered an afterlife, any afterlife, was real, something that isn’t always explored. The world of Trem has been thought out with Manzazzu society being seen through the eyes of Gabby as something truly old and inhuman, but not necessarily inhumane.
While romance is not a genre which I am familiar with, the sections of the novel devoted to the developing attraction and romance between Gabby and Trem are where Scott demonstrates his best work with characters. The relationship is essentially a variation on the “friends to lovers” trope, but Scott avoids making either perfect people falling in love. Gabby is still a teenager and unsure of her place in the world, with that odd relationship most teenagers have with their parents while Trem doesn’t really consider what taking someone away for two days will have on them. The pair argue for lack of a better term, and have their own disagreements, and their romance slowly develops over the first half of the book or so. The integration with the romance and the conspiracy does feel like two separate books occurring in parallel, and could have been integrated better, but both plots follow satisfactory arcs. Trem’s grandfather serves as the novel’s primary antagonist. Treman is a character who is a bit too over the top in many areas as the standard racist villain who is trying to gain his own power, but really is just sniveling. As a threat there are points where he seems a bit tacked onto the book while the rest of the story happens around him. The supporting cast are where Scott shines as a writer, giving Trem four ghost friends for company, each with their own quirks from an actor, to a pirate, to a gentleman. Gabby’s parents are also well portrayed as caring and understanding to a fault, but still human and prone to flaws.
That isn’t to say that everything about Trem is positive: as said above it is a first novel and as such there are some pacing issues, especially in the finale of the novel which wants to serve as a hook and does it well, but would serve better as a preview for the next book in the series. Scott’s prose and style aren’t as developed as they could be, and while the action scenes are engaging, there are moments where the way the book is written is a little on the bland side. There are hints at a style developing, however, meaning that this may be in the sequels. There are also a few pitfalls which the book falls into by the nature of being self-published: Scott did not have a professional editor, so word flow isn’t always perfect and there are examples of typos. The print edition is also not the best formatted version of the book, having the title page on the wrong page, being in an odd font, and honestly not doing the author justice. Overall, Trem while a first time novel, is a good first time novel. There are flaws and the inspirations are worn on the book’s sleeve, but it won’t disappoint in telling a story that is at least fun and hints at a larger world. 7/10
While romance is not a genre which I am familiar with, the sections of the novel devoted to the developing attraction and romance between Gabby and Trem are where Scott demonstrates his best work with characters. The relationship is essentially a variation on the “friends to lovers” trope, but Scott avoids making either perfect people falling in love. Gabby is still a teenager and unsure of her place in the world, with that odd relationship most teenagers have with their parents while Trem doesn’t really consider what taking someone away for two days will have on them. The pair argue for lack of a better term, and have their own disagreements, and their romance slowly develops over the first half of the book or so. The integration with the romance and the conspiracy does feel like two separate books occurring in parallel, and could have been integrated better, but both plots follow satisfactory arcs. Trem’s grandfather serves as the novel’s primary antagonist. Treman is a character who is a bit too over the top in many areas as the standard racist villain who is trying to gain his own power, but really is just sniveling. As a threat there are points where he seems a bit tacked onto the book while the rest of the story happens around him. The supporting cast are where Scott shines as a writer, giving Trem four ghost friends for company, each with their own quirks from an actor, to a pirate, to a gentleman. Gabby’s parents are also well portrayed as caring and understanding to a fault, but still human and prone to flaws.
That isn’t to say that everything about Trem is positive: as said above it is a first novel and as such there are some pacing issues, especially in the finale of the novel which wants to serve as a hook and does it well, but would serve better as a preview for the next book in the series. Scott’s prose and style aren’t as developed as they could be, and while the action scenes are engaging, there are moments where the way the book is written is a little on the bland side. There are hints at a style developing, however, meaning that this may be in the sequels. There are also a few pitfalls which the book falls into by the nature of being self-published: Scott did not have a professional editor, so word flow isn’t always perfect and there are examples of typos. The print edition is also not the best formatted version of the book, having the title page on the wrong page, being in an odd font, and honestly not doing the author justice. Overall, Trem while a first time novel, is a good first time novel. There are flaws and the inspirations are worn on the book’s sleeve, but it won’t disappoint in telling a story that is at least fun and hints at a larger world. 7/10
October 31, 2020
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I picked up Trem. Sometimes, this is my favorite way to go into a lot of the books I read. Honestly, going into this book like that made for a really enjoyable experience. I really liked how well this book flowed. The language in the book is simple and understandable, which makes it a quicker read that one can get lost in. Some of the pacing felt a little stilted, but overall, I really enjoyed the read. Slow-burn plus witty dialogue plus horror elements that give you a shiver every now and again? I'm there for it!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews