Wendigogo

by K.A. Silva

Morty didn't intend to become a cannibal.Lately he hasn't felt like himself, and his friends are concerned.Morty was happy being a bookstore nerd. Suddenly he's craving human flesh and his neighbors keep turning up dead. How's an average, dorky white guy supposed to cope with ancient monsters of the Northwoods, a rapacious corporation, and taboo appetites, while keeping his girlfriend and his sanity? a snarky, bloody horror comedy with teeth! Book One of The Reluctant Wendigo.

382 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 21, 2020

About the author

K.A. Silva has always loved Halloween and all things dark and spooky, and this comes through in every book of theirs, whether it's about scarecrows and witches or a nerdy cryptid of the northwoods. They love blending genres, particularly urban fantasy, romance, and at least a touch of horror. A happy transplant to the Upper Midwest, they enjoy having 4 actual seasons, especially autumn and, yes, winter. Inspirations include Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, and Ambrose Bierce. Nonbinary/transmasc, pronouns they/he.

Reviews

[C. Kiefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been well-thought-out and was a fascinating read. The author did a lot of research and it shows. Yet, while I liked it overall, with its descriptions, setting(s), mythology and characters, one thing I did not like was its length. A few scenes could have been cut entirely or edited to be shorter.
I also thought that the main character was (initially) a little boring with his nice nerd character, whose main hobbies seemed to be reading and video games. But overall I liked it, and I'd certainly read the follow-up, especially to see what the future holds for the characters.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wendigogo by K.A. Silva is a horror novel of a man named Morty who is afflicted with a mysterious illness after visiting a Native American burial site. The strange murders that follow in the days and weeks afterward have left him bewildered, scared, and desperate.

This book was chosen by my book club for the month of March. We all enjoyed our weekly discussions of the sections we read. The accuracy of the lore was impressive, and we even learned about a new cryptid. Two of us felt a particular familiarity with it as we live in the Appleton/Green Bay area but are originally from Park Falls, which is up near Mellen and Ashland. This means we were very familiar with the geography of the book, which enhanced our enjoyment of it.

My ex-husband met the author at Wendigofest in 2021 and got a signed copy of the book. He was the one who suggested it to our group since it had been sitting on his shelf, unread, and he felt the book club would hold him accountable to finally reading it. Once he started, he enjoyed the story a great deal, and he wondered why it took him so long to read it.

I liked this book so much that I wanted to read other books by this author, but it seems the only ones published at this time are based on The Wizard of Oz, which doesn't hold any interest for me. I'll check regularly in the hopes of more cryptid books being available.