Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Corridors of the Dead by Jonathan D. Allen


Publisher: Qwendellonia Publishing (November 2011)

Blurb from Goodreads: Long ago, a mysterious being known as The Lost Aetelia crafted an elaborate series of Watchtowers, along with their resident guardians, the Aetelia, to watch over the Universe. In time, they sent a select group of their own to Earth, tasked with watching over the fledgling human race. This group used humanity to challenge the established structure of the Universe. A bitter war ensued, and these rebels, who had come to be known as Watchers, disappeared from history.

The time of the Aetelia – now known as angels – is returning. After a fateful night of violence, Artist Matty DiCamillo finds herself drawn into this world by a mysterious savior, who becomes a driving force in Matty’s new life.


Both driven by and fighting the words of prophecy that lay out her destiny, Matty, her lover Kristy, and her best friend Daniel, follow this mysterious savior on a journey from Northern California to Las Vegas on a path that crosses through the boundaries of time and space.
As Matty struggles to understand her destiny, she discovers that her savior may not be what she seems, and that even the denizens of this twilight world have no idea what lurks behind the stage dressing of reality. Matty finds herself not only racing to rescue the woman she loves, but learning that she herself could be the cause of the Universe’s day of reckoning.
In The Corridors of the Dead, book one in the Among the Dead trilogy, Jonathan D. Allen has an intriguing story. It starts out in every day life at a Circle K convenience store. The description of the Circle K is so good, I could smell and taste the atmosphere. Matty, our store clerk, is the heroine of this story. She uses a lot of slang, has a lot of spunk, and occasionally kicks and punches people. I like her.

Her life starts to take an unexpected turn when a tweeker walks into her store and forces her into a car. Matty isn't too surprised , since convenience stores get robbed by drug addicts all the time, but still not a good situation. This elderly lady, Delilah, comes to her rescue. Sort of. Matty definitely has her own ideas about how to handle the situation. She walks away from Delilah and home to her love, Kristy. Where they face another attack and are saved by Delilah again.

Matty is The Chosen One, in big gold letters. But her supernatural powers are revealed by a cast of characters in little snippets here and there.
She can walk between universes, the big thing we get to see in this book. Everyone wants to use her in one way or another. Even her friend Daniel becomes suspect at one point. Quite a collection of folks pop in for major and minor roles; a version of Satan, Satan's son, cute little, mysterious kid Tommy.

Pluses: Delilah's character was well defined and I loved how she swung those chains around; Daniel; main character is gay and the author doesn't make a big deal out of it; Satan isn't afraid of nail polish and face paint; totally unexpected ending.

Minuses: This felt like a draft rather than a polished final product (typos, verb tense issues, sometimes couldn't tell who was talking); many of the characters often bled together, making them interchangeable; even at the end I was still a bit confused about some of the major plot points.

1 comment:

  1. Hey, couldn't figure out another way to contact you here. I'm definitely going to read Iron Druid #4, since it's out, but since you have reviewed others in the series, you can do the review if you want. Otherwise I will. :)

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