Review: The Eater of Gods by Dan Franklin

Posted May 3, 2022 by Stephanie in 4 Stars, Horror, Review / 7 Comments

Title: The Eater of Gods
Author: Dan Franklin
Publication: Spring 2022
Genre: Horror
Find it on: Cemetary Dance Publications
Rating: 4/5★

Nothing really dies if it’s remembered, his wife had told him.

In the dying village of Al Tarfuk, lost among the war-stained dunes of eastern Libya, professor Norman Haas learns the location of the tomb that had been his wife’s life pursuit. The final resting place of Kiya, the lost queen of Akhenaten, whose history had been etched from the stone analogues of history for her heresies against the long absent pantheon of Egyptian gods.

He never expected to discover that the tomb was the final resting place to more than the dead. And as his team of researchers find themselves trapped inside the ancient tomb, Norman realizes all too soon that his wife was right—

Nothing really dies if it’s remembered…

But some things are best forgotten.

Dan Franklin’s debut supernatural thriller is a tale of grief, of loneliness, and of an ageless, hungry fury that waits with ready tooth and claw beneath the sand.

I think most of us had to have at least once had the thought of how cool it would be to be an archaeologist digging up Roman artifacts, finding Egyptian treasures or discovering lost Mayan cities. I’ll admit I’ve had that thought once or twice in my life. At least until this book scared the shit out of me. But to be fair, I loved every page of it. My only “complaint” is that the story wasn’t longer so I could’ve kept on reading. Because I would’ve done that with pleasure.

When Norman Haas’ wife dies from cancer her last wish is to find the last resting place of Kiya, one of the wives of the infamous heretic pharaoh Akhenaten. Still grieving for his wives when he finally does find the tomb and planning on exploring it, something locals had warned him to not do, with his team of brilliant explorers he didn’t expect to find himself trapped inside along it with his colleagues with no apparant way out. When the omnious whispers surround them and people start to die, they begin to realize that something dark and ancient is stalking them.

I was impressed with how such a short book (around 150 pages) could leave such an impact. I’m by no means an expert in the genre but it definitely didn’t feel like a typical supernatural thriller. There was a lot of relevant themes involved like grief, loss, death. And that gave the book an edge that some other books might not have per se, in my opinion.

Of course there were also a lot of scary and macabre moments that made me think archaeologists should just leave tombs alone. There was also this intense claustrophobic feeling the moment Norman and the other characters started entering the tomb that almost had me gasping for breath myself. Which only gives more credit to the author for being able to write such a dark atmosphere. I would highly recommend this book!

 

About the author:

Dan Franklin wrote his first attempt at a horror novel when he was seven. It was terrible. He has, since, improved. The winner of several local awards for short stories and an occasional poem, Dan Franklin lives in Maryland with his extremely understanding wife, his cosmically radiant daughter, and a socially crippling obsession with things that creep. The Eater of Gods is his first published novel. He can be contacted at DanFranklinAuthor.com

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7 responses to “Review: The Eater of Gods by Dan Franklin

  1. verushka

    I love it when an author can pack everything into a short page count and still make it count. Really impressive!

  2. Haha, that first part. Yes, yes, I had those thoughts as well (still do). Love this review, the book sounds amazing, I always love it when people can write a well-written story in a short amount of pages. Sometimes people try to cram in wayyyy to much, but it sounds that this author made it work!

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