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Horror Book Reviews

Richard C. Gray: The Piaculum

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The Piaculum is set in some unspecified time, but could be interpreted as a future Earth. At one time there was great technology in place but it was all destroyed during some form of catastrophe. This world is populated by two tribes of people, the Mone and the Kathe.

The two tribes share a joint history. The story goes that two men discovered "The Book of Testaments" in a cavern, and then they soon discovered two other books "The Ancient World" and "The Lost Book". The interpretation of this last book, which was eventually lost, is what caused the rift between Mone and Kathe.

Cearl is a Mone but was born with mostly white skin. When he was a small child the Kathe raided his village, beat his mother and stole him away. The Kathe prise these "mutants" highly, for they believe that only through their blood and sacrifice will the Kathe tribe be saved from everlasting damnation. This is supposed to be achieved by making these unfortunate innocents undertake the excruciatingly painful process of becoming Piaculum, or living Gods. As Piaculum they are expected to share their blood with the Kathe tribe, and to die for all their sins.

Cearl's son is also cursed with the same disease as his father, and once again it is the "time of blood" for the Kathe. But can Cearl find the strength in himself to save his son, and live with the consequences? Or will he loose his faith in the God that has nurtured him all his life?

As you can probably tell from the short outline above The Piaculum is a book with deep religious, and specifically Christian roots. The story itself reads much like an updated version of Jesus and his struggles as dictated in the New Testament. The Kathe are inherently evil, and the Piaculum are obviously false Gods. However, it is an enjoyable read, with some well described and, often, slightly disturbing passages. The story also has some nice little twists, making it less obvious than it might have been. All in all, the overtly religious theme was not as irritating as I thought it would be, and the story read better for it!

Please note, this review is based on an uncorrected proof for reviewing purposes only.

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