Road of Bones
Plot: (Back of Book) Kolyma Highway, otherwise known as the Road of Bones, is a 1200 mile stretch of Siberian road where winter temperatures can drop as low as sixty degrees below zero. Under Stalin, at least eighty Soviet gulags were built along the route to supply the USSR with a readily available workforce, and over time hundreds of thousands of prisoners died in the midst of their labors. Their bodies were buried where they fell, plowed under the permafrost, underneath the road. Felix Teigland, or "Teig," is a documentary producer, and when he learns about the Road of Bones, he realizes he's stumbled upon untapped potential. Accompanied by his camera operator, Teig hires a local Yakut guide to take them to Oymyakon, the coldest settlement on Earth. Teig is fascinated by the culture along the Road of Bones, and encounters strange characters on the way to the Oymyakon, but when the team arrives, they find the village mysteriously abandoned apart from a mysterious 9-year-old girl. Then, chaos ensues.
My Review and Thoughts:
An intense atmospheric drenched story of chills, claustrophobia and fantastical imagery.
"Lets just say this is not The Hundred Acre Woods".
A solid read of amazing characters but most of all a plot that displays all the wonderful originality of storytelling at its best. Part suspense, part horror, part pure fantasy. I had so much fun with this book. It has so much detail and enriched imagination of the fanciful wonderment of myths, legends.
A vehicle, two friends, business partners are on a journey to find the next big television show out in the middle of no where in the darkened winter of Siberia. There they meet locals and there they meet there ultimate fate through the stories and happenings that they never saw coming.
There is just something about a story taking place in the dead of winter. A chill of coldness runs through your veins as you read along with everything that is happening. I never knew where this story was going but I have to say I am thoroughly surprised and most of all hauntingly satisfied. There was a folkish reality to this tale. A backwoods myth come to life in all its flavor of intense mastery in written word.
Held my attention, brought forth my love of reading. I thought this came together in a wonderfully dreadful way of nightmares and fantasy on page. I loved it with a grand smile on my face as I turned the last page of this brilliantly executed novel.
The why this is written you feel the dread, the darkness the chilling intensity wrapping around you as it pulls at your emotions and senses. The final showdown between the friends and the creatures of folklore truly created a perfect ending to a spiraling tale that slowly dug itself into your nightmares of just what is out there in the darkness of the woods, seeking, waiting, wanting.
Would I Return to it Again: Down the lane, absolutely. It held my attention and gave a wonderful exploration of how to write a great story.
Would I Recommend: Absolutely. This demands to be read and allows you to focus on its grand story.
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Four Final Words: Phenomenally Executed. Brilliantly Atmospheric.