Horns by Joe Hill
July 6, 2010 6 Comments
Horns
I had heard about this book, and the previous book by this author, Heart Shaped Box, and was curious about them, but not enough to search them out. Luckily, I then won a copy of Horns (2010, fantasy) during Bloggiesta, from Shawnee of Reading in Appalachia.
This was lucky, because it turned out it was a book I liked a lot. Not a fantastically large amount, but enough to enjoy several hours of entertainment reading this book.
The story: Iggy (Ignatius Martin Perrish) wakes up one day to find he has grown horns on top of his head. He discovers that other people can see these (so he’s not hallucinating) but they are not as surprised by this as he would have expected. In addition, they start to confide in him all the nasty thoughts they have about him and other people they know.
As soon as we readers have accepted this situation we are put back in time. This was a disappointment to me, because I enjoyed reading about Iggy and his horns. But it turns out to be very necessary that the reader knows what happened in the past (last night, last year, ten years and longer ago), in order to understand what the use is of Iggy turning into some kind of devil and to understand what happens afterwards.
We learn that Iggy has been having a very bad year, after his girlfriend Merrin was rape and killed, and Iggy has been a suspect ever since (but there was no evidence to arrest him). He realizes that with his new powers, he can try and find the real killer (because everyone will tell him the truth).
The book was a fun read. Although the growing of horns does not fit the realm of reality, and some of the events later in the book are also supernatural, most of the story was completely realistic. So, readers that are not into fantasy per sé may still enjoy this book. Also, I think this is a great book for both male and female readers.
My rating: 4/5
I’m glad you liked it! I read Heart Shaped Box but didn’t finish… the pages I did read wasn’t that scary and was a bit bored, so I gave up… perhaps it’s just not my genre.
I think you might find this a little boring, then, as well. There isn’t a great deal of action. Only in certain places.
I missed this review; I was just back from hols and just now catching up.
I read this in January (a friend of mine gave me a spare review copy). I really enjoyed it too and also gave it 4/5.
Did you write a review of Horns, Boof? I’ll see if I can find one on your blog.
My feels were similar to yours on this one. I did enjoy the audio though. Have a great week.
Diane, good to hear you enjoyed it. I think this was one of the first books in this genre that I read and it was very interesting to discover this type of story.