Nightworld

Nightworld is a seriously scary book. Not personally scary but scary for the world as we know it. Nightworld completes the Nightworld series, which consists of six books, starting with The Keep. I've read all books and until the publication of Nightworld, it was called The Adversary Series, taken from the fact that the underlying element of this series is the ongoing confrontation through eternity and through the universe of two powerful forces. These forces are not defined by good and evil for they are not. But one force, which is called the Other in the books, is brutal and caring nothing for humanity, tends to use evil means to achieve it's goal, while his adversary though not necessarily Good utilizes humanity to thwart His Adversary, The Other. The Anti-Other, throughout history, has utilized a human champion to battle the Other. This champion is empowered with Godlike powers and made immortal for this purpose. In the initial book, The Keep, which I've mentioned, the earthly agent of The Other, Rasalom, was weakened and imprisoned in a specially constructed prison by a champion of a long gone age, maybe a champion named Glaeken, whose subsequent job in The Keep was to keep tabs on The Other and make sure it didn't escape. The Keep is a marvelous story wherein, Rasalom, because of some Nazi soldiers, almost escapes his incarceration. I won't go into the story but at the end, Rasalom is vanquished and ostensibly terminated but this is not to be and through the course of two more books, Reborn and Reprisal, Rasalom is rejuvenated, recuperated re-empowered and is set to take revenge upon troublesome humanity. The stage is set for Nightworld. Nightworld "If thou gaze into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee" What in the world is going on! Sunrise was five plus minutes late! we're in early summer, surise should be later not earlier, and then another shocker, sunset was ten minutes early! This continues on the second day etc and then a bottomless hole 200 feet across and perfectly round opens up in New York's, Central Park. The world's scientific community, though at a loss for these occurrences, downplay these episodes and insist there is a rational explanation for these phenomenons. However, there is one who knows what's going on and he has a birds eye view of the Central Park event from his apartment. It is the ancient warrior Glaeken, who is now in his 80s (his immortality ended after his 1941 battle with Rasalom), living under a pseudonym, Mr. Veileur. Glaeken knows exactly what's going on and he immediately sets out to gather a group of individuals to try to effect some sort of resistance, admittedly an enormous longshot but the only shot humanity has. Main Charactersin order of appearance Rasalom [Evil agent of the Other] Dr. Nicholas Guinn [Physicist and friend of Bill Ryan] Glaeken/veileur [Aged champion of the Anti-Other] (ex father) Bill Ryan [Friend and confidant of Glaeken] Carol Teece [mother of the reborn Rasalom] Repairman

F. Paul Wilson brings together 5 of his previous novels with this apocalyptic horror fantasy that serves as a climax to his "Adversary Cycle". Characters and storylines come together during a series of fantastic and terrifying events occuring around the world. The sun itself defies physics by rising and setting earlier and the days begin to shrink. Giants holes open up in NYC's Central Park and around the globe and unleash hordes of monstrous insects that begin feeding like pirhanas on people. For humanity, it appears to be the beginning of The End and society begins to crumble. One man knows who and what is responsible, however. He brings together a band of frightened survivors and assembles a scattered weapon that might or might not put a stop to the evil behind the everlasting Night... This is a fantastic horror fantasy, complete with monsters, demons, and Lovecraftian creatures. It is a thrilling ride from beginning to end and I loved every second of it. A few have said that it can be read as a stand-alone novel, but I would recommend that readers check out the other books in The Adversary Cycle. (THE KEEP, THE TOMB, THE TOUCH, REBORN, and REPRISAL.) Some of the background and characterizations might seem a little thin, otherwise. NIGHTWORLD is a must for horror fans!

F. Paul Wilson completed his six book Adversary Cycle (1 - The Keep, 2- The Tomb, 3 - The Touch, 4 - Reborn, 5 - Reprisal, 6- Nightworld) with this packed to the gills magnum opus. The gang is all here as the Evil One opens portal after portal to bring about the end of the world. What is amazing is that Wilson pulls imaginative monster and menace out of his sleeve left and right with seemingly little effort as he ups the stakes again and again, building to a full out battle to save the world from the nastiest collection of elder gods and cronies that you would ever hope not to meet (some of these things are really bloodcurdling). What is even more surprising is the emotional power as each of the individual yet interlinked stories wrap up with some hefty price tags. Highly recommended.

Truly a master of his art, F. Paul Wilson grabs you HARD and doesn't let go with Nightworld. I read The Keep. Scared the hell out of me. I read The Tomb and The Touch. Great stories, but I never saw the connection. Then, with Reborn and Reprisal, I was beginning to see what was coming. And Nightworld was it. Rasalom (evil incarnate) is freaking nasty. There is nothing he wouldn't do to get this planet called 'Earth'. Nightworld was a 24-hour book. Set aside 24 hours straight, becuase you cannot put the book down. Characters that span 5 novels come together to fight an evil that is older than "Old". To take the time and patience to write 5 books to set the stage for this final novel is a talent most of us can only dream of. I'm glad Mr. Wilson chose to share it with us. You MUST read the five aforementioned novels to get the true feeling of this series. You won't be sorry.