'Fell of Dark' by Patrick Downes

Amazon / Goodreads

A book that challenges the word "powerful" and obliterates it

Written in searing prose, this is the story of two boys: Erik, who performs miracles, and Thorn, who hears voices. The book chronicles their lives as their minds devolve into hallucinations, and shows the way their worlds intersect, culminating in a final stand-off.

This debut novel offer a raw, insightful look at the forces that compel us to act against our will. Even more so, it captivates and dares us to look away, knowing full well we can't.

I just...I don't even know what to say.
Whoa.

*This will be a short review.*

The two main characters were the best and strongest points. They were fascinating. Perhaps creepily so.
Erik made miracles. I didn't see that, though. Where are the miracles? Where? I didn't read miracles happening. I wanted what I was promised. That's all I ask for. I felt like there should have been something else. Something more. And when did he make his lovely girlfriend like him? Or push him away? With the double perspective, it can be harder to show all that happens. We get certain parts of their lives. That is simply a problem for me because I get left out of the loop. Erik could have been better. Given him some more personality. He was locked in this vicious cycle where he would just take the pain and talk about 'you'. He believed that he would be a husband in the future and married to a girl he never met. While I his dreaming, I didn't expect it to happen.
Thorn was controlled by the voices. The Sawmen. The Guardians. The Architect. I thought he was hearing things. That HE was causing pain upon himself. Which might make sense if the Architect didn't enter his body. (I'm still confused about that.) He thought his parents were demons, and perhaps parents are. (But that would mean all future parents are demons as well. Especially since Thorn thought it was appropriate to cut off the demon-ness at the source--when you are young.) I don't think that's entirely right. It's an odd way of thinking. That just means babies are evil before they are evil. Doesn't make too much sense to me.
Is what made these two special just a lie? Are they just in an insane asylum pretending this happened? (Credit to my friend for that reasoning.) It made no sense to me. I could just not understand this. That might be it.

The plot was a mess. I don't even want to try to comprehend the mess that is the plot. It was too confusing. So much happened. Since the story seemed to be told in little chunks, I hoped for little battles of the mind or something. That's not what I got. I ended up with two very confusing perspectives that didn't do much. The little chunks described random thoughts and happenings. It wasn't much. There wasn't much plot.
It wasn't until the end that the two met. And that didn't seem right to me since we were promised a meeting in the premise. I felt like there was too much on both their sides.

The ending was...confusing as well. What happened? Why the guns? Is there a rhyme or reason for any of this? I didn't find it if there is. There was no reason for Thorn to even meet Erik. Unless persuaded by someone else, Thorn would have never met Erik. I thought they would meet at school or something. But no. They randomly met in a park. What compelled Erik to be there? Fate? I don't think so!
The afterword was bittersweet. That afterword was good for me. I liked it. It made no sense with the story, though. What do little kids playing have anything to do with Erik and Thorn? I'm not sure.

This story was a whole bunch of 'I don't know's. And a lot of confusion. I couldn't understand the story. That's maybe the first thing. I didn't understand. I couldn't. Some might be able to understand. I didn't. That's simply it.

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2/5