Book Review: The Sarvan by Douglass Hoover

So here we are, book #3 in the series of Books I Stupidly Purchased Because I Was Served Ads on Facebook. The first book, Dead Station (reviewed back in October), was a huge disappointment. The second book, Theodore Roosevelt and the Hunt For the Liopleurodon, was pretty, pretty good. Now we come to the third book, The Sarvan.

This book is absolutely awesome!

Set during World War I, the book follows a group of prisoners of war who are being led by German guards from a German prison camp to Switzerland where they will be set free. But during the march they become stuck in a blizzard and need to take refuge in a remote mountain village. But it becomes quite clear quite quickly that this village is incredibly strange.

Note: MINOR spoilers ahead (if you want to read this book and want to come in fresh, just know this is a nine out of ten hot dog review!)

So, the town is IN Germany, but it is NOT German. Instead, the inhabitants are descendants of a Roman pilgrimage (!) and to this day the village folk are worshippers of the cult of Mithras (!!).

This book is right up my alley. Not only do you have a setting in WWI, one of the most fascinating time periods in European history, but to also bring in the cult of Mithras, the religion that competed with Christianity at the time of Emperor Constantine (and was featured in the schlocky Showtime show DaVinci's Demons)? Perfect!

Sure, there are too many characters in this book, and it can get a little hard to remember who is who - but it's a horror book, so don't get too attached to anyone (also, it turns out there's a very good reason for most of the people who came - props to the author for some next-level plotting).

I loved this book - definitely recommend it!