The Ravening

Horror comes in many shapes and sizes. The horror could be on this plane of existence, a creature that stalks you and your family through generations. It could be even closer to home, the horror of the mundane, the terror of ordinary people willing to do anything to achieve their goals, even if this means kidnapping and holding hostage pregnant woman. Horror can also be on other ethereal planes; abominations that visit you at night and haunt your dreams. If you are an unfortunate person, you may experience all three horrors at once like Jenna in Daniel Church’s new novel The Ravening. 

The horror in Jenna’s life started early enough in her teens. Not her love of the latest Katy Nash album, but the scream that her mother made when she was dragged off into the woods. Psychologically shattered and with no safety net at home, Jenna started to learn to fend for herself, but martial arts and a strong character can only protect you so much. They fail in the face of true, supernatural evil – or do they? 

Ravening is one of those enjoyable horror novels that hits you with multiple types of the genre all in one story. The book starts off as real-life horror, with a smattering of the unknown, like one of the more down to Earth episodes of The X Files. Something did happen to Jenna’s mother, but it may have just been a mishap or a woodland animal. Even Jenna is unsure of what she heard. 

The book fast forwards a decade or more and reintroduces us to Jenna, the damaged but independent woman. After a haphazard life and a string of lovers, she is finally finding balance with Holly. This is when the next roll of the horror dice is rolled by Church as the terror of the mundane comes into play. There is something special about Jenna that people want, and they are no longer willing to wait. She finds herself in more than one horrific situation in which she must escape. 

The horror in this section is what I find the most impactful as it could happen. It is the horror of real people being evil. The story will have the deepest impact on those people who are squeamish about body and psychological horror. Imagine being forced to use your body in ways you do not wish. Truly horrific. 

Thankfully, Jenna is such a complex and resourceful character that she gets through it and takes the reader with her on the journey. There is an inner strength and dark humour to Jenna that makes her very appealing to read. She will take no BS from anyone, or anything. Which is useful as the latter part of the book introduces strong elements of the supernatural and ethereal. It is difficult to set books across different ethereal planes, and Ravening becomes more complex when the idea is introduced, but it is also a method for Jenna to survive. 

To underpin all the distinct types of horror within the book, Church does a good job of creating a history and lore that brings them all together. One option, often taken in horror, is not to explain what is happening or why. The fact that it is unknown adds to the tension. However, it is also nice when the reason behind the madness is explained, and Church knits the various elements of the story together well with an overarching mythology. 

The Ravening is a horror novel that caters for a multitude of genre fans. It has body, human, monster, and supernatural elements, all held together with some interesting lore. What makes it though, is not the scares, but the characters. The strength of Jenna, loyalty of Holly. Even the antagonists have reasons for their madness. Church goes as far to humanise the ultimate evil in the book in a way that makes the conclusion even more satisfying.