Review of Into the void of horror

[Chinaza Nnabuenyi]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Into the void of horror" by Lis Lovén.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Into the Void of Horror by Lis Loven leaves no stone unturned in living up to its name. By way of summary, it explores the depths of lust, lies, deceit, and death as the central themes. The book is a collection of shorter poems: four and a half stanzas long with four lines per stanza. There are sixty-two short poems in this collection, written in a style that gives us a glimpse of the characters' lives en route to the same end our insatiable selfish desires lead us to.

The characters range from a lustful bloodsucker to a lady spying on her scheming, secretive husband and even to a middle-aged woman pondering how sex has driven human civilization.

I liked how locations from all over the world were referenced, indicating a universal plight. The only recurring character happens to have unconnected appearances throughout the poem.

The poet uses rich figurative language to describe a world of meaninglessness, even switching to fables in the 36th poem. The poet successfully depicted an image of the world we would find ourselves in if everyone continually gave in to their basest desires and inclinations. The poem is written in a lovely "abab rhyme pattern," but I observed no syllabic pattern.

The poem contains an extreme degree of violence. From the very first lines, it is obvious that the poem makes for a very gory read: from strangulation to rape, horror killing, bludgeoning a lover to death, all were explored in a manner some might find repulsive.

Another problem with style is that the poet begins a new stanza of a new poem with pronouns. It worked for the first poem, but after it had been established that the poems are not connected based on the characters but, instead, the themes, the poet should have opened less complicated. It would take the reader a while to understand that the characters are mostly unrelated.

From this assessment, I give this poem 2 out of 4 stars. The rhyme pattern is exciting, and the poems are enthralling–shocking at some point. But I feel the gore mainly was unnecessary, as if the poet was trying hard to make the readers puke. Another issue lies with the poem's final line: "If Death is dark Fear, I can still daily." The independent clause "I can still daily" is missing a crucial verb. That verb would shape the entire collection of poems because the missing verb might have just made the difference between nihilism and hope. The book was still edited professionally.

The violent nature of the poem, along with the sexual references, makes this poem only suitable for audiences that would not mind or even enjoy such themes. I would recommend it to those who enjoy such themes.

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Into the void of horror
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[Leonie Vermaak]

Thanks for the detailed review. This will not be something I'll read though, as I don't like poems in general. It's totally different from what I thought it would be as the title can be quite deceiving as well as the cover.

[Amy Luman]

I am not a lover of poetry as a rule, but this is completely different from any I’ve ever read. The ones I’m accustomed to are flowery or address prevalent social issues. This seems to be more my speed.

[Kellette Bacchus]

This is a poem that I never expected the title didn't match the story very decieving but very eye catching for me as I love horror and mystery stories

[Peace10]

I’m not a fan of poems, so I’ll pass on this. Great review though!

[NetMassimo]

This seems like a collection of poems that can be appreciated by readers who look for extreme emotions connected to the horror and mystery genres. Thank you for your honest review!