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Dark Tyrant #2
Canyon Shadows: Book One in the Dark Tyrant Series
From the author that brought you, Consequence comes the next book in the dark urban fantasy/horror line of The Dark Tyrant Series. Set just before the events, in Consequence, find out what caused the supernatural storm.
Imprisoned since the creation of the world, an ancient cosmic being waits deep in the mountain near Canyon Shadows, Utah. He waits deep in the mountain for the proper host in order to break free from his chains. That host draws near.
Sheriff Dan Blackwood is hiding a dark secret and an even darker past. However, his secret could be the only thing that stands between the mountain and the world's destruction.
Garrett Porter is an antiques dealer suffering from the recent loss of his wife and daughter. He travels to Canyon Shadows on the trail of a unique artifact but finds more than expected in the sleepy town.
Troy Grimes searches for answers regarding his father's recent, yet mysterious suicide. His investigation brings him closer and closer to Canyon Shadows and his sanity begins to crack as he nears the mountain; however, he's starting to like it.
Templars, Anasazi, as well as Christian and Native American legends, come together in this fast-paced novel of good, evil, and everything in-between.
Imprisoned since the creation of the world, an ancient cosmic being waits deep in the mountain near Canyon Shadows, Utah. He waits deep in the mountain for the proper host in order to break free from his chains. That host draws near.
Sheriff Dan Blackwood is hiding a dark secret and an even darker past. However, his secret could be the only thing that stands between the mountain and the world's destruction.
Garrett Porter is an antiques dealer suffering from the recent loss of his wife and daughter. He travels to Canyon Shadows on the trail of a unique artifact but finds more than expected in the sleepy town.
Troy Grimes searches for answers regarding his father's recent, yet mysterious suicide. His investigation brings him closer and closer to Canyon Shadows and his sanity begins to crack as he nears the mountain; however, he's starting to like it.
Templars, Anasazi, as well as Christian and Native American legends, come together in this fast-paced novel of good, evil, and everything in-between.
357 pages, Paperback
Published December 13, 2016
3 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
C.R. Langille
34 books101 followersC.R. Langille spent many a Saturday afternoon watching monster movies with her mom. It wasn't long before she started crafting nightmares to share with her readers. She is a retired, disabled veteran with a deep love for weird and creepy tales. This prompted her to form Timber Ghost Press in January of 2021. She is an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association, the DEI Chair for the League of Utah Writers, and she received her MFA: Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2014.
Follow her here: https://link.heropost.io/crlangille
Follow her here: https://link.heropost.io/crlangille
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 15, 2017
Disclaimer: I consider myself friends with the author, via the graduate writing program we both attended. However, I purchased the hardcopy version of this novel for full price.
Though this book is the second in a shared world of stories, you do not have to read the first in order to get full enjoyment from this novel (which I think is actually a prequel, anyway). Set in our contemporary world, this story features a fascinating mix of mythologies, Christian and indigenous North American, which complement each other to good effect over the course of the plot. The combination starts with a fascinating archaeological mystery and ends with an epic showdown.
Langille's ability to write vivid imagery means that this dark fantasy doesn't shy away from wading into some pretty horrific waters. I realize that it's cliche to say that I could see the scenes like a movie in my head, but in this case, I embrace the stereotype. There were moments when I would jerk in surprise at a well-placed, and well-crafted, moment. Though some were appropriately gruesome, this horror wuss never hesitated to keep reading. I don't have much experience with dark fantasy, but I get the sense that Langille knows his genre and tread the line very well.
My only significant issue with this novel is the female representation. I enjoyed Allison, the only female point of view, as a character, but it was hard to miss that her role in the novel went from lovely assistant, to love interest, to object to be rescued. Even the final role the reader thinks she is destined for ends up snatched away by a man. This was a bit disappointing, especially since the male characters in this book were more three-dimensional and intriguing.
Though this book is the second in a shared world of stories, you do not have to read the first in order to get full enjoyment from this novel (which I think is actually a prequel, anyway). Set in our contemporary world, this story features a fascinating mix of mythologies, Christian and indigenous North American, which complement each other to good effect over the course of the plot. The combination starts with a fascinating archaeological mystery and ends with an epic showdown.
Langille's ability to write vivid imagery means that this dark fantasy doesn't shy away from wading into some pretty horrific waters. I realize that it's cliche to say that I could see the scenes like a movie in my head, but in this case, I embrace the stereotype. There were moments when I would jerk in surprise at a well-placed, and well-crafted, moment. Though some were appropriately gruesome, this horror wuss never hesitated to keep reading. I don't have much experience with dark fantasy, but I get the sense that Langille knows his genre and tread the line very well.
My only significant issue with this novel is the female representation. I enjoyed Allison, the only female point of view, as a character, but it was hard to miss that her role in the novel went from lovely assistant, to love interest, to object to be rescued. Even the final role the reader thinks she is destined for ends up snatched away by a man. This was a bit disappointing, especially since the male characters in this book were more three-dimensional and intriguing.
August 27, 2017
I had enjoyed the first book in the series and was excited to get a chance to read the second one. This book takes place before the events of Consequence, they explain the details of the Canyon Shadows incident referred to in the story. The author manages to mix together history, myth, and imagination to paint a picture that is one part Book of Revelations, one part Hellraiser, and something uniquely his own. If you enjoy dark fiction I would recommend this book.
January 13, 2018
An ancient evil awakes near the small town of Canyon Shadows, Utah. Garrett Porter, an antiques dealer whose wife and daughter died in a car crash a year ago and who is trying to quit drinking, is drawn to the town. Troy Grimes, a man investigating his father's suicide and who's trying to quit smoking, is also drawn to the town. The mysterious Sheriff Dan Blackwood lives in Canyon Shadows and can sense something big is coming. When an ancient evil has the ability to possess the bodies of both the living and the dead, you can't feel safe around anybody.
The story is mainly told from the point of view of these three men, although we're also given the point of view of several minor characters. Sometimes the viewpoint shifts from one person to another in rapid succession. Each chapter also starts with a journal entry from a group of medieval Templars who traveled to Utah and encountered the same evil centuries before. I would have liked the medieval sections more if they'd used more archaic language. Since they're written in fairly modern language, it took me out of the story.
Most of the characters in the book are male. About our only female point of view is Garrett's friend and co-worker, Allison Montgomery. Unfortunately, she acts like a school girl with a crush most of the time and also ends up becoming a damsel in distress. There is more to her character than this, though. She is good at her job and does her part to help combat the evil presence. Overall, though, she just felt like a tacked-on romantic interest. While their personalities are fleshed out to an extant, the male characters also didn't quite feel like real people.
All books have typos and Canyon Shadows is no exception. It didn't have as many typos as some books, but it had enough to be distracting. This book felt a bit cliche at times and some scenes felt repetitious. Jump scares don't work quite as well in book form as they do in the movies. Possessed people's eyes turn black, their noses bleed profusely, they laugh maniacally, and smile wider than is humanly possible. This wouldn't be so bad except it's overdone. We see scenes like this over and over again and it starts to get boring. If this book were a movie, the final half hour would consist of pretty much non-stop laughing on the part of the bad guys. These scenes would have been scarier if there were less of them. Sometimes, less is more.
While getting through the repetitious scenes was a bit hard at times, overall the book largely kept me interested all the way through to the end. A fairly decent read that I had a lot of fun with.
The story is mainly told from the point of view of these three men, although we're also given the point of view of several minor characters. Sometimes the viewpoint shifts from one person to another in rapid succession. Each chapter also starts with a journal entry from a group of medieval Templars who traveled to Utah and encountered the same evil centuries before. I would have liked the medieval sections more if they'd used more archaic language. Since they're written in fairly modern language, it took me out of the story.
Most of the characters in the book are male. About our only female point of view is Garrett's friend and co-worker, Allison Montgomery. Unfortunately, she acts like a school girl with a crush most of the time and also ends up becoming a damsel in distress. There is more to her character than this, though. She is good at her job and does her part to help combat the evil presence. Overall, though, she just felt like a tacked-on romantic interest. While their personalities are fleshed out to an extant, the male characters also didn't quite feel like real people.
All books have typos and Canyon Shadows is no exception. It didn't have as many typos as some books, but it had enough to be distracting. This book felt a bit cliche at times and some scenes felt repetitious. Jump scares don't work quite as well in book form as they do in the movies. Possessed people's eyes turn black, their noses bleed profusely, they laugh maniacally, and smile wider than is humanly possible. This wouldn't be so bad except it's overdone. We see scenes like this over and over again and it starts to get boring. If this book were a movie, the final half hour would consist of pretty much non-stop laughing on the part of the bad guys. These scenes would have been scarier if there were less of them. Sometimes, less is more.
While getting through the repetitious scenes was a bit hard at times, overall the book largely kept me interested all the way through to the end. A fairly decent read that I had a lot of fun with.
September 13, 2020
Readers of horror will find a story that delivers the promises made at the beginning of the book. I enjoyed the roughly 350 pages that unfolded in the first story dealing with the Dark Tyrant.
The feel of the rise of chaos and mental instability rings of Cthulhu. The aspects of Lovecraft’s dark mythology were played up well while giving it a unique feel within framework of Langille’s own voice.
You can read teh complete review at https://guildmastergaming.blogspot.co...
The feel of the rise of chaos and mental instability rings of Cthulhu. The aspects of Lovecraft’s dark mythology were played up well while giving it a unique feel within framework of Langille’s own voice.
You can read teh complete review at https://guildmastergaming.blogspot.co...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews