Cyrus Stone, a fearsome but childish monster hunter, must save his unfortunate hometown from a doomsday preacher with suspicious motives and an even more suspicious origin in this genre-bending horror-comedy inspired by "Army of Darkness" , "Hellboy" and the "Dark Tower" series.
There’s a hole like a pit in the desert . At the bottom rests a town that time forget. They call it Gulchy’s Gulch and some folk say its a breeding ground for bloodthirsty monsters, sinister demons and, worst of all, toothless hillbillies. So when a preacher with unnatural influence over the Mayor, the Sheriff and his congregation starts talking about the end of days, I know its worth looking into. Contained within is the harrowing, gruesome, totally heroic and super badass tale of how I rode into nightmarish battle against the forces of darkness to save the soul of my unfortunate hometown from an ancient power they could never hope to understand. My name is Cyrus Stone. And I hunt evil.
Adam Cagley grew up on television. As an actor, he appeared in some of the most popular shows of the last twenty years, a handful of pretty ok movies and one notoriously bad one. But what happens when a child actor has the audacity to get old and his phone stops ringing? He becomes a writer! Books and short stories, mostly. Towing that delicate line between absolutely terrifying and outright ridiculous.
I will start off by saying that I was gifted Cagley’s debut novel, “Cyrus Stone: Hunter of Evil” by the man himself after meeting him as a fellow author. While I now consider him a friend, I owe him nothing less than an honest review. • After reading the first two pages, I knew this book was going to be packed full of action and zingy one-liners by the narrator. BUT I had no idea what to expect from chapter to chapter. This book was one fantastically and hilariously disgusting surprise after another. I am someone who LOVES horror, and laughs. This book provided a perfect balance of both, reminiscent of “Evil Dead”, “Shaun of the Dead” and even the “Supernatural” series. I hated the protagonist Stone while adoring him all the same. The supporting characters were very distinct from each other, while all belonging very well to the setting, an isolated and outdated small town named Gulchy’s Gulch. If that name doesn’t paint you a proper picture of the comedic and ridiculous terrors you’ll encounter in the Gulch, Cagley’s detailed descriptions and quippy dialogue sure will— within just the first chapter alone. • I honestly had such a fun time reading this. It threw me for a loop and a half, and the ending was not what I was expecting. I found myself giggling at some of the references and jokes thrown out by Stone. I’m really excited to see what comes next from Cagley. If you’re a horror fan like me, I urge you to check this book out.
“I am a specter of righteous vengeance. A Phantom of cold-blooded Monster Murder.”
This was a fun read full of monsters. It felt like I was being told this wild story by a friend. Cyrus is such an immature, reckless smartass but he is still lovable. I enjoyed his wit and snark. He kinda reminded me of Deadpool. Actually, if you found humor in that movie then I think you’ll enjoy this book! He’s this big, strong dude but also has a child-like side where he looks up to The Ninja Turtles. I absolutely loved his sidekicks too. I won’t give anything away but just know when you read it that Benicio is my favorite. Katrina was a lot of fun too. You’ll know when you get there.
I enjoyed every action-packed page and can’t wait to read more of Cyrus’s adventures!
I absolutely loved this book from the very first to the last page. It is dark, witty, and sarcastic in the boldest of places. Antiheroes save the day, bad attitude villains run the place, and everyone wants a turtle.
Cagley has a rich and iconic way of writing that makes this story stand out. He blends horror and comedy into a wicked tale of action, touching moments, and plenty of laughs.
After spending all of 2023 reading some pretty dense and heavy shit, Cyrus Stone was exactly what I needed. I was hooked from the first chapter. Does this appeal to my Exact Sensibilities? Yes. Do I care? No. This is the most fun I’ve had with a book all year. It genuinely delivers on the over the top horror, while also maintaining a consistent irreverent tone. It’s like reading a new Evil Dead movie (before they got Serious again) and yeah. It’s a nice, fun, breezy horror comedy that delivers exactly what it promises, which is what you want with a book like this.
Look folks, 'forn we get started: there's gonna be some kindly things I'm about to say here and some less kindly things along with 'em. I don't mean no harm nor offense. Truth be told, it's my review and I'll say what I please, so, well, y'all just gonna have to accept that. And if you don't, well, I'll just have to accept THAT and we'll be square. So on with it as 'they' say…
I am a specter of righteous vengeance. A phantom of cold-blooded monster murder.
Attention kids of all ages: most importantly, I want you to know that I really enjoyed Adam Cagley's "Cyrus Stone: Hunter of Evil". This kind of story - which I'm filing away in my "weird western" folder even though I'm not entirely sure that counts here - has really been the sort I actually go out and look for, ever since I got ahold of the actual print copy of Rhett C. Bruno' and Jaime Castle's "Dead Acre" or what's called now "Black Badge 0.5" [which for some ungodly but no doubt highly profitable reason is now only available on Audible]. Since then, like I said, I've given several similar tomes a try, both with a high dose of western twang to 'em and also more in the direction of 'noir'. In the case of the former, I just find the mix of what I call a beautiful Zane Grey-ish descriptives typically used to give us a gander at sunsets or multi-colored plains along with a delectable dose of urban fantasy right nice like! And dang but them cowboys and girls are just awful darned good at killin' evil beasties, ain't they?
There were two classes of vampires: the Obscenely Rich and Unnecessarily Horny or the Shit Broke and Always Hungry.
In fact, I thought that our introduction to dear Cyrus was handled very well. The book has a really intriquing start that sort of eases us into the frame of mind needed to understand that while this is happening NOW, it's still going to resemble a dyed in the wool horse opera. But thar' ain't no singin' to speak of, I promise (I ain't countin' devil hymns)! All kidding aside, Cagley starts this story off with what I'd call a really cool "gettin' to know you" mini-story, a lot of which I found to be very quotable and deliciously gory. And truth be told (it is on occasion these days) I was instantly sucked into the story. And yes, all possible puns that could apply here are fully intended!
The Church stood between the last few buildings and the cemetery like it was the only guard between the living and the dead.
Our hero - the aforementioned Cyrus Stone - is a snarky kind of a jerk of a person even though I think his background forgives a little bit of what others must find to be a Rick Sanchez-esque utter lack of charm. My impression was definitely that at his core he's a decent person that wants to do what's right - namely protect the innocent, vanquish evil, have a few snootfuls of tequila - but his character makes him be a bit of a, well, dick about it when things start going down. Still, one shouldn't argue with results nor with the placed trust and hopes of those that are in the know. Sure, I've seen more than a few parallels with almost the same characteristicals (sic) out and about. But there's always enough unique aspects with the well-written ones that prevents me from just photocopying these folks in my brain (yes, toner refills are an issue). I guess I'm supposed to mention Harry Dresden at this point but I won't - or I guess better said can't - because I haven't read any of those. Go figure. But Cyrus and his crew - mammalian or testudinal in nature - are keepers and I'd love to get to know them all better.
Have you ever seen a tortoise snarl? It's way more threatening than you'd think.
Overall, the visuals are very strong with just the kind of expressive richness I adore. And that's with confirmation that Gulchy's Gulch is about as effed up as you'd imagine from that moniker. Cagley does a mighty fine job of adding details as the story progresses without interupting the flow of things, even up to the very end of the very end (ad infinitum ad semper fidelis tyrannosaurus). And even with some of the very poop-inducing stuff going on around everyone, there's a very good sense of humor kept flowing as things get hairier, both literally and figuratively. Maybe not funny "ha ha" but "welp, we're all gonna done, might as well laugh a li'l". What I'm tryin' to convey is that in many ways this exactly what I look for in this genre and this book has all that plus a self-produced and what I thought was really neat-o cover to go along with it.
The flock of weresheep stormed the houses, descending on the neighborhood like a swarm of slightly ungraceful and bloodthirsty locust.
Sigh… but now we get to the bits that bothered my bits. Look, I realize not everyone used to work as essentially a technical writer for offices where if things weren't right, things could go boom. And, if that happened, people would go arrrgh and/or just drop over dead and lawyers would drool for days and days and even more millions of dollars. I also realize that I have some pretty high OCD-laced standards when I read a book, be it the 44$ new Stephen King release with 73 full-time editors or a Kindle Unlimited "let's try 'er out!" selection that some programmer wrote mostly at work while he was waiting for his spreadsheet codes to compile. But dang it, for me, the editing has to also be good, even going so far as to say it should match the quality of the story. And here, well, it's not. Just too many wrong words are used and it wasn't just the normal homonym issues (e.g. alter vs. altar). Sadly, there's a ton of grammatical and punctuation errors, too. And me being, well, me, it just constantly distracted me (yes, him again) from enjoying this book as much as I could have. These have got to be cleaned up if and when a book like this is supposed to join its fellows on the pretty-good-selling lists.
I'd say it felt like my entire body was on fire, but I've been on fire before and honestly magically encouraged healing was way worse.
Well, that's all I wanted to say! Good book, great story, but it defo needs a posse of some meaner, more argumentative people to help with the edits. Bottom-line is I still want to see Book 2 sooner rather than later so, um, yay! I guess that means that it's happy trails time, y'all! Let me know if you want me to summon you an… UBER!!! Bet that pulled the ol' sphincter up and in, huh? (That whole process scares the beejeebus out of me tbh… calling an UBER I mean, not the sphincter stuff...)
Cyrus Stone: Hunter of Evil is a horror comedy written by Adam Cagely. This hilarious, action-packed book jumps right into the story with a pack of vampires kidnapping a human in New Orleans as their dinner. Our snarky but courageous hero, Cyrus Stone comes to the rescue with his silver bullets and a stake. But killing vampires in the city is not Cyrus’s only responsibility. He has to regularly fight the evil at his village.
Cyrus hails from a sleepy village in a valley. Called Gulchy’s Gulch. Ignorant of the truth that Cyrus is their protector, the villagers hate him. He has a trusted friend and mentor in Barnaby, the bartender and the owner of the village’s bar, The Blood Moon. Cyrus and Barnaby together save the Gulch and the Gulchers with their knowledge of evil creatures and how to destroy them. A new preacher who calls himself, The Shepherd, spouts doomsday theories to the villagers and urges them to surrender their souls to a god he calls The Father. Cyrus suspects that this preacher is not a normal man and his arrival means bad days to the village. Is Cyrus right and if so what is The Shepherd’s plan for Gulchy’s Gulch and how is Cyrus going to save the village?
Cyrus Stone: Hunter of the Evil is hilarious, terrifying and whimsical. The heart of this book is its protagonist, Cyrus who is snarky, quick-witted and funny. The story is told in the first person from Cyrus’s point of view. His inner monologue makes readers laugh out loud.
I like how perfectly the author has executed the balance between horror and comedy. For example, about halfway through the book, there is a scene with a bunch of weresheep where I was horrified at the gore and was laughing at the comedy at the same time. There were a lot of such instances in the book which makes it unique. I loved the character of Barnaby and how he supports and encourages Cyrus. The character of Charlotte offers a contrast to Cyrus and is interesting. The book has an open end and the author says that there is going to be a sequel.
There is nothing I disliked about the story. But there are several typos in the book that makes me think that this book can use another round of editing. There is a lot of graphic violence and profanity. There are no graphic erotic scenes.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars because I loved the story, the setting and the characters. I recommend it to readers who love horror and humour. I only recommend it to mature readers because of the graphic violence and profanity.
So what do you when you are a former child star..ok child actor, who's performed with the late Meat Loaf, and can make people laugh with their stand up comedy? You become an author!
Seriously, Adam Cagely's debut novel "Cyrus Stone: Hunter of Evil" is fast pace, action-horror-comedy, with likable characters and a great but overused plot, which I do not have a problem with in this book he makes it work.
The gist: A great evil has invaded Cyrus' hometown, and it's up to Cyrus Stone to stop it, if his hometown doesn't kill him first.
The setting of the town is really interesting, Cagley's descriptions provide an imaginative background of it being back in the 1800 while still being set in present day. The interesting monsters, the villain, and the characters are unique and hilarious. There are major questions I have about certain characters which hopefully be answered in a prequel if he so decides.
I highly recommend getting the book because it's fun, fast paced and hilarious.
Cyrus Stone: Hunter of Evil comes out October 13 2023, and I recommend it if you a fan of Horror Comedies, Monster Hunter International, or John Dies at the End.
Well first things first, this book was incredibly refreshing for me. I haven’t found a book that’s been laced with such effortless comedic humor in a while, much less one that’s in this cowboy thriller genre! The players in here are so deeply rooted in the town that it wouldn’t be right to label them as simply side characters. It’s evident Cagley put a lot of thought into what makes Gulchy Gulch a town and what makes it odd and different.
I adore this book! When, I get the time, I’d love to go through it again with a fine tooth comb and annotate it with all my thoughts.
I can’t wait to read the rest in a series, there’s endless possibilities!
Absolutely gripping. Read this in record time, one of the rare times I didn’t anticipate any part of the ending. Given the complex definition of “death” in Stone’s world there was no guarantee he would live! Cagley has a deep and complex knowledge of monster and demon lore so everything feels real. The bond between characters feels real, with no pesky sentimental love story to drag it all day. Maybe later, but not in this debut novel. Looking forward to the next installments and inevitable TV and/or film versions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This book feels incredibly familiar and totally original at the same time! A new take on an old trop, or handful of tropes, told from the perspective of a protagonist who has to learn what it exactly means to be a protagonist. The noir style of storytelling and the Old West elements, as well as some new variations on classic monsters mix with the modern setting to create a fun and fresh read.
I recently had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of this book! I wasn’t really sure what to expect going in but I have to say, it was so much fun. The inspiration from Sam Raimi and Stephen King are apparent on every page. The characters and plot are well crafted while managing to pack in as many laughs as there are scares. Adam’s passion for monsters, gore and snarky anti-heroes will definitely satisfy fans of all three and then some!