Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Grendel
AUTHOR: G.P. Keith
PUBLISHER: MLR Press
LENGTH: 144 pages
BLURB:
Ken, while walking his dog on Halloween night, discovers and unearths a fifteen foot troll in a neighbor’s front yard. This is Grendel, who has come up from the underworld, he says, to look around. Entranced by the troll’s magnificent physique and surprisingly gentle nature, Ken befriends him and takes him home. But the pair soon discovers they are at odds with the forces of law and order, and must fight not only for their relationship, but eventually for their very lives. During this struggle Ken discovers more about his own dark passions than he ever guessed existed.
REVIEW:
Out walking his dog, Jake, Ken stumbles onto something that will change his life forever: the head of troll. Which, with it being Halloween, shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Except the head is, well, breathing. And attached to a body. When Ken digs up the body, and Grendel emerges, fully (and I do mean fully) formed, Ken does what any normal guy would do: ask him home for some coffee. Little does he know that Grendel is after a lot more than just a quick drink, or that Ken will be more than happy to supply whatever it is that Grendel wants.
I’ve only read one other story by G.P. Keith, and I have to say…vastly different books. Not so much in terms of writing style, but in content. One was a sweet short story, and this one was about what happens when a dude falls in love with a troll(‘s giant dick). I don’t know if I was really prepared for that difference.
And yet at the end of the story I found myself oddly entranced by the tale of Ken and Grendel. And very weirdly turned on, during it.
I honestly don’t know what that says about me.
There is a lot of dick in this story, a lot of giant troll dick. And making love in highly improbable situations and positions. There are threesomes and more. There is very magical jizz. There is a lot in this story that I normally wouldn’t really go for…and yet.
Like I said, very weirdly turned on.
One of the things I noticed about this author before is the ability to make situations that seem foreign to the characters and yet also feel so right. After I got over the fact that I was reading about a dude riding a troll’s dick like it was a fire-poll, and just gave myself to the story, it was kinda fun. In a weird way.
Weird seems to be the word of the day with this review, and I think maybe that is fitting. Weird, and odd, and fun, and good. It is well worth a read when you are wanting something with lots of sex and a little strange feel to it. Which, oddly enough, I was.
This book is probably closer to 3.75, than 3.5, but I kinda downgraded because I had such a hard time getting into it at first. But I still do recommend you read it. It would probably be great around Halloween when you start craving things other-worldly.
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
Just wanted to thank Carissa for her kind words about this, my first attempt at a long novella. Fantasy is my preferred genre, and her positive review helps encourage me in my other such projects. And, as for her feeling “very weirdly turned on” by Grendel — hey, I’ll take that as something positive. Weird is good in my books — very good.