Jamie Hallow and the End of the World by A.V. Wilkes

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C4C5ZPG4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cemetery Gates Media; 1st edition (11 July 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled

A Horror Book Review by Jim Mcleod

Jamie Hallow and the End of the World is the latest novella from A.V. Wilkes (Ally Wilkes), fresh from the success of their excellent Antartic-based horror novel All the White Spaces, Wilkes turns their eyes to the post-apocalyptic world with this novella from Cemetery Gates Media.

Mixing a post-apocalyptic world with Lovecraftian nightmares and powerful characters, Jamie Hallow and The End of the World expertly bridges the Teen horror and adult horror genres. While never overtly horrific or gory, Wilkes has created a novella that manages to be entertaining to both younger audiences and the more mature/experienced horror fan. Much of the novellas’ success comes from Wilkes’ rich and powerful descriptive passages of the ruined world and the horrors that it contains. The ruined wasteland is laid bare with a deft eye for detail, rotting trees, crumbling buildings and the sense of death and decay in the nuclear wasteland of the novella come to life in all its radioactive glory.

However, it is when the Lovecraftian elements are introduced that this novella really comes into its own. Many Lovecraftian stories fail in their ability to induce a true sense of otherworldliness and the insignificance of humanity. This is not the case here from the terrifying descriptive passages of the Shoggoths. To the simple yet totally effective passage that details the awakening of one of the Elder Gods. Wilkes ensures that we the readers are fully aware that this is cosmic horror at its finest. It has been a very long time since I last read a story that truly feels Lovecraftian in its scope.

Considering that this is a 100-odd-page novella, the level of world-building that is packed into is staggering. The politics and social make-up of The Legion, humanity’s last stand against the eldrich nightmares, is fully envisioned, and totally believable. We are left with no doubt that these are the bad guys and life in the bunker for anyone with any morals is not going to be an easy ride. “Schoolyard Bullies” authoritarian overlords and even more shady research and development scientists all combine to create a rich, powerful backdrop against which to hang the compelling narrative. And even though we know The Legion are the bad guys, when their endgame is revealed you will be left reeling at the utterly horrific nature of it.

This is Jamie Hallow’s story, a reluctant teenage hero, which sounds all cliched. However, Wilkes’ sense of charterer and more importantly character development, ensure that we aren’t just reading tey another teenage hero. The hero’s journey that Jamie takes is logical, believable and more importantly interesting to the reader. Jamie doesn’t really have many talents or skills, which is refreshing for this type of story. Thankfully Wilkes doesn’t go the “Buffy” route and make Jamie a sort of superhero. Everything he does and achieves is through the determination of his personality rather than some gift given to him. Even when some of the characters have magical powers, Jamie is just Jamie.

When you consider the amount of world-building and character-building in Jamie and the End of the World, you might be concerned about the level of the narrative drive here. But never fear, the actual story of Jamie, is spellbinding. Wilkes has her foot hard to the floor and drives this story home like a literary rocket. Dropping reveals, and twists are the most perfect of moments. With an ending that is just perfect for the story that precedes it, this is a hell of a read. My only wish is that Wilkes returns to this world and expands on its history, Jamie’s story isn’t finished, and I want more!!!

Jamie Hallow and the End of the World by A.V. Wilkes

Jamie Hallow is an Unbeliever…

For thousands of years, the Legion protected humanity from eldritch terrors. But when the nukes dropped, the balance was broken. The Legion retreated underground, ceding the surface to radioactive fall-out, surface scavengers, and things from Outside.

Several years since the war’s end, queer teenage misfit Jamie Hallow – Legion born and raised – finds the bunker’s theocracy stifling. His ex-boyfriend has pledged allegiance to the secretive Taskforce, running missions into the hot zone of the crumbling city.

And when Jamie learns just what his ancient cult is prepared to do to ‘save’ humanity, he must choose where his loyalties lie.

A novella from A.V. Wilkes — HP Lovecraft meets Mean Girls by way of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

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