A book that starts with a high shock value, suspense, thriller, urgency and flashes of insanity as the reader is thrown head-first – and without warning – into the claws of evil creatures commanded by a belic entity that exists to make suffer and to torture. YEAP! Welcome to Haxfuri by Neil Hemfrey.
Twisted damned characters are the rule here, and madness is the normal, which, I admit, takes a while to adjust to, but what that does is making this book gripping due to the curiosity created in us. I mean, there’s a whole new language, as if so to speak, to get around to, and that makes this book even more special.
The narrative is something that will make you go: “Oh, wow” due to its, at times, melodic nature. No. It’s not melodic in the sense of this being a poetry book or sounding like one, but, there are lines that are so well constructed, so well thought out, that create an atmosphere that makes the imagery poetic.
” No birds, no squirrels, no insects, and not even the wind stirred the beginnings of a sound.”
Given that you are reading this review, and later will read the book, it’s our duty to warn you that, you will want to hold down your stomach for this one. It’s sickeningly brutal and… raw. If madness had a description, Neil Hemfrey’s words would be the gold standard. This is… chaos set free, moral murdered and its body burn to ashes. Don’t expect anything of the light here. You have been warned.
A virus-like plague, a twisted religion born to please the “saints”, a world that walks deeper and deeper into the swamp of insanity and cruelty, and the only one that can save it, apparently cannot kill his enemies that threaten existence itself, oh the dilemma. It makes you put your hands on your head in despair and bite your lips in anticipation for that sure to come plot twist, because it HAS TO HAVE ONE, or else this is set to be doomed, hahahahaha.
Haxfuri, the book, is something totally different from what you will find from a big publisher, heck, you will NEVER read something as crude as Haxfuri from a publisher that you can think of. This is different, this is undeterred writing right here. You can feel the pain in the characters’ actions and choices, as they are literally between the sword of insanity and unreserved rage through despair, but they HAVE to keep their sanity and composure in order not to touch one or the other. This is something else right here.
I think Neil wanted us to think of the expression “The greater good”, is it’s thrown around quite often and with a distorted feeling of it.
There are two intermingled insanities in this book, three, even. One is the Malignant’s and it’s creatures insanity. The second is the faith’s of the realms, knights and royals, as they seem to think that they are the good ones (and everyone else is evil), as they portrait barbaric acts, many times unfounded in logic and reason, that they justify as being for the greater good. Which makes you ask, as the reader: of what? Of whom? This, brings the third insanity, that seems like an amalgam of the two, sprinkled by religious and political motives, in order to seek power and satisfy lust. It’s something that as you read, you become “aware of” instead of the author telling you outright, and this makes you, as the reader ask yourself: who is right in this mess?! To which the answer is just: keep on reading to find out.
There is the witch-hunt logic and the retarded thinking of deduction and induction in order to justify the unjustifiable madness of one’s acts, which may seem kept in the dark ages, but as you read further and further, you realize that it’s still present to this day to a scary amount in many people, sometimes even in you and me.
Although Haxfuri is a grimdark fantasy, (with a special empashis on the dark part), mystery lovers will find many things to be enticed with in this book. As the author proposes many puzzles to the plot, starting with these masks that are given to different people, most of them evil, or linked to evil (or so appearing to be the case), by an undefined, untraced and unknown party in common, and, even more mysteriously, without apparent reason? Are they a symbol of evil? Madness? Good? Salvation? Do they have powers to be used? Will they make you insane? Are they magical, or merely a symbol? No clues are given to these questions for a long time, but soon enough we will find the answer.
The other mystery is: WHY is everyone wanting to kill Haxfuri? We mean, there is clearly that event of him saving the Mayva, (and the Sol-sik curse that seemed to become true), but still… Why is everyone against him? That makes you scratch your head a bit in trying to understand the real reason behind this hatred, specially when the kingdoms have, apparently, a common enemy, this plague that is running rampant and has no apparent cure. Hmmmm…. Interesting!
Neil Hemfrey pulls a cracker in this book Haxfuri. He inverts right and wrong, makes the absurd (yet taken as norm by society today) and slams the gas pedal on it, in such a deep, sarcastic (yet grim), and blunt way that one can only read in awe, horror and dismay and say: “what the fuck is wrong with these people” and then get hit in the head with the realization of what we ignore in our day to day lives and deem as normal, allowing it to happen. I will not reveal to you in which aspects he did it, but once you see it, you will realize how twisted we, as a society have become, and how delusional and cruel we are, so grab a copy. This is a red pill.
Delusion is standard, mistreat, arrogance, madness, lust and injustice the norm, treated as their counterparts to justify them and their perpetrators. Paranoia and mischief the breath of the living and ruling.
Neil explored all the points of views of the “female vs male” argument in this book, and booooooooooooy, it will leave you re-thinking life decisions and see how much society is fucked up.
When it comes to characters, and the dynamics between them, easily the most enjoyable dynamic between characters is between Kolgrim and Hakon, that feels like a father/mentor-son relationship, were Hakon is self-loathing for his failures and Kolgrim is the constant slap in the back of the head and kick in the butt that keeps him in sanity and reality from his distorted views in an affectionate way, although at times requires a wip to do so, but… yeah this relationship is VERY cool, and once you see and understand what Hakon has gone through and has to deal with, you will see how important and necessary Kolgrim is, but also understand why Hakon feels the way he feels. It’s as if he was born to do some divine task, to be the last tether to sanity, hope and justice in this mad twisted world, so you can see how hard and heavy it is on him. Poor Hakon. Really. Imagine being a man that wants peace and spread hope, but being possessed by the most aggressive and warlike creature in the universe, that fuels every inch of your being with massive amounts of rage and combat reflexes. Does he really have a choice in this?
Talking about great interactions, possibly one of the coolest, most twisted, intriguing and unavoidable of them between is the Sol siblings, the “villains” and Hakon. Oh dear lord, there is soooo much to explore there that it’s impossible to tell you on a review, hahahahahah. The Sol Siblings are just lovable hateful villains, and you can see how much time and dedication Neil put to these characters, because their details are incredible. They are horrifyingly cruel villains, don’t get me wrong, but they are not “bad” per se. Confusing? Once you read Haxfuri you will agree.
Ok, here goes something that will sound REEEEEAAAL crazy, so read this carefully: although this book has MANY scenes of rape, (and this is the crazy part) Haxfuri, the book, is actually pro-women and anti-misogyny , specially religion driven. (I told you it would sound crazy).
And then you will be asking yourself, once again, (after you read 300+ pages and think: “oh I got this figured out”) : Who is the villain after all?! Because damn, this is getting twisted here, and the bad guys are surely making some sense and looking like the saviours of all of this insane ungodly mess.
It’s interesting, the choice-plots that Haxfuri, the book, has, between friends turning enemies and then friends again, as if to “pose” due to circumstance in order to follow a greater plan, and family members competing for power and even allowing harm to keep it in this “unmorally correct” world of realms, and kingdoms that seem to rule by their own delusional beliefs. No paragraph can be missed in order to fully grasp the tight, taut and complex dynamics involved in this story of war, disease, “faith” and insanity. Excellent stuff from Neil!
Haxfuri is a serious challenge to men in the padronized ways of seeing women and their own brutality towards them. Neil Hemfrey SHOVED hard-truths to our faces and every man that has the balls to read this book will afterwards take a SERIOUSLY deep look into his own existence, IF that man is sane enough to do such exercise. Brutal! Necessary! Needed! Masterfully crafted and impossible to ignore. Haxfuri is the book all men with balls need to read; hard to digest and impossible to forget. Stark!
Cons:
- It takes you around 5 pages of reading to get your mind around some terms and the atmosphere.
Pros:
- Unapologetic & politically incorrect story, plot and narrative
- Neil pulls no punches whatsoever
- Incredible plot twists
- Flawless narrative that throws you to the pit of the story
- Excellent scenery and dynamics of realms and worlds
- Brutal fight scenes & gruesome deaths
- Excellent villains
- Excellent characters & dynamics between them
- Great back-stories that explain a lot and clears things up
- Jaw-dropping finale
Scribble's Worth 