 Hello everybody, E here. Welcome back to another book review today. I'm going to call this a retro book review. I'm going to put this with my retro book review series because I read this before ages ago and I just decided to jump back into it because I found a copy super cheap at a second in Charles. But today we're talking about Ravenous by Ray Garton. Right up front I've been a longtime fan of Ray Garton ever since he was he was publishing with Leisure Press and I have the majority of his books. I still need to find the sequel to this one Beastial and Nightlife. I remember it being one of the good vampire books that I've read but I'd have to not Nightlife, Live Girls. I'd have to reread it again but I have both of them. I have Live Girls and I have Nightlife. Ray is a very stripped down. He's almost Richard Layman but with a little more I wouldn't say I don't know literary flair. He goes a little deeper into his descriptions and his the thoughts of his characters and things like that and while there is a ton of sex in this book and rape. Ton of sex and rape. So it's going to get it's going to get compared to Layman just just because it has a ton of sex and rape in it. But we're going to get to why the rape is purposeful. That's important. The rape in Layman's books tend to be just you know just thrown in there because it's disturbing. The this one it's more it's more it's less stripped down than Richard Layman's. It doesn't read quite as quick but it does read as quick as let's say a Bentley Little. There's far more I don't want to say it's bricks of text but there's far more big paragraphs and there are smaller paragraphs and with a Layman's story you're going to get much more quick punchy sentences and paragraphs than you are in this one. I said all that to say this. I enjoy rape stuff. I still to this day enjoy rape stuff whereas I don't really care too much for Layman's anymore. In this one the rape is purposeful because the this is a slight spoiler. So if you don't want any spoilers at all maybe scrub ahead 30 seconds. So spoilers in three two one the werewolf thing in here isn't it the virus is not spread with bites it's spread with sex. So there's there's loads and loads of rape. It just has to be done for this story to work. But the okay that's the end of the spoilers. Let's just jump back into the review. This one I won't say I had a lot of fun with it. It was very dark very disturbing. Ray Garten gives zero fucks about who he kills and how terribly they die. I've always appreciated that about Ray's stuff. Really really good deaths and Mamies and Gore and all that stuff and there's purpose behind the violence. Especially the end of this book this book ends perfectly. It has one of it has a perfect horror ending. Now I did struggle getting through this book and I don't know why. It took me over a month to read. Not actually it took me almost a month. I started it on the 1st of October. I think I ended it on the 24th. I'm not sure. But the the book it there's action and stuff like that but it it felt very familiar to me and I never wanted to pick it back up again and that's probably because I read it before. Now I was thinking as I was going through what did I love about this book the first time that I read it because I didn't remember any of this stuff. I didn't even remember that the sex side of it. I don't want to say this before there again but the I didn't remember any of that and even though the majority of the sex was horrific I didn't care too much for those scenes. The older I get the less I care to read about rape or sexual deviance or stuff anything like that. But the I don't know there was just something that made me think why did I love this so much? And then I got to the last 50 pages and I'm like that's why I love this so much when I was younger. Now I'm only going to give it four times four stars this time because the beginning of the book is good the ending of the book is good but that middle section not that it drags but this what this book would have really really shone shown whatever shined whatever um the this book would have been much better as a novella I think that's my that's my only criticism that certain parts go on too long there are some uh some inner thoughts that don't gel with the characters I think there are some forced uh forced things for the plot to happen um but that's just that's just my opinion uh you may disagree but that's that's all I really have for this one um I I did enjoy it um especially the ending the ending makes up for any other problems that I might have had because I love endings like this I didn't expect it even though I read it before I completely forgot I love it when that happens when I can go back and reread an old favorite and it still be good and still be surprised like I was the first time at least I might have been surprised but this is one of those endings that if you've read the Edward Lorne books um the books I've written underneath this pen name um if you've read those I think this is one of those books that pushed me toward what that author is known for that work is known for um the that those types of endings but have you read Ravinous by Ray Garton if you have please let me know whether or not you loved it liked it hated it um if you did love it or hate it let me know why down there in the doodly doo so we can have a discussion but until next time I have any you've been you this has been another book review I'll talk to you guys later bye