As The Blade Cuts – (2016) – Book Review

Come closer!  Come closer!  I have a book for you!  Come closer!  Come closer!  It’s filled with horror poetry too!  It’s brutal and ghastly, reader beware.  If you are easily offended, open if you dare.  As The Blade Cuts is not for the faint of heart.  However, it will be hard to put down once you start.  Each page puts the reader in a state of unease.  It’s certainly not hard to find a horror fan to please.  So, get ready now to hear me spew.  Have a look below at my five-star review!

Written by Eric Kapitan, As The Blade Cuts is a collection of some seriously messed up horror poems.  You know what, though, they are fucking awesome.  Behind each poem lies a deeper story that will have you question your own sanity about what exactly it is that you are reading.  A few of the poems are titled Whore Killin’, Hunger and Sex, and Food For The Maggots.  Intrigued yet?  You should be.

I would be lying if I told you I didn’t feel dirty for reading this book.  However, it is so well written and thought-provoking that my analytical mind was let out to breathe.  The poems are relatively short, but I could not wait to get to the morbid conclusion of each.  Yes, these poems are disturbing. Yes, these poems are gruesome.  No, these poems are not Walt Disney approved.

“The Officer watches them enter the chamber.  Looking at their dirty sad faces.  Seeing the tears in their eyes, the suffering on their faces.  He enjoys it.” (The Officer)

Even though each poem is deranged in its own way, there were touches of humor here and there.  It was nice to have a tad of comic relief with the content of the book.  I’m also glad the humor was kept to a minimum.  I love funny horror just as much as the next person, but sometimes too much comedy can cloud the darkness a horror writer is trying to convey.  Unless, that is the intention all along.

I very rarely give a book five stars and I believe this is the third one this year to make the cut.  Thank you, Eric Kapitan, for creating an original novel that I will not forget anytime soon.  As for my horror reader clan, be sure to check this one out.  It is a short read but extremely impactful. If you would like the opportunity to read this, you can buy it via kindle or paperback on amazon. As The Blade Cuts also made me realize something.  I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it