A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I hardly know what I just read. Yikes.
A Black and Endless Sky is an intense, bloody, gory, fight-filled, phantasmagoria-laced story following an estranged brother and sister as they battle their way home.
This story actually kicks off with some unnamed workers digging in a cave system in the desert of the Western U.S., where they uncover something monumental.
We, as Horror Lovers, know that nothing good ever began with that circumstance. Y’all know, something terrible is about to be unleashed.
Then we get to meet estranged siblings, Jonah and Nell. The pair, once thick as thieves, have lost contact over the past twelve years, much to Nell’s chagrin.
Nell feels abandoned by her brother, who, as she sees it, left their hometown of Albuquerque as quick as he could to run off and get married; leaving her in the dust.
Jonah, who may in fact be running from things, is a different person than he used to be. At least he is trying to be and he’s sick of Nell trying to put him into the box of his past self.
Now as Jonah’s marriage comes to an end, he feels sort of forced to return to Albuquerque. He also agrees to make the road trip home with his sister.
As the journey begins the siblings are butting heads. Jonah is exhausted, he can’t believe his sister is making this, the hardest day of his life more difficult.
At that early stage, Jonah has absolutely no idea how difficult this journey will actually become.
The siblings end up having an interaction with the cave system mentioned-above and as I am sure all of you may have predicted, it doesn’t end well.
Even though they both make it out alive and continue on their journey, Nell is not the same. It’s like she brought something back with her out of the dark depths of that cave.
This story is absolutely wild and so violent. Jonah and Nell end up facing forces from this world and beyond, all seemingly hellbent on their destruction.
The siblings, who used to fight together so well, are forced to return to those earlier roles, kicking butts the entire way.
There’s a lot going on in this story and I was never bored; not for one second. I am a huge fan of road trip stories and this one definitely delivered that aspect very well.
With this story, Lyons delivered a very Adult-version of What We Buried, mixed with elements of Desperation and the last little bit of Revival. It might not be Tak, but it sure as hell could be a distant cousin…((if you know, you know)).
I don’t read a ton of Horror Thrillers, but comparing this to the few I have read, I think A Black and Endless Sky really holds its own.
I can’t honestly say that I understand everything that was going on here, but I liked being given the opportunity to try and figure it out. It was super fast-paced and I really enjoyed the audiobook.
Thank you to the publisher, Dreamscape Media, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
This is the second book I have enjoyed from Matthew Lyons. My taste meshes well with his style of storytelling and I look forward to going on another adventure of his making in the future!
