Well, I promised it, so here's my review of Edward Lee's novel Coven.

In case you read this shitty excuse for a blog, you probably read my review of Lee's The Bighead and most likely didn't care. Well, it's my blog, so hey...

Anywho, Coven is a different beast than Bighead...for the most part. Sure, there's the requisite gore and sex (it's actually gorier than Bighead), as well as rednecks (who aren't psychopathic rapists this time) dark humor, and gross out moments. Unlike Bighead, there are few if any scatalogical moments, and it's much pulpier, and less interested in grossing the reader out, than Bighead.

The story deals with Wade St. John, a rich, arrogant college fuck-up who's doing bad in school. So his dad, fed up with this shit, decides to have Wade take summer coarses, and take a job as a toilet scrubber. While this damages Wades rep, he still has his buddies-Tom, a rich Republican who has a thing for really bad jokes, and Jervis (my favorite character), a philosophy fan who's been suicidal and crying rivers since his girlfriend dumped him for a body building German nazi. Oh, and the new campus police officer, a sexy girl named Lydia.

Meanwhile, somethings a miss (of course) in this university. Seems like someone with a huge axe has been killing people and abducting women. Oh, and there's some strange women in black, who giggle eat organs. It all involves aliens...

...that's right, aliens. You see, in spite of it's title, Coven is actually a sci-fi/horror story. And it's disgusting and great. There's tons of gore, plenty of sex, alien monstrosities having their way with nubile collge babes (including a scene with a man-sized cockroach-yes, you read that right), some great comedic moments, nearly unstoppable zombies, people being sliced in half, and much, much more.

So, is it good? Yes, in fact, I loved this book. Sure, theres some cliches (Wade's relationship with Lydia is a bit convenient, and some of the dialogue is a bit cliched), but this is a blast, and the best book from Lee I've read yet. The characters are great (Jervis in particular, is a laugh riot), some nice music selections (Sixousie and the Banshees? Brian Eno? Right on...), a wonderfully gallows sense of humor, gratuitous sex (hell, this whole book is gratuitious), some excellent gore, zombies, aliens, conspiracies...hell, this about has it all, and I loved it. It's a grat piece of pulp-horror that I couldn't put down.

Rating: 9/10

You can get the book here.