Screechers by Kevin J. Kennedy & Christina Bergling – Review

Screechers by Kevin j. Kennedy & Christina Bergling

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

In a post-apocalyptic world, where there are virtually no human beings left, mutated monsters roam free. The new world is now inhabited by merciless, furless Apoc-wolves, abominable, giant crab-scorpion hybrids, and many more nameless predators.

One of such monsters is the screecher, a massive beast evolved to kill and survive. One screecher, after losing its family, decides to get out of the abandoned city and explore the areas beyond. Its surviving nephew also opts to tag along with it, albeit at a distance.

On the other hand, a trio of human survivors flees their burnt-down community in search of greener pastures. These two stories collide in a surprisingly tender manner in Screechers, a post-apocalyptic novella by Kevin Kennedy and Christina Bergling.

In a short span of seventy-six pages, this novella packs a punch with vividly descriptive action scenes, atmospheric and emotive writing.

Not a single page is bereft of action – the characters are either walking, running, killing, or protecting themselves. One wrong step, one moment of carelessness is enough to kill you. This keeps the humans—and the screechers—on tenterhooks resulting in a nail-biting, suspenseful read.

Although nothing is explained about the events that caused the apocalypse on Earth and turned it into the barren land, making humans a scarcity, it does not diminish the reading experience. Kennedy and Bergling make the fights between the predators engaging enough to not warrant questions about the past. The present is all that matters in this novella.

Even more astonishing than the fight scenes is the description of the emotions of the humans, screechers, and wolves in this brief span. Friendship, brotherhood, community, kinship – nothing is left untouched by Kennedy and Bergling, and neither was I untouched by any of these.

However, the most important message that came through was love knows no bounds and recognizes no form. To say more would give away spoilers. The eventful journey of the humans and the screechers resulted in a rewarding reading experience for me.

If you want an action-packed, suspenseful, entertaining, savage post-apocalyptic novella to blow away your mind—and your guts—pick up Screechers. Not recommended for people below eighteen-years-old.

P.S.: There are some beautiful hand-drawn illustrations of the screechers waiting for you at the end of the book.

Get the book on Amazon.

The author provided me a digital copy of his book. I opted to provide an honest review.

LET’S CHAT

What science-fiction/dystopian/post-apocalyptic novellas have you read recently that you liked very much?