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Erica Robyn Reads

a horror book review blog

[Book Review] The Nightmarchers by J. Lincoln Fenn

October 18, 2018      Erica Robyn      16 Comments

Book Review of The Nightmarchers by J. Lincoln Fenn

The Nightmarchers by J. Lincoln Fenn was a totally nerve-wracking tale. While reading, you won’t be able to guess what happens next.

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

Let’s dive in to my review!

My Thoughts on The Nightmarchers by J. Lincoln Fenn 

At the start of the book, we see a series of letters from Irene Greer, a botanical researcher that had traveled to a remote island in the Pacific. Things start out fine, but a bit tense. But soon we see Irene begin to act strange. Next we learn that Irene has fallen down a waterfall to her death. In her letters she had been convinced that the spirits of her dead husband and daughter had joined the night marchers, which were the ghosts of ancient warriors that rise from their burial sites on moonless nights and wander the island.

Then we jump to the present and meet Irene’s descendant, Julia Greer, who is recovering from a nasty divorce. Her previous life and daughter had been suddenly taken away from her, and now she is barely able to make rent and she has no electricity because she hasn’t paid that bill for awhile. When her elderly great-aunt (sister of Irene) offers Julia an outrageously large sum of money to travel to the remote island and collect samples of a flower and bring back Irene’s remains, Julia can’t turn it down. But while traveling to the island, she learns that there was a lot that her great-aunt had kept from her, and it only gets worse as her trip continues. Soon, Julia doesn’t know who to trust and she begins to lose her grip on reality….

While reading, I really felt horrible for Julia when we first met her. Not just because she was going through the divorce and losing everything that she had once had, but because watching her try to keep up the façade of the rich when she met with her great-aunt was so heartbreaking. This was her family, and she felt that she needed to play the meeting like a game. This made me wish we could have gotten to know more about Julia before she met her ex-husband… 

After the meeting with her great-aunt, I was so interested to see what was going to happen! While Julia was traveling, I started to feel super anxious and that feeling didn’t let up until the last page. I was so intrigued by the overall mystery; I couldn’t wait to start getting answers. Especially when things started to get really strange!

I really enjoyed the characters, even though, just like the main character, I could never really decide who to trust.

Unfortunately, that’s all I can say there without totally spoiling things!

There was one bit of the book that totally gave me The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon vibes! Julia went wandering into the jungle. Though she was warned not to touch many of the plants that she may encounter, one second of frustration put her in quite a scary situation! She had already been having trouble with keeping a grip on reality, and then she kicked a plant that snapped and oozed a sap that smelled funny and made Julia very lightheaded. Things suddenly weren’t looking good; she was about to black out, couldn’t stand up, her eyes were swollen, and she was having trouble breathing. And to make things worse, she had fallen into a bog that was full of twig-like leeches… I read this scene twice because it was so horrifying! I loved it!

I was SO into this book up until the very last few chapters. Unfortunately, it then took a turn that totally threw me… Perhaps I missed something.

My Favorite Passages from The Nightmarchers

She doesn’t notice the letter at first. Buried in the pile of mail threatening to become a paper avalanche, it takes her a good minute to pull all of it out of her mailbox, which resists her mightily, like there’s something on the other side trying to pull her in.

Nothing poisons quite so well as rejection.

The thing that hides itself in plain sight, that’s always the thing you have to watch out for.

Something inside Julia tears a little. Her soul maybe.

The greatest lie we ever tell our children is that we can protect them. The truth is, the world has teeth, and people are ferocious creates, and yes, half the world is trying to eat the other half. The truth is, there are witches in the woods with houses made of candy, who entice you inside with promises of cake, but have a dark purpose.

My Final Thoughts on The Nightmarchers

This was quite the read! The lore behind the Nightmarchers is so chilling.

If you give this book a read, I would LOVE to discuss it!


Snag a copy using my Amazon Affiliate link or inquire at your local indie:

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shooting Stars Mag says

    October 18, 2018 at 11:39 am

    Sorry the ending threw you off, but this sounds like such an intriguing read!

    -Lauren
    http://www.shootingstarsmag.net

    Reply
    • Erica Metcalf says

      October 18, 2018 at 8:44 pm

      It definitely was! My god, the first 95% of the book was INSANE!

      Reply
  2. Zoe O'Farrell says

    October 18, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    Ooh this does sound good! I love anything spookified! x

    Reply
    • Erica Metcalf says

      October 18, 2018 at 8:44 pm

      😀

      Reply
  3. Sarah Nowicki says

    October 18, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    Sorry for the odd ending. It did sound interesting up until that point. We've all been there. Better luck on your next read.

    Reply
    • Erica Metcalf says

      October 18, 2018 at 8:45 pm

      Yeah… maybe someday I'll go back and re-read to see if I missed something. Thank you! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Jenny says

    October 18, 2018 at 4:33 pm

    I love the title of this one. It’s creepy enough on its own. The story sounds creepy but I’m sorry to hear it ended weird.

    Reply
    • Erica Metcalf says

      October 18, 2018 at 8:45 pm

      Right?! I just learned today that the nightmarchers are actually a known ghost story in Hawaii!! That certainly makes the read more interesting!

      Reply
  5. Barb says

    October 18, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    So I didn't read the spoiler because I have this book too. It sounds like the MC is an unreliable narrator and 90% of the time (really most of the time except for two books I read this month – go figure) those books drive me crazy. Yet your review does have me curious and now I want to dive in so I can see about this ending! Great review Erica!

    Reply
    • Erica Metcalf says

      October 18, 2018 at 8:46 pm

      I cannot wait to see what you think! I hope you have better luck with the ending. I'd love to hear your thoughts on if I just m missed something!! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Angela Lawrence says

    October 19, 2018 at 12:05 am

    This actually sounds really good – too bad it went off the rails!

    Reply
    • Erica Metcalf says

      October 20, 2018 at 12:20 am

      Yeah!! I'm really wondering if I just missed something…

      Reply
  7. chucklesthescot says

    October 19, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    Nice review Erica!

    Reply
    • Erica Metcalf says

      October 20, 2018 at 12:20 am

      Thank you! 🙂

      Reply
  8. Lauren Stoolfire says

    October 20, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I might have to add this to my tbr!

    Reply
    • Erica Metcalf says

      October 21, 2018 at 12:34 am

      I'd love to see what you think!

      Reply

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Erica Robyn of Erica Robyn Reads
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