David Elias Jenkins

Review Originally Posted At: FictionForesight

In accordance with current FTC Guidelines, please let it be known this book was received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Feral is an accounting of an elite and clandestine unit of the UK’s Special Forces, called Empire One. Like the rest of UKSF, Major Thom Usher and his team deal in reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, hostage situations, etc. What sets them apart is their specific enemy, as covert as Special Task Group (STG) Empire One themselves, an organization with footholds in anti-government operations around the globe: The Unseelie Court. “Fairies?” I hear you say. “The most dangerous military regiment in the UK fights fairies?” In short, yes. But in long – not at all. This is not a fairy tale, it is a horror story. These Fae are twisted, nefarious, and beastly. They have spent centuries coming through “thin spots” between our realm and theirs, snarling their malevolent fingers into the threads of human history, trying to grab hold. And they are finally succeeding. Only Usher’s ragged, battle-hardened group of soldiers will be able to stop them.

We follow Empire One and their associates through heart-pounding battles, underworld ring fights, espionage, and hair-raising encounters with the Other Side’s worst denizens. Jenkins demonstrates a firm grip on the craft of storytelling as the pace of the book rarely slows. There is very little time for character back story, yet he sneaks enough in for us to grow attached to our STG protagonists. Each character is their own fleshy person, with motivations and characteristics that aren’t taken from a list of tropes. It is for this reason that when our heroes get into trouble, their adrenaline courses through our veins. We feel their horror as they watch lackeys get torn limb from limb and can nearly smell the viscera. Consequences have clout, and when a protagonist gets backed into a corner we genuinely fear for them. The villains are a little bit more predictable – surly Russian mob boss, immortal ghoul mastermind – but they are compelling. They are few enough and motivated enough to stand out in the imagination. Not a single character is forgettable.

What’s most impressive is the delicate line the author treads between reality as we know it and the dark shadows filled with Unseelie creatures. Empire One inhabits a world of combat tactics and ballistics science, their defenses against their magical enemies are wholly real to us. Their London, their desert and Arctic, their Earth are the same as ours. When creatures from another realm are thrust into the story it would be so easy to create a disconnect, to stop believing. But every time something impossible happens – a djinn surrounds a fighter in fiery sand, or ghoul unhinges his jaw, or we come across a portal to a fairy town – we are given in the same breath something visceral and real to bring us back. Muzzle flash. The texture of bones grinding together. The sound of glass shattering. Something in the structure of the narrative combines the two worlds, allowing us to suspend disbelief almost effortlessly.

The largest detractor from the story seems to be a lack of quality editing. There are numerous typos in the text, and having to reread a sentence to understand its meaning kills the immersion instantly. There are places where the story seems to really drag, typically during a meeting, exchange of information, or for an internal monologue. Many of these passages had redundant, inefficient language that a good editor would have cut without hesitation. I suspect the book might have been several pages shorter had the author had the luxury of having an editor. Unfortunately, such is the face of the independent publishing business, and all things considered the reader does not suffer unduly for these shortcomings.

One other thing I must mention is that this book doesn’t pull punches and won’t appeal to everyone. If military subjects do not appeal to you, maybe look for a quick read somewhere else. If you can’t handle excessive gore, don’t even bother. Jenkins seems to have no pretensions about trying to deliver a philosophical or diverse worldview. The Feral is what it is: an adrenaline-filled, messy, gritty twist on the old tales of the Nether Realm. It is inventive, well-crafted, and engrossing. It’s a shame there isn’t a physical copy, because this is a book I would lend out to friends – they’d just have to be a specific kind of friend.

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