Satania

by Fabien Vehlmann

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Satania from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This story is a bit of a blend between Darwin’s theory of evolution (on crack) and the Divine Comedy. I think the author was hoping to aim more for the former, but I didn’t feel it quite so much.
Charlotte (aka Charlie) has gone off on a crazy adventure in an attempt to find and rescue her missing brother. Unfortunately for her and the team that accompany her, this is anything other than an ordinary rescue mission. Things rapidly take a turn for the worse, followed by the unbelievable, and finally the unthinkable.
Charlotte’s brother believed in hell, and how it was connected to Earth through tunnels like the one he was researching in. Somehow his theory also connected back to Darwin’s theories, but I’ll admit I had trouble seeing that bit. Regardless, this belief ended up engulfing nearly a dozen people in its mystery.
This was an interesting tale, to say the least. It raises questions of perception and sanity – did the rescue team see any of what we were shown, or was it all a dream; something that their freezing brains came up with in their last minutes of life?
The concept of hell is not a new one, but I really do appreciate seeing new interpretations and twists on it. I’ve certainly never heard of a story that had both hell and evolution in its description before this one.

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