"Just as HP Lovecraft created his own special brand of horror, Lindberg has conjured up a nightmare landscape that is truly unique. But Lindberg has gone far beyond the almost total narrative of a Lovecraft tale, because he populates his world with characters — with people who interact with each other, share moments of humor and drama and terror. Lindberg tells his story through the eyes and voices of his characters." - Joe Bonadonna
ByJoe Bonadonnaon December 13, 2017
“Literally, dyscrasia means “a bad mixture of liquids” (it is not a magical land.) Historically, dyscrasia referred to any imbalance of the four medicinal humors professed by the ancient Greeks to sustain life (phlegm, blood, black & yellow bile.)” — S.E. Lindberg
“Helen’s Daimones” is a novel director Tim Burton would have a field day turning into a film. The visuals alone would be amazing, and the story quite mind-blowing. This is a wonderful novel, written with vivid imagination and boundless creativity. I’ve heard it called “Grimdark fiction” by a number of people, but it goes far beyond that, and it’s certainly better than any Grimdark stories I’ve ever read. This is not a novel of swords, sorcery, demons, and wizards. This is not your typical epic fantasy, either. Sure, “Helen’s Daimones” contains elements of dark fantasy, as well as elements of science-fiction. But this is a horror story, all the way, where the main characters, a pair of orphaned girls named Helen and Sharon, are haunted and chased by numinous diseases. Lindberg’s world is populated by ghosts, mutants and hybrids (both human and insect), magically-animated rag dolls, necrophagous wasps, fetal gargoyles, and many other bizarre lifeforms. This is not a typical horror novel about vampires, werewolves and zombies. This is something new and original. Just as HP Lovecraft created his own special brand of horror, Lindberg has conjured up a nightmare landscape that is truly unique. But Lindberg has gone far beyond the almost total narrative of a Lovecraft tale, because he populates his world with characters — with people who interact with each other, share moments of humor and drama and terror. Lindberg tells his story through the eyes and voices of his characters.
While some characters are human, like Helen, Sharon and their parents, many characters are not quite human. Take Lord Endeken Lysis, for instance: he’s the Skeletal Warrior of Chromlechon. He communicates telepathically with the golem physician, Doctor Grave, and together they plan to repair humanity. Then there’s Echo, the Gray Foundling, a human-insectoid hybrid, a puppet master who entertains the hundreds of orphans under Lysis’ protection. The beauty of Lindberg’s world is that many of the grotesques possess noble souls, reminding me of Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and “The Man Who Laughs.” This is a surreal novel, a 21st century gothic novel brought to life by Lindberg’s elegant prose and colorful descriptions. It also brought to mind Mervyn Peak’s “Gormenghast Trilogy,” and the science fiction tales of featuring Cordwainer Smith’s Underpeople and the Instrumentality of Mankind. Lindberg has a totally original voice and a most unique concept, and I give “Helen’s Daimones” five stars because of what it is, how well it worked for me, and how it greatly differs from so many other dark fantasy and horror novels.
