Jamieson Wolf
Number-one bestselling author
The End is Nigh and it is Glorious – A Book Review
What’s not to love about Nigh?
When I first heard that Marie Bilodeau was writing a serial novel, I was excited. I’m a huge fan of her work, both her Heirs of a Broken Land and her Desinty’s trilogies are totally awesome and favourites of mine read many times over.
So I expected more of the same…what I should have learned by now is: with Marie Bilodeau, expect the unexpected and the unexpected is awesome!
Nigh Book 1 reads like a cross between The Mist by Stephen King and Charles de Lint, part horror, part epic fantasy with strong characters you fall in love with and yearn to help. Marie’s writing just pulls you in and leaves you wanting more.
Which is part of the issue with a serial novel. By the time the next installment came out, I was salivating for it, desperate to find out what was going to happen to Alva, Hector, Pete, Gruff and Molly.
Serial novels have fallen out of fad, but Marie makes a strong case to bring them back with Nigh. Popularized by Charles Dickens, the trend was continued by authors such as Arminstead Maupin and Stephen King. There hasn’t been a serial novel worth reading in a long time, until Nigh.
She has created a world, our world, that is both magical and terrifying. Something recognizable that has been changed by magic and hardened by time.
Our story begins with Alva Viola Taverner.
As a car mechanic, she is used to fixing things, putting them back in order. She has her sister and her job. That’s all she needs out of life in her small town. Everything else has let her down. However, things are about to change.
A thief breaks into her apartment. At first she’s worried that her most prized possession, her Grandmothers watch, is stolen, but its fight where she left it, safe and sound. Then things get even more bizarre when there’s a break in at the garage.
She knows without a doubt that it’s the same man who broke into her apartment. She corners him and he tells her that her Grandmothers watch has the power to stop an impending catastrophe: the veil between our world and the other has grown thin; and the things that go bump in the night are breaking free.
Soon, she’s on the run with Gruff, her boss at the garage, Al’s best friend Molly and Hector, the man who broke into her home and her work. Dangerous mists have started to roll along the roads and they can hear the sounds of others dying within them. The mists and what wait inside them are wiping out our world, one piece at a time. No one is safe.
When Alva is told that she has the only thing that can stop the impending doom, she has no choice but to trust Hector. However, will it be enough?
Or will they all die in the attempt?
The story starts there and just explodes off of the page. To tell you any more of the novel would be to take away some of its magic. Nigh (Books 1-5) isn’t a story you just read. It’s one that you experience, a novel that you want to crawl into and live inside.
Told with aplomb and with grace, Nigh is an incredible journey from start to finish. The serial novel format works to well here as you, the reader, feels as if you’ve been on a long journey, right along with Alva and crew.
The story began in January and has finally found it’s end in June, six months of wondering, hoping and wishing have finally come to an end and what a journey it’s been. Nigh is without a doubt the best thing that Marie Bilodeau has written and I can’t wait to see if the story is going to continue or what she has next for us.
Do yourself a favour and pick up the first book. It’s FREE! I guarantee that when you finish it, you’ll want to, nay, need to read on to find out what happens. Get your copy here:
Nigh Book 1
The end is Nigh and it is glorious!
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Jamieson Wolf has written a compelling story about navigating multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. His story will touch your heart, make you cry, then laugh, and inspire you. A touching memoir with a bit of magic…and tarot! ~ Theresa Reed, author of The Tarot Coloring Book
Jamieson Wolf 
Sounds like a great one. You’re right about series becoming less popular, but I really enjoy them! Will have to check this out.
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