Dominion [Mass Market Paperback]

Dominion is the 5th book of Bentley Little I have read so far. I was somewhat disappointed with this one. The story revolves around two teenagers Dion, and Penelope. Who are brought together to bring back the Greek gods so the may rule over man once more.

It is one of the more twisted books of Little I have read. With it's over the top gore, and demented sexual situations. How ever I didn't find this book scary at all, and it seemed to drag. Then it ended too abruptly, and left me saying: "What? That's it?"

On the flip side it is interesting how Little has taken the idea of Greek myth, and spun it into a horror tale.

If your a real fan of Bentley Little I would suggest you give this one a try. If your looking to start reading Bentley Little I would go with another book. Like The Store, or The Academy. Those are Two of my favorite so far.

Bentley Little, an author who has a penchant for taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary, takes on Greek mythology and gives it its place in the horror fiction genre. He takes the story of the mythological characters Dionysus and the Maenads and puts a new spin on it.

Dion Semele, a teenager who is mature beyond his years, lives with his mother, April, in Arizona. His mom is not exactly like other moms, as she has an extremely carnal nature and her sexual escapades seem to create problems for her and embarrass her son. So, they are now moving to California, where they can start fresh. His mother feels a strange compulsion to move to the Napa Valley, northern California's wine country. Unfortunately, once she moves there she seems unable to keep her promise to her son to act more motherly.

Penelope Daneam is a young blond beauty whom Dion meets in his new high school. She lives on the estate of a winery owned by her mother, or rather, mothers, all twelve of them. Penelope and Dion hit it off, and their relationship is strongly encouraged by her mothers, who certainly have a strange way of acting around Dion. As Dion and Penelope's relationship progresses, a change seems to be going on in their environs, as the wine her mothers are selling seem to be causing people to shed their inhibitions. It also looks as if Dion has an intricate part to play in what Penelope's mothers have planned.

Of course, once the master plan is set in motion, all hell breaks loose. This book, which started off promisingly enough, degenerates into a bacchanalian nightmare. It goes totally over the top with raping and pillaging being the standard behavior of its characters. There is a lot of graphic, violent, and destructive sexual behavior with some incest tossed in for good measure. In this respect, the author has been over indulgent. Consequently, this is definitely not a book for everyone.

I really enjoyed this book when I read it and I have read all of Little's books (except Dispatch which I bought but haven't gotten to yet). This is one of my favorites of his and one of his most unique stories. It's a great horror novel and very original b/c it combines Little's usual take on the world in the face of chaos and mixes it with greek mythology (something I have yet to find in another book). Coincidentally I was taking a Greek mythology course in university at the time I read this book and it made it all the more interesting. However you don't have to be a mythology expert to enjoy this enthralling, creative book. If you love horror, especially stories that are uniquely different, or if you're just a Little fan, I would tell you to read this book. It's still on the top of my list for Little's works.