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Savage Species #4
The Arena
Peaceful Valley is about to become a slaughterhouse!
For the first time ever, Samhain Publishing will serialize a terrifying original novel, Savage Species, in five installments, with new installments coming every two weeks.
The construction of the Peaceful Valley Nature Preserve, a sprawling, isolated state park, has stirred an evil that has lain dormant for nearly a century, and all the men, women and children unlucky enough to be attending the grand opening are about to encounter the most horrific creatures to ever walk the earth.
Part The Arena
The two groups meet in a terrible and unexpected way. Sam, Charly, Jesse and Red Elk mount an impossible rescue mission to save Charly’s baby and the other kidnapped survivors, but the Children and the Night Flyers have other plans. As Eric descends into madness, a surprising victim will face his wrath.
For the first time ever, Samhain Publishing will serialize a terrifying original novel, Savage Species, in five installments, with new installments coming every two weeks.
The construction of the Peaceful Valley Nature Preserve, a sprawling, isolated state park, has stirred an evil that has lain dormant for nearly a century, and all the men, women and children unlucky enough to be attending the grand opening are about to encounter the most horrific creatures to ever walk the earth.
Part The Arena
The two groups meet in a terrible and unexpected way. Sam, Charly, Jesse and Red Elk mount an impossible rescue mission to save Charly’s baby and the other kidnapped survivors, but the Children and the Night Flyers have other plans. As Eric descends into madness, a surprising victim will face his wrath.
- GenresHorror
64 pages, ebook
First published July 16, 2013
About the author
Jonathan Janz
49 books1,911 followersJonathan Janz is a husband, father, novelist, screenwriter, and public schoolteacher. He’s represented for film and television by Ryan Lewis (executive producer of Bird Box), and his literary agent is Priya Doraswamy. His ghost story The Siren and the Specter was selected as a Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Horror. Additionally, his novels Children of the Dark and The Dark Game were chosen by Booklist and Library Journal as Top Ten Horror Books of the Year. Jonathan’s main interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children. You can sign up for his newsletter (http://jonathanjanz.us12.list-manage....), and you can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, Threads, Bluesky, TikTok, and Goodreads.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 21, 2013
Just when things already have entered into that Hellish Beyond Belief category for the motley crew of survivors from the campground massacre, along with a woman and her would-be lover searching for her missing baby boy, and her abusive adulterous husband...and you say to yourself, wow, things couldn't get any worse? Oh but they do, the mad genius that Janz is...and we the Readers benefit from that! Area resident and softcore porn enthusiast, Frank Red Elk, provides moments of wry hilarity in this grim and bloody fourth installment of a five part ebook series. Besides the ravenous whiteskinned Children, our ragtag band is pitted against batlike Night Flyers...and a hideous behemoth at this installment's sudden cliffhanger conclusion! If you haven't checked out this hellishly good effing read...what're you waiting for?
July 19, 2013
Still has me sucked in. I am more than ready for part 5. I am adrenaline pumped and feeling scared yet laughing at the humorous conversations (meant to be funny parts!!). Everything flows and seems plausible even though it's fairy horrific. Big surprises. I love this book. I still think it is his best writing. :)
March 2, 2014
It's hard to top a cliffhanger ending that sees man-sized, leathery-winged monsters swooping through a labyrinthian cave and carrying humans away like pterodactyls stealing Fred Flintstone's bronto-burgers. That was the end of Savage Species Part 3: The Dark Zone. With this fourth installment, The Arena, Jonathan Janz had to work hard to keep the momentum going and top everything in the first three parts.
The Children aren't the only monsters running rampant now, and the survivors of the camp site massacre have shrunk in numbers yet again with this new threat. Jesse and Red Elk escape the clutches of the monsters, but find themselves between a rock and a bigger rock basically, with but a single stick of dynamite and a choice of which rock face to blow up: the one that will lead them up towards an escape or the one that will lead them down towards their friends and the pit of monsters set to devour them. Choices, choices.
Meanwhile, Charly and Sam are still hunting for Charly's infant son, but there's the added problem of Eric's wounds gradually causing him to get sicker and sicker. Although, Eric is concealing the fact that the wounds have infected him to the point that he is now changing into one of the Children, too. And the wicked thoughts rolling around in his head make Charles Manson look like Mr. Rogers.
Somehow, albeit inevitably I should say, the two groups of people meet up inside the caves and band together to save the baby and the others trapped in what is lovingly called the Arena.
Aside from Eric's insidious inner monologues, there's not a lot of room for character development here. It's go, go, go from here on out and Janz keeps the story's pedal to the metal. It's very intense, but doesn't offer much by way of surprises. Things feel telegraphed in a sense, because the destination can only be devastating for all involved. The hook in the story at this point is the rallying for these characters to somehow, in some way, save the baby and get out of that hellhole alive. But for that answer, readers need to wait for Savage Species Part 5: The Old One.
The Children aren't the only monsters running rampant now, and the survivors of the camp site massacre have shrunk in numbers yet again with this new threat. Jesse and Red Elk escape the clutches of the monsters, but find themselves between a rock and a bigger rock basically, with but a single stick of dynamite and a choice of which rock face to blow up: the one that will lead them up towards an escape or the one that will lead them down towards their friends and the pit of monsters set to devour them. Choices, choices.
Meanwhile, Charly and Sam are still hunting for Charly's infant son, but there's the added problem of Eric's wounds gradually causing him to get sicker and sicker. Although, Eric is concealing the fact that the wounds have infected him to the point that he is now changing into one of the Children, too. And the wicked thoughts rolling around in his head make Charles Manson look like Mr. Rogers.
Somehow, albeit inevitably I should say, the two groups of people meet up inside the caves and band together to save the baby and the others trapped in what is lovingly called the Arena.
Aside from Eric's insidious inner monologues, there's not a lot of room for character development here. It's go, go, go from here on out and Janz keeps the story's pedal to the metal. It's very intense, but doesn't offer much by way of surprises. Things feel telegraphed in a sense, because the destination can only be devastating for all involved. The hook in the story at this point is the rallying for these characters to somehow, in some way, save the baby and get out of that hellhole alive. But for that answer, readers need to wait for Savage Species Part 5: The Old One.
July 13, 2013
This review is courtesy of horrornovelreviews.com
The action packed end of Dark Zone left you wondering what was going to happen with Frank Red Elk and Jesse as they took a ride with the Night Flyers.
Suspense is the name of the game to start this one. The two are trapped with only a stick of dynamite and who knows what on the other side of the walls.
It was only a matter of time before Frank Red Elk, Jesse, and their crew meet up with Charly, Eric, Sam, and Melanie. You find that Sam and Frank have a past with each other as well.
Despite the fact that I don’t like the comparisons to soft porn stars for every female he meets (it takes me out of the story), Frank Red Elk is fast becoming one of my favorite characters for some reason. There is an endearing quality about his heroism that I like. I was happy to see that this story did much to feature him.
As the title suggests the new group comes across an arena of sorts. You have both The Children and Night Flyers vying for the others in the group, with one member of The Children holding on to Jake, the child of Charly and Eric.
Moving from a slower suspenseful build to all out action in this race to the finish, saving the ones they love, Jonathan Janz pushes the pace with violent descriptions and quick scene changes between Sam and Charly, and Frank and Jesse. You are left breathless as this part ends with the discovery of something much worse than they’ve already seen.
Action packed and suspenseful, I can only imagine what’s coming in the next part, and who, if anyone survives!
The action packed end of Dark Zone left you wondering what was going to happen with Frank Red Elk and Jesse as they took a ride with the Night Flyers.
Suspense is the name of the game to start this one. The two are trapped with only a stick of dynamite and who knows what on the other side of the walls.
It was only a matter of time before Frank Red Elk, Jesse, and their crew meet up with Charly, Eric, Sam, and Melanie. You find that Sam and Frank have a past with each other as well.
Despite the fact that I don’t like the comparisons to soft porn stars for every female he meets (it takes me out of the story), Frank Red Elk is fast becoming one of my favorite characters for some reason. There is an endearing quality about his heroism that I like. I was happy to see that this story did much to feature him.
As the title suggests the new group comes across an arena of sorts. You have both The Children and Night Flyers vying for the others in the group, with one member of The Children holding on to Jake, the child of Charly and Eric.
Moving from a slower suspenseful build to all out action in this race to the finish, saving the ones they love, Jonathan Janz pushes the pace with violent descriptions and quick scene changes between Sam and Charly, and Frank and Jesse. You are left breathless as this part ends with the discovery of something much worse than they’ve already seen.
Action packed and suspenseful, I can only imagine what’s coming in the next part, and who, if anyone survives!
December 15, 2013
The penultimate part in the serialised novel, Savage Species, sets all the pieces in place for a carnage-filled finale and even throws a quick curve ball to keep the reader on their toes. Here's hoping the final part delivers on the promise established here.
4 Adept Set-Ups for The Arena.
4 Adept Set-Ups for The Arena.
July 22, 2013
Another bloody, action-packed installment of this never disappointing serial novel. It left me anticipating the conclusion.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews