James Herbert’s ‘Once...’ is a fairy tale with a difference. It tells the story of Thom Kindred who returns to his childhood
home as he is recovering from a stroke.
This is a very dark fairy tale, depicting fairies, elves, etc., not as you would normally expect with childhood innocence, but creatures that have the ability to cause destruction, harm and inflict terror on those around them. There is also an element of black magic
witchcraft depicted in this novel too.
As this is the first book by James Herbert that I have read, and this is not normally the kind of literature I usually choose to read, I did find it difficult to follow the story. For me personally, it seemed to take a long time for the story to progress. Certainly, at least the first half of this book seemed to be solely preoccupied with the erotic experiences that the main character, Thom Kindred, experienced while in the company of the fairy like creatures. There was also a lot of strange dialect spoken by the impish beings which I found difficult to read at times and I am sure that this could be very off putting for some people.
The ending to this story, however, I thought was very good and did explain why the events in the book had taken place. Certainly the last one hundred words was were the main part of the story lied and at least there was a clear and understandable ending to this novel which you don’t always get.
For me it was a shame that more hadn’t been explained earlier in the book which I think could have helped to keep me, as the reader interested. However, just because this genre of literature is not really my usual type of reading material, potential readers should not be put off instantly by my review of this novel. For anyone who would normally read
fantasy horrors like this, or readers who are fans of James Herbert, this book could certainly prove to be an excellent read.