The Samsaric

G.W. Lwin

Genre: Fantasy Horror

SAMSARA: “The cycle of birth, death and rebirth within the realms of existence …” The plague of 1918 A.D. The mortal world is in a state of devastation. A woman wakes up in an abandoned temple of Kali, the goddess of darkness, in the ancient city of Gaya. She does not know where she is. She does not remember the events leading to this. She only hears the familiar voice of a tormented man who has haunted in her dreams. He tells her a story – of a time of souls and suffering, of immortality and gods, of life and death. This, he says, is Mesopotamia. The SAMSARIC is a fast-paced fantasy-horror novel full of history, horror and vampirism from an ancient era.

My Review

The Samsaric is an interesting book that would probably be readers with a casual interest in mythology and history. Richly detailed in the way one has come to expect from most things that bill themselves as fantasy, it moves along at languorous pace that allows the reader to fully immerse themselves in the situation. It definitely has it’s strong points, and you can tell the author put quite a lot of work into this novel.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan. Part of it is my fault, because I know that I have a, uhm, contentious relationship with fantasy novels. However, the ‘horror’ part of the billing made it so that I absolutely had to give it a try.  That aside, there are some basic faults that I can point out without bias. Namely, it needs edited. Not so much for my usual picks of spelling and punctuation (though there’s a few errors), but more for an editor’s ability to tighten up the novel as a whole.  A few tweaks here and there, and a few thousand unnecessary words cut, and The Samsaric would read so much better and make a stronger impact.

Also, it tries to earn it’s horror rating through such base things as the ‘kill-a-baby’ weak writing prop. That’s a sign of weak horror writing as many horror authors will attest to, and something I’ve talked about in-depth on Sci-Fi and Scary. Finally, the ending is a bit … off. I won’t go into details for fear of spoiling, but let’s just say that scanning through the Goodreads reviews for this book will swiftly reveal I’m not the only reviewer that has pointed out this issue.

Overall, though, I think it stands a good chance of pleasing the casual horror- fantasy fan, especially those that love a richly built world (and hey, this one has a basis in actual history!). Good versus evil, things that lurk in the night, an immortal soul reborn in a feisty human female, The Samsaric doesn’t necessarily wow, but it does hint at the potential to be seen from G. W. Lwin.

About the Author

I love anything that comprises the old and the ancient full of rich history and spirituality. For me, reading and learning from our ancient past is truly a beautiful, unique and intriguing journey.

From a young age, I have felt that there were two versions of me: the old spiritual one and a young soul who still lives in his fantasy world. However, both of these versions share one commonality – my interest in vampires from the ancient mythology and beliefs. I was mesmerized by their folklore since young. The need to express is very strong within me. Writing, for me, provides this gateway and helps me to grow as a person. It is a life-long learning path that I gladly embark.

As a writer, I would like to improve each and every stage of writing, to possess the art of crafting words to communicate the emotions that arise from within to the readers … a vision shared by many authors.

Find G.W. Lwin on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GWLwin/

Website: www.greglwin.com

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1mbqT2I