Title: The Ritual Author: Adam Nevill
Published: February 14, 2012
Genre(s): Horror
Page Count: 432
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise. With limited experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn’t possibly get any worse. But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artefacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. As the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees...
Four old university buddies decide to go on a three-day backpacking trip through Swedish wilderness. It’s rainy, and they’re miserable, so they opt for a shortcut through some unmanaged, unexplored forest. What could possibly go wrong, right? In short: everything.
The Ritual depicts one of those situations where you, as the reader, just have to watch in a state of mounting agitation as the protagonists walk right into a bad place. Like, you know, common knowledge: don’t go on a pretty intense backpacking trip if you’re fat and out of shape and totally unprepared, don’t leave managed trails unless you’re very familiar with the area, don’t go into creepy ruins or spend the night in a house with a freaking pagan shrine in the attic, and for crying out loud do not stay in the satanic forest when an ancient goat-demon starts stalking you. Seriously. Just don’t.
I mean, I give this book full points for atmosphere, tension, and setting. Adam Nevill totally nails the horror genre, and I can’t say anything bad about his construction or execution of The Ritual. This is a genuinely scary book, with deliciously frightening nods at old Scandinavian mythology and pagan rites. The author has clearly put some effort into researching things, and that attention to detail totally added to the atmosphere of the book. And the atmosphere was really freaking terrorizing.
Like I mentioned at the beginning of the review, The Ritual follows the (mis)adventures of four middle-aged men who decide to go backpacking through Sweden. Which would be fine, except they have no clue what they’re doing and quickly get themselves hopelessly lost in a suspicious forest. They come across some weird houses with a lot of pagan-looking stuff, then later an outright shrine with a bunch of bones and stuff. Also, this thing is definitely stalking them; they’re all having horrifying dreams/premonitions about that thing. Then members of the group start getting carted off at night. And basically it all goes to hell from there.
I’m not super familiar with horror, but I feel kind of like this is a pretty oft-used plot-set up. I could certainly see the bad things coming a mile away. Which was fine, since it added to the tension and suspense that built up until you’ve got one guy left, facing death at the hands of this thing, whatever it is…and then we move on to Part Two! Yay. Except not really because that transition was a total tension diffuser. In my opinion, bad move on Nevill’s part. He completely yanks the reader out of “omg we’re being stalked by a demon oh crap oh crap” land and dumps them right into “crazy teenage members of Norwegian black-metal band” land. That was just really strange for me, and I found it a jarring (though probably necessary) transition.
Yeah, so the second half of The Ritual weren’t the best, and neither were the first few chapters. Nevill does this half-omniscient, half-limited third person thing, and it was really clunky. Perspective switches were not clearly marked or understood, so I was often confused about which man’s head I was in, whose thoughts I was privy to. Thankfully, after a while that evened out and Nevill stuck with one guy, Luke, for the rest of the book. But not a good start.
Also, there’s the thing where I don’t actually find the horror genre to be very horrifying. Interesting, yes; scary, not so much. Probably (just going out on a limb here) I would have found things much more enjoyable if I’d been terrified out of my mind, just like the characters. Sadly, that was not the case, so I was more prone to feeling detached or annoyed with certain things. But that is clearly a personal thing, and doesn’t reflect on the book’s quality in any way.
Even though I’m not a huge reader of horror, I still enjoyed this book, and I definitely think it’s a great example of the strengths of the genre. The Ritual is a chilling, tension-filled horror novel set in the untouched Scandinavian wilderness, where old religions still linger. Adam Nevill is clearly a master of mood and atmosphere, and my hat is off to him in that respect. Also, ancient goat-demons are awesome antagonists.
