The Final Winter: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel

I would highly recommend this book. A lot of surprises in it, things you would not think this book is about. Not saying too much else because I don't want to spoil it. But the devil had a little bit to do with it....Get the book, some author's I read don't surprise me...This one did....Loved this book!!!!!

I love apocalyptic books but admit that free or bargain offerings are more likely to be awful than not. This one is pretty good. A few spelling errors riled up the grammar queen in me but I do recommend it.

The saying goes "when hell freezes over" and the apocalypse manages to arrive not in hellfire but chilling snow. All in all, this turned out to be a damned good read (if you pardon the expression). I liked the characters, the mystery and the story development. This could make an entertaining series if it centred around the ongoing travels of Lucas and Michael.

But memo to author...the word you wanted was "past" not "passed". As in "want to get past it". Use "passed" to indicate passing something as in "passed your final exam".

It truly amazes me when anyone wants to be an author but doesn't understand how disruptive poor grammar can be to the reader's involvement in the story.

I GAVE this book five stars. Very entertaining, but some parts of this book are not believable, but I guess that's why they call it fiction. It makes for interesting reading. I really enjoyed The Final Winter.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a page turner! keeps your interest throughout with great character dynamics... as a Christian, some of it was hard to get around (rating of a 4) but super entertaining and I suppose if I wanted an accurate Christian account of "the end" I'll just keep reading Revelations!

I just finished reading Jeff Strand's Wolf Hunt 2 (if you are a fan of horror/comedy/action, you must rush right out and buy a copy) and was thinking of going back to JA Konrath/Jack Kilborn..... However, his latest effort (Holes in The Ground) uses some of his characters from previous novels and the characters from Iain Rob Wright's universe. In order to really enjoy the story, I knew I would need some background on Wright's novels and decided to start with The Final Winter.

( I have to pat myself on the back for this strategy...lol. In doing so, I uncovered an amazing hidden gem in Wright.)

Without giving up too much about the plot, The Final Winter tells a story of sin and absolution, with detailed characters and a dry wit, while laying the groundwork for the eventual horror. Wright's characters jump right off the page. His skill in making that happen becomes important to his storytelling abilities as he slowly builds up the tale.
I am really impressed with this author and I'm looking forward to reading his other novels.

NB: Read the author's note to his readers at the end of the novel and tell me you don't want to invest your money in his books. This is an author who certainly writes from the heart!

*** Some Spoilers - read review at your own peril!!!******

I now understand why this book and possibly his other books get such mixed reviews. Honestly, it was the comments about the Biblical ending that made me read it. Either this author does not know his Bible, or is possibly trying to reach a wider audience by making this Biblical apocalypse not even close to reality. Sort of like the Dean and Sam of Supernatural fame (a popular U.S. show going into its 9TH season here in 2014 - 2015) where they fiddle around with angels and demons and God in such a way that it isn't based on the Bible, but on man's own story peppered with Biblical similarities. Christianity isn't popular these days, in the U.S., anyway. I am a Bible believing Christian and have no issue with using the Bible as a story device (and in fact, am a big fan of Supernatural) as long as they leave the main player out of it, Jesus Christ, Who is the whole reason for the Bible and salvation. To me, leaving Him out just makes it a good story by people who either leave Him out due to respect or fear (as a Christian, I vote for fear :-).

The Final Winter wasn't a perfect book, besides the license taken in the non Biblical story, there were a few mistakes NOT attributable to differences in U.K. vs. U.S. English - just spelling errors and typos. I generally don't downrate if they don't overwhelm the story, and they didn't. I enjoyed it. Once I realized Mr. Wright was not going to demean my beliefs, I was able to settle in and read what turned out to be a cleverly decent story. Having watched Supernatural for so many years, it's pretty hard to scare me with Hell Hounds and a jovial Irish devil who could have been taken straight out of the show. Nevertheless, it had enough differences to keep me reading and I always love a good snowstorm! Four stars for an entertaining story. Could have been better written, and I did go between a three and four star - but when I do a 3.5 star (WHEN will they let us give the .5? There can be too vast a difference between whole numbers when rating a book. The professional reviewers get to use half stars!), I generally uprate because I know how authors struggle and how much difference that 1/2 star can mean. In the end, it was immensely entertaining. But, if you are a more innocent Christian, or do not like foul language and rape, I would say this is not a book for you. Most apocalyptic fiction is scary and can be difficult to read, which I believe is why it is categorized as horror. If you are squared away and don't take these things too seriously and just want some scary, good entertainment, this isn't a bad book. I would recommend it to the niche audience it was meant for. It does not disappoint.

This was a surprisingly good book...When I first started reading it I wasn't real sure where it was going to go but it became fascinating and hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed the style of the author and and the presentation. Thank you Mr. Wright.

This book was awesome! Lucas said so much that stung, making me realize, maybe I'm not as good a person as I should be either! this one makes you think while enjoying a scary tale. It was done proper!

Wow this book takes you through the religious loop! In a way it's a story asking a question, what would you sacrifice to save your immortal soul? Don't get it twisted the tale is spine tingling I read the book cover to cover I didn't put it down once!

Final Winter, Fear on Every Page by Iain Rob Wright is a frightening paranormal horror-tinged book.

It does need editing for typos. I gave it four stars.

"There was a sense of foreboding in the howling wind that made Jess wonder if it would stop snowing at all. She'd heard on the radio that people had already begun to perish from the crushing cold, & it had only become worse since then."

There were a group of people gathered at a run down pub called The Trumpet attempting to ride out the unseasonable severe winter storm. Electricity & phones were down & it kept getting colder & colder.

It seems there is something paranormal taking place in the area & no one knows who will survive the night.

I received a complimentary copy from the author. That did not change my opinion for this review.

Link to purchase: The Final Winter: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel

Another daily deal suggested by Book Bub, and it's a doozy. You can picture every character in every situation, and this screams
'make this into a movie'! Characters are well fleshed out. Will search out more from this author.

OK, so the opening epigraph contained a Bible verse that completely set off my Fight Club Curse, so before even the first word of the novel was read, I figured out pretty much all of the salient points. That said, for once that didn't hamper my enjoyment all that much.

With this book, imagine Stephen King's The Mist only globally and replace mist with blizzard. We start off on three fronts: a pub somewhere in the UK, and the grocery store and video store on the same street. The majority of the story takes place in the pub, as those who can make it there converge there for the story.

While the characters aren't all the most deep they all are fairly well-rounded enough to make them feel real (even if a couple are overt caricaturistic statements about certain personalities popping up more in England these days). Wright also does a really nice job of building tension and paying it off

If this book had ended without the happy ending epilogue and instead with the last image before the epilogue and no overt statement one way or the other about a happy or a bad resolution, it would have had higher marks from me. This tale really deserved that sort of ending instead of the Hollywood wrap-up with a pretty bow.

Here there be spoilers:

Religious horror generally does not do it for me at all. Exorcist movies bore me to tears. Thankfully, even knowing right away this was Christian apocalypse we were looking at and that the monsters in the snow were angels and hell hounds, they were actually such non-presences in the book that they didn't get in the way of the tension the situation provided the characters and the reader. I also found it particularly amusing that porno mags are angel Kryptonite.

Now Genesis 9:11 God promises no more apocalyptic floods: I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. (New International Version). I think it's really reasonable to equate blizzards in this sense with flooding, since snow is water and the entire globe was being made to drown in snow. It's such a minor nitpick, but from a religious horror standpoint, this bugged me a little bit.

This book is an excellent, fresh, and imaginative combination of the age old story of the apocalypse and modern apocalyptic novels! The characters were believable and well developed - I'm already looking at his other books to see what to buy next.

I overall pretty much enjoyed this book, it definitely was a page-turner. However, there were many errors throughout the book that with some of the sentences, you had to figure out the meaning. In my opinion it was put together pretty well considering the errors. The ending was a little far-fetched and unrealistic I felt, but, all-in-all it was mostly a pleasure to read.

A wonderful book that entangles the "end of the world" with interesting characters that include the Devil and Angels. The added bonuses put a final ending to some unanswered questions. Terrific read, could hardly put it down.

Another daily deal suggested by Book Bub, and it's a doozy. You can picture every character in every situation, and this screams
'make this into a movie'! Characters are well fleshed out. Will search out more from this author.

OK, so the opening epigraph contained a Bible verse that completely set off my Fight Club Curse, so before even the first word of the novel was read, I figured out pretty much all of the salient points. That said, for once that didn't hamper my enjoyment all that much.

With this book, imagine Stephen King's The Mist only globally and replace mist with blizzard. We start off on three fronts: a pub somewhere in the UK, and the grocery store and video store on the same street. The majority of the story takes place in the pub, as those who can make it there converge there for the story.

While the characters aren't all the most deep they all are fairly well-rounded enough to make them feel real (even if a couple are overt caricaturistic statements about certain personalities popping up more in England these days). Wright also does a really nice job of building tension and paying it off

If this book had ended without the happy ending epilogue and instead with the last image before the epilogue and no overt statement one way or the other about a happy or a bad resolution, it would have had higher marks from me. This tale really deserved that sort of ending instead of the Hollywood wrap-up with a pretty bow.

Here there be spoilers:

Religious horror generally does not do it for me at all. Exorcist movies bore me to tears. Thankfully, even knowing right away this was Christian apocalypse we were looking at and that the monsters in the snow were angels and hell hounds, they were actually such non-presences in the book that they didn't get in the way of the tension the situation provided the characters and the reader. I also found it particularly amusing that porno mags are angel Kryptonite.

Now Genesis 9:11 God promises no more apocalyptic floods: I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. (New International Version). I think it's really reasonable to equate blizzards in this sense with flooding, since snow is water and the entire globe was being made to drown in snow. It's such a minor nitpick, but from a religious horror standpoint, this bugged me a little bit.

This book is an excellent, fresh, and imaginative combination of the age old story of the apocalypse and modern apocalyptic novels! The characters were believable and well developed - I'm already looking at his other books to see what to buy next.

I overall pretty much enjoyed this book, it definitely was a page-turner. However, there were many errors throughout the book that with some of the sentences, you had to figure out the meaning. In my opinion it was put together pretty well considering the errors. The ending was a little far-fetched and unrealistic I felt, but, all-in-all it was mostly a pleasure to read.

A wonderful book that entangles the "end of the world" with interesting characters that include the Devil and Angels. The added bonuses put a final ending to some unanswered questions. Terrific read, could hardly put it down.

Some characters were good except Kate. She was very annoying. Also why did it take a year to enact the revenge. Also did not like the characterization of the angels or devilhounds. Did like the ending and the new definition of the devil

Iain Rob Wright has written something original and face paced with great characters. I will say I liked SAM a little more because of the supernatural aspect, but this is a book I highly recommend. Now on to my next Wright.

After reading Savage, I was expecting more of the same, mind you, Savage was gripping and entertaining ; well, loved such a different story as The Final Winter, with its unexpected twist almost at the end. Great read!

This book has the regular cast of cliche characters but they are very likable cliches. Without giving too much away, they are all trapped in a pub on what could very well be the last day on earth! (not much more than what the title implies).. Instead of going all "party like its 1999", because they could, what with it being the end coming, they fight to survive and find the reason for what is happening. Everybody's true colors start shining through....

A pretty good read and the price was right$

Quick read, nice pacing and kept me involved through-out. Loved the extra tales added at the end of the main book, which helped to round out some of the main characters. Some small editing issues, but nothing so bad as to detract from the story itself. Good read for a quiet afternoon!

Quick read. Held my interest throughout. At the end of the book, Mr. Wright adds a few extra pages on other people in the world at the time and how they are fairing in the storm. As I read the book, I wondered how the rest of the world was doing. It would have been great to have these other characters stories running through the book at the same time. I will be checking out Mr. Wright's other books now.

Wow! Iain Rob Wright hits the ground running with this story of the world ending in a white death. The characters were extremely well developed and while reading I would think about what was going to happen to each of them next. I even found myself thinking out loud, "Don't go outside!" I do not want to spoil what happens during the course of the story. However, there are twists and turns and things do not turn out in the direction they begin in. There is one character who I had an idea from some clues as to his true nature, Lucas, and I was actually happy that I was right. There is nothing better than a story that takes you away, makes you care and think about everyone involved. In my opinion that is the huge mark of a great author. Even since finishing the book early this morning, I am still thinking about the characters. Also, at the end there were a few extra stories that tie into some of Iain's other books. If you are reading this review and are trying to decide if this book is worth reading, then do yourself a big favor and get it! You will be glad you did! Pick up Iain's other books as well. This is one author that will always be on my reading list ranking up there with Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dean Koontz, and Robert McCammon.

This book was a little different from my usual reading taste. It has an interesting cast of characters. About midway through I was almost ready to put it down, but I highly recommend the reader not give up, it turns out as a good read.

Downloaded this book for free and really didn't know what I was getting into. In the vein of great horror writers as much ad King and Barker, Iain Wright spins a dark story about the end of the world and the final apocalypse in a small English pub. Story really kept me going and the characters are great. If you like horror give this book a try. You won't be disappointed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The author took a common theme (the end of the world) and turned it on its ear! The book was well-written with interesting characters and a definite twist.The fact that 99.9% of the book takes place in an old English pub, makes the terror all the more horrifying. There is no where to go!

Don't usually do supernatural themes in the books I read, but I must admit to enjoying this one, probably because of its Biblical roots. It had suspense and believable characters, and an interesting conclusion.

Despite some weirdness in formatting, the book was an excellent read. The characters were genuine and plot moved briskly. I was impressed enough that I immediately purchased his new novel (on the Kindle, of course!)

This was a super exciting, fast paced story that left you guessing just long enough. I really enjoyed it and could not put it down once I began. Just thinking of that snow and darkness again gives me the shivers. (In a good way!)