Best Horror Book Review: The Day of the Triffids
Wow, it's been YEARS since I checked into this list and read something from it. I read another book from the list recently and thought it would be simple to take up where I left off, but I can't find my original spreadsheet and I had to search through the dregs of my old blog to find information on what I'd read on it.
Years ago, I and two of my friends decided we were going to read all the books on Nightmare Magazine's Best Horror list to learn more about writing horror. I was going at a healthy clip before getting derailed. So I'm going to do a catch up here of what was on the list and what I've read. I did not review books I'd already read before finding the list, but maybe I should have. I might in the future, but there are plenty I haven't read that I'd like to do first.
The list is below since it's 100 books. But here's my review of The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham.
Triffids is a post-apocalyptic story, but what sets it apart is a dual natured approach. There is not simply one thing to fear, but two.
An event occurs that blinds people unless they were somewhere or in a situation that kept them safe. For example, the main character Bill Masen awakes after eye surgery to find himself alone (a la The Walking Dead, which was written way after). He's sighted because he wasn't around to look at whatever blinded people. Another example are those who were already blind.
This blindness makes the other danger much more harmful: triffids. Triffids are plants believed to have been created by the Russians (the book was published originally in 1951). The triffids are somewhat sentient, carnivorous, and can move, but their danger has been ignored while the British have been using them for oil. They've grown lashes, though, which kill anyone they come into contact with. Imagine stumbling around blind when these triffids are everywhere.
I left out a third element: fellow humans. As always, in a post-apocalyptic story the biggest enemy is often people. The monsters and what led to each apocalypse just set the stage and add an extra element to fight or deal with. Different groups set out to capture survivors to accomplish whatever dastardly plan they have. Others loot. Some want to harm other people for the fun of it. Some have good intentions. It's hard to know who's who, which is, of course, a reflection of any society in general.
The ways things are laid out in this book are interesting, as are the many challenges thrown the way of Bill and those around him. The characters are well developed. Bill's tone as he conveys what's going on is fairly calm and very British. He's rounded up, forced to do dangerous labor, and pushed to take a wife among the survivors for questionable reasons. Despite the age of the book, it was well paced, and I feel like it might have set some of the tropes, pacing, and mechanisms in many future post-apocalyptic stories, including the prevalent zombie ones. This is definitely one I don't regret having read. I was so happy to find it in an antiquities book shop by York Minster in York, UK. (I could have bought a zillion books from there.)
I meant to write this review directly after I read the book, so I don't have as much to say as I would have then.
Here's the list (and the link to the original) plus another list I'd added that had the 50 Best Horror Novels. Most didn't overlap, likely because this list seemed more modern. I know I'd added books from two other lists to it, including one of all female authors, but I didn't feel like digging through all those posts to find those lists, so other than the ones I've already reviewed, I'm sticking to the initial two going forward.
AR at the beginning means I had already read it before the list.
If it's underlined and bolded, you can click on it and read my original review.
Books of Blood 1-3, Clive Barker
The Damnation Game, Clive Barker
The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker
The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, Laird Barron
AR - The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty
From the Dust Returned, Ray Bradbury
The October Country, Ray Bradbury
AR - Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
Graveyard People, Gary A. Braunbeck
In Silent Graves, Gary A. Braunbeck
Lost Souls, Poppy Z. Brite
AR - Love in Vein, Poppy Z. Brite and Martin H. Greenberg
Alone With the Horrors, Ramsey Campbell
The Doll Who Ate His Mother, Ramsey Campbell
The Nameless, Ramsey Campbell
Nazareth Hill, Ramsey Campbell
The Shallow End of the Pool, Adam-Troy Castro
Shivers, Richard Chizmar
AR - Sunglasses After Dark, Nancy A. Collins
AR - The Best Horror of the Year Volume 1, Ellen Datlow
Inferno, Ellen Datlow
The Year's Best Fantasy First Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
My Soul to Keep, Tananarive Due
Nightmare Seasons, Charles L. Grant
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror 2010, Paula Guran
Those Who Hunt the Night, Barbara Hambly
AR - The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris
The Dark Descent, David G. Hartwell
Dead in the Water, Nancy Holder
Just an Ordinary Day, Shirley Jackson
AR - The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Ramsey Campbell and Stephen Jones
The Red Tree, Caitlin R. Kiernan
Silk, Caitlin R. Kiernan
AR - Bag of Bones, Stephen King
AR - IT, Stephen King
AR - Night Shift, Stephen King
AR - Salem's Lot, Stephen King
AR - The Shining, Stephen King
AR - Skeleton Crew, Stephen King
AR - The Stand, Stephen King
AR - Pet Semetary, Stephen King
AR - The Bad Place, Dean Koontz
AR - Strangers, Dean Koontz
The Taking, Dean Koontz
Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters, John Langan
The Keeper, Sarah Langan
The Missing, Sarah Langan
Savage Season, Joe R. Lansdale
The Nature of Balance, Tim Lebbon
AR - Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin
The Shadow at the Bottom of the World, Thomas Ligotti
The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories, H.P. Lovecraft
The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories, H.P. Lovecraft
The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, H.P. Lovecraft
Ghost Road Blues, Jonathan Maberry
Hell House, Richard Matheson
AR - I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
The Wolf's Hour, Robert R. McCammon
A Choir of Ill Children, Tom Piccirilli
AR - Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
AR - The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
999, Al Sarrantonio
It's Only Temporary, Eric Shapiro
AR - Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Carrion Comfort, Dan Simmons
Song of Kali, Dan Simmons
Summer of Night, Dan Simmons
The Terror, Dan Simmons
The Bridge, John Skipp and Craig Spector
Book of the Dead, John Skipp and Craig Spector
Still Dead, John Skipp and Craig Spector
AR - Dracula, Bram Stoker
A Dark Matter, Peter Straub
AR - Floating Dragon, Peter Straub
Ghost Story, Peter Straub
In the Night Room, Peter Straub
AR - Lost Boy Lost Girl, Peter Straub
The Keep, F. Paul Wilson
Nightworld, F. Paul Wilson
The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham
Hotel Transylvania, Chelsea Quinn Yarboro
AR - Lord of the Flies, William Golding
AR - American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
The Hunger, Alma Katsu
A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Hacienda, Isabel Canas
Requiem for a Dream, Hubert Selby, Jr
AR - The House Across the Lake, Riley Sager
Lapvona, Ottessa Moshfegh
Blindness, Jose Saramago
The Children on the Hill, Jennifer McMahon
The Resting Place, Camilla Sten
The 120 Days of Sodom, Marquis de Sade
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
AR - Baby Teeth, Zoje Stage
Pollen, Jeff Noon
AR - Beloved, Toni Morrison
We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
AR - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee
Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
The Testaments, Margaret Atwood
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain
Cock and Bull, Will Self
Naked Lunch, William Burroughs
House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewsk
AR - Bird Box, Josh Malerman
Hidden Pictures, Jason Rekulak
The Ruins, Scott Smith
Come Closer, Sara Gran
The Deep, Nick Cutter
AR - Tender is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica
The Bad Seed, William March
Naomi's Room, Jonathan Aycliffe
John Dies at the End, David Wong
The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
Dawn Xenogenesis Book 1, Octavia E. Butler
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