Christmas is red, literally

I love Halloween and let's just say I'm way less passionate about Christmas, but the story of Krampus by Brom was just too much fun and I didn't really want to put it down. In West Virginia, Jesse, a down on his luck musician with an estranged wife and daughter stumbles into an ongoing fued between Ol' Saint Nick and Krampus, the Yuletide Lord, that's been brewing for close to 500 years. The narrator was spot on with the different voices (even the women and the demonic, deep sound) and it was really easy to become immersed in the tale. Without revealing too much, if you like blood, cheer, and some smart humor with a few odes to Christmas, I'd certainly give this story a try.

15 people found this helpful

Oh Jesse you stupid boy...

This book was amazing, but I sincerely wanted to throttle the Protagonist 80% of the book. His stupid choices did lead to realistic consequences, and were well written, but I still wanted to punch Jesse in his teeth for quite a long time.

24 people found this helpful

5 stars

Wow! Interesting, original, totally worth the credit and just in time for the holidays! This is a crazy story about a power struggle between a not so lovable Santa, Krampus, a forerunner of St Nick and the Belsnickel. Throw in some humans, a dash or Norse mythology and small town corruption and there you go, 5 stars. I loved it!

72 people found this helpful

Promising, but Ultimately Disappointing

First, I would like to point out that I like Brom immensely as an artist, and as a writer, I find his vocabulary lively and descriptions masterful. I hated this story, and I think it boils down to personal preference and has nothing do with Brom’s actual writing abilities.
I wanted to love this book. I love Christmas, I am completely enamored of Krampus and all the mythology that surrounds him, and I’m a huge fan of Brom’s art, so this seemed like the novel of my dreams. I could’ve loved it if it focused more on Krampus, but Jesse was meh.
The inspiration for this felt like it came straight from a Jerry Springer episode. Normally I like my reading a material a little tawdry, but this didn’t do it for me. It’s like watching the Taryn Manning version of, A Christmas Carol, and that was horrible.
There’re so many characters and so many storylines, sometimes I felt a little lost and bored frequently. You’ve got Krampus and Santa fighting. Jesse trying to get Linda and his daughter back. Jesse fighting with Dillard. Jesse dealing with basically the mob of Hickville, which that storyline just fizzles out and leaves you wondering why it was necessary at all. Dillard was a big enough a-hole on his own, the mob wasn’t really necessary. Then there are the Belsnickel’s side storylines. He could’ve cut half of the characters out, and I don’t think anyone would’ve noticed.
I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but I thought this book was awful. It had so much promise, but ultimately, I couldn’t get into the story or that characters. Take that for what you will.

17 people found this helpful

Fabulous "new" take on Christmas!

I saw this book at the bookstore and was thrilled to see that it was available on Audible. Honestly, I have both the print and the audible versions, thinking that I was going to go back and forth between them. I was so taken with the performance, however, that I found myself taking extra drives in the car to hear more! Kirby did a fantastic job creating the different characters, and his timing was impeccable.

I am always drawn to things that challenge the status quo, so when I saw that this was a story that painted Santa Claus in a completely new way, I was intrigued. I am glad that I took a chance on this book! Although Krampus is not a new figure, and the author clearly did his research (!), he was presented in a new, almost sympathetic way. While listening to the book, I honestly had to think about who I was rooting for many times. All characters were drawn with complex brush strokes, allowing me to really 'get to know' each one of them along the way.

I have to admit, the story did plunge a little bit into the Stephen King realm for me at times, but I'm not sure that was a bad thing. I think it may have been a necessary addition to the story in terms of tying things all together at the end.

If you like dark tales and looking at the established in a new way, please take a look at this. It will not disappoint!

22 people found this helpful

Wasted Potential

I really thought the story was a great idea: villain protagonist, Krampus vs. Santa.

Very quickly, I grew bored of it. The main character, Jesse, is unsympathetic with a daughter used for easy "humanizing" points, but it still falls far too short. Krampus constantly mentions that he has gall and is clever...but at no point does he really display gall or cleverness. He is probably the single stupidest main character I have ever experienced. Every decision he makes is the wrong one, but you never feel bad for him because if he would take five seconds to ever think, he would realize he was making an incredibly stupid mistake. So, you don't feel bad for him when it obviously blows up in his face. Now, there's nothing wrong with having a dumb protag, but he shows no other redeeming qualities: not only is he stupid, but he's cowardly, and greedy as well.

In fact, it almost feels like the author was mocking Southerners with all of the human characters as being nothing but trailer trash.

In fact, almost the entire cast is unsympathetic: Santa is a brute, Krampus is deranged/psychotic, the estranged wife is stupid. The only ones I found the slightest bit sympathetic was Isabelle, Vernon, Abigail (for having two really, really, really stupid parents, she was little more than a plot device).

Narrator is pretty good, though his Southern accent could use some work.

8 people found this helpful

Unbelievably bleak

Full disclosure, I only listened to the first four hours of Krampus. I love horror and was really excited to hear a good Christmas horror story. Unfortunately, it was so incredibly depressing that I didn't want to invest any more energy in it. That is a commendation to the author to be able to create such a strong response, but for me, the bleakness was far too unrelenting. The writing is good but just brings you down, hard.

Perhaps the glory of the ending makes up for the beginning but I could not get through it. An occasional moment of hope is all it would have taken for me to continue listening. It was hours of ouch.

The story premise is interesting but if you're deeply effected by books, beware. If you have issues with child custody or poverty it will be an especially hard read.

3 people found this helpful

This book is Worth it. Buy this book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The narrator makes all the different characters come alive and have real passion. I'm glad I got this on audio. This is a real interesting look at some of the alternate traditions for Christmas and a subtle and not so subtle poke at the commercialism that has come to be Christmas and lake of true spirit of the holiday reminding everyone to be good to each other and enjoy life and probably a look at some of the pagan traditions of that year made up or real. Its really fun.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Krampus definitely. He's part savage elemental spirit, whiny child, Yule lord and noble lord and cruel Santa. His performed voice was memorable and captivating.

Have you listened to any of Kirby Heyborne’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I haven't listened to any other of Kirby Heborne's performances, but I'll certainly be on the look out for them. This book would only be half as good with out his voice to perform it and he really performs it and doesn't just read it to us. I listened to the books all day for two days because I couldn't put it down.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"It is good to be terrible" Krampus The Yule Lord.

Any additional comments?

Buy the book, you'll enjoy it, just don't listen with young children there is a lot of cussing by evil characters and some vulgar talk from a bad guy. but other than that it is awesome.

11 people found this helpful

It's Good to be Terrible

The headline is one of the quote's from Krampus. This was a fun book that has it's hand in Norse mythology, paganism, Santa and Christianity. At times it's hard to say who is the bad guy and who is the hero, but that's what makes this book fun. The setting, rural/small town West Virginia, also makes the book fun, there are some real characters. If you are super religious I doubt you will like this, the author kind of skewers the Christian cult, which is yet another reason this book is interesting. Some of the voices can get a little obnoxious eventually, but Heyborne's voice for Krampus is fantastic and just makes the Yule Lord that much more compelling.

20 people found this helpful

aBROMination

SANTA CLAUS IS AN ABOMINATION
At one time Santa Claus and Krampus were the best of friends. Then the egotistical Claus sucker punched Krampus and chained him under ground. Santa Claus won the fight and rewrote the history books. He had so much power that Christians worship him today and put up trees in his honor, even though Santa stole that idea from the Yule Tide Lord. The Christians hated Krampus, who honored Mother Nature, because his parties included lots of drinking and getting naked.

THE ANSWER TO ALL RIDDLES SEEM EASY ONCE YOU KNOW THEM
Krampus is unfamiliar in America, but is well known in Germany and other European Countries. Brom did a lot of research for this book, which makes it that much better. This is not as good as NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, but it is the next best thing.

39 people found this helpful