REVIEW: The Charnel Caves by Guy N Smith

 

Before I begin my review of THE CHARNEL CAVES I need to disclose that, whist I've read loads of books by Guy N Smith, his renowned 'Crabs' series has remained somewhat elusive to me (it's kinda hard getting hold of those glorious paperbacks in Australia in 2022!), meaning...CHARNEL CAVES is my first foray into the renowned creature feature series by the perennial horror master. 

THE CHARNEL CAVES is the eighth (not including graphic novels, chap books, or short story collections) and final book in the series.  

Note to first time 'Crabs' series readers - this is not the place to start. You will have fun but I strongly recommend taking to the time to read the other books in the series - I felt this would've been much more enjoyable with all that detailed backstory to support the cruel crustacean invasion! 

Now that's all out of the way - what did I think of the book? 

Well...it had its moments...

THE CHARNEL CAVES sees a small resurgence of the long thought extinct monster crabs following a spate of gruesome human deaths off the Welsh coast. However, whilst the crabs would prove to be the culprits, author Guy N Smith does his best to impress upon the reader a new threat! One more menacing than those pesky overgrown crabs (read the book to find out what)! 

While the smoke and mirrors added a little something extra to the sea food broth, ultimately, THE CHARNEL CAVES is about those famous monster crabs and their never ending thirst for human flesh. 

Kept largely to a small cave, the group of crabs manage to cause a lot of chaos. Enter Pat, a character from a previous installment (I think...) who had faced these monsters previously and lived to tell the tale. He's on the coast to conquer his fears, much to the chagrin of his partner. What was meant to be a form of therapy for Pat turns into warfare, as once, again, man verses beast in a final battle to determine who is the dominant species once and for all!

Spoiler - it's the humans. 

THE CHARNEL CAVES is all killer, no filler. On the surface this seems like a good deal for readers, however both plot and character development suffer. Even the threat of world war three doesn't add much depth. It's almost as if THE CHARNEL CAVES was written for a graphic novel, in which case, the scrip and pace would've been perfect.  

Overall, I still enjoyed popping my Crabs cherry with THE CHARNEL CAVES. If anything it's got me even more eager to hunt down all the books in the series!