We Sold Our Souls

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I don’t know that I’d recommend this book to just anyone, just like heavy metal isn’t for just anyone. It’s one of the more unique horror books I’ve read, and I think it requires a unique mindset. Overall, I would recommend it to a busy mom. But only if you’re looking for something really different. Something unique where you don’t mind feeling grunge-y or grimey the whole time you’re reading. I’d especially recommend it for autumn and right around Halloween! Rating Needless to say, I was super excited to read this novel by one of my favorite horror authors. Hendrix has given me several incredible reads as I knew going into “We Sold Our Souls” that it would be another fun thrill ride in horror. Now, before I jump into my review, let me go over some trigger warnings.

Surveillance is the business model of the internet for two primary reasons: people like free and people like convenient. The truth is, though, that people aren’t given much of a choice. It’s either surveillance or nothing and the surveillance is conveniently invisible so you don’t have to think about it. And it’s all possible because laws have failed to keep up with changes in business practices. I have been seeing Grady Hendrix’s name around on Goodreads for ages, and I’ve been curious: tongue-in-cheek horror, how is that supposed to work? I usually like my horror cosmic and existentialist (I am a basket of giggles, I know!), but at the same time, how does one resist the hook of musicians selling their souls for success? It’s the oldest trope in the book since Robert Johnson (and winked at hilariously in “Jennifer’s Body”, if you can stand Megan Fox). And while I lean more towards punk, I like to think I know my metal well enough to appreciate how much geeking out about the genre Hendrix stuffed in this novel (you don’t have to listen to metal to read this, by the way, but if you do, the references and winks – not to mention the dressing down of nu metal – will make you snort incessantly). The ending to “We Sold Our Souls” was one of the most epic metal endings I’ve ever read in a novel. There’s a lot of meaning behind it as I was left in awe, jaw on the floor, just loving every moment of it. It’s hard to explain without giving it away but let’s just say, if you’re into metal, horror, the power of song lyrics, and an incredible look into the world of metal, this is a must-read novel. This revelation prompts Kris to hit the road, reunite with the rest of her bandmates, and confront the man who ruined her life. It’s a journey that will take her from the Pennsylvania rust belt to a Satanic rehab center and finally to a Las Vegas music festival that’s darker than any Mordor Tolkien could imagine. A furious power ballad about never giving up, even in the face of overwhelming odds, We Sold Our Souls is an epic journey into the heart of a conspiracy-crazed, paranoid country that seems to have lost its very soul…where only a girl with a guitar can save us all. My Thoughts

Credits (13)

Kris hasn’t even touched her guitar in over 6 years. On a quest to find out what happened, Kris decides to finally visit all members of the band Dürt Würk. She wants to know why she feels despair and dead inside! This novel was full of batshit craziness, but still managed to tell a meaningful story that even incorporated an important existentialist message, with a tinge of absurdism thrown in for good measure. This novel’s main message is that individualism ought to be celebrated and that we must fight to escape the encroaching bonds of dominant forces that seek to turn us into sheep who follow blindly where others lead. Grady Hendrix does this by using his storyline about a washed up heavy metal guitarist who is fighting against the forces that destroyed her 11 years ago. This story becomes an allegory of one's woman's lifelong journey to find her identity in an indifferent world.

A] clever, addictive vampire thriller....This powerful, eclectic novel both pays homage to the literary vampire canon and stands singularly within it.” As Kris rallies herself and sets off on a journey she never anticipated, the gaps in her memory take form as much for the reader as for her mission. Although completely from Hendrix's imagination, I couldn't help but get a "Lovecraftian" vibe from this novel--I mean that as the highest compliment.For most of the book, I was planning on giving this five stars but I thought there were a few too many unanswered questions at the end. The ending was satisfying but felt like it was missing something just the same, like when you don't have any bay leaves and decide to make the soup anyway. The world is a prison, and only heavy metal can save our souls in this darkly comic riff on the Faust legend. Horrorstör delivers a crisp terror-tale...[and] Hendrix strikes a nice balance between comedy and horror.” It’s better to experience this bitchin’ of a book that involves heavy metal and finding the will to keep moving forward. If there was a genre that encompassed music, horror and fantasy all together then We Sold Our Souls would be at the forefront of it. It's so hard to say where this book should sit in a library or bookstore. It has magic, bloody killings, musical influence (including as many fictional bands as real ones mentioned) and an overall atmosphere that bleeds dread. It could be called a thriller. I could even see some calling it an inspirational story about doing what you know is right. Seriously it just has so much rolled into it.

National treasure Grady Hendrix follows his classic account of a haunted IKEA-like furniture showroom, Horrorstor (2014), with a nostalgia-soaked ghost story, My Best Friend’s Exorcism.” As the novel progressed further into "unknown territory", I still felt as though it was the "natural" way this story had to unfold. All these computers produce data about what they’re doing and a lot of it is surveillance data. It’s the location of your phone, who you’re talking to and what you’re saying, what you’re searching and writing. It’s your heart rate. Corporations gather, store and analyse this data, often without our knowledge, and typically without our consent. Based on this data, they draw conclusions about us that we might disagree with or object to and that can affect our lives in profound ways. We may not like to admit it, but we are under mass surveillance.I’d been meaning to read something by Grady Hendrix for ages, so I jumped at the chance to review We Sold Our Souls. I’d heard so many of my friends rave about his writing in general, but as a metalhead, I was especially sold on the idea of an entire horror story revolving around this washed-up former metal star and her old bandmate’s essential deal with the devil to gain his fame. Overall, I loved Hendrix's style and the way he incorporated the band's beginning, end, and things that occurred in between, in such a manner that it all felt right--that this was the only way it could have happened. There was never a point where I felt that too much information was being thrown at me just to get it out there. Rather, the pacing was set so well that we are able to glean just as much information as we need, when we need it.