Horror Book Review: Edge of the Breach – Rift Cycle Book 1 (Halo Scot)

Written by Halo Scot, Edge of the Breach (Rift Cycle Book 1) is a fantastical and brutalising horror that will shock, amaze but most importantly, entertain.

Told from the perspective of two characters from their childhoods through to their young adult lives. It takes place far into the future where an event changed the world, an event that created a hole in the sky referred to as the ‘rift’. A portal to the gods, revealing themselves to humanity and battling amongst themselves for control.

An uneasy peace has finally settled and the remains of civilisation attempt to continue in a drastically altered world. Attempting to survive within in the scraps of humanity is Rune and Kyder. Two opposites with more in common then either of them could either realise.

Kyder is a psychopath brought into this world via rape and abused by his mother daily. Slowly detaching himself from humanity and as a way to deal with his demons. Kyder utilises his abilities to maim, torture and kill anyone who crosses him.

Rune comes from a loving well-off family but is introduced as she is dying of cancer alongside her twin brother. The boy dies first and miraculously, Rune survives and is given the all clear. Initially heart-broken and unwilling to live without her twin, she eventually chooses to live life to the fullest in honour of him. This means taking more risks and doing what feels right. This leads her to joining a gang known as The Roofers.

It is here she finds her place whereas Kyder continues to struggle to find where he belongs.

Both are tragic characters and tragedy is never far from them which leads them both down paths that will inevitably cross over. Two sides of a coin, the light and the darkness…

Halo Scot’s Edge of the Breach is an excellent read, one that has wonderful fantasy elements wrapped up in savage horror and explicit sexual content. This is not a book to read to the kids before bedtime.

The world that has been created here is both interesting while being vague enough for expansion on further stories in this series. As readers we’re literally dumped in it with very little in the way of hand-holding. This is appreciated as it allows the imagination to conjure up its own images. What does the rift look like? How hellish is The Shelf where we first meet Kyder? What does the opulence of the Gods look like? Fascinating.

What are heavily detailed though are Scot’s characters and what characters they are. The main two, Kyder and Rune, are so well written. At first the latter seems like she is going to be insufferable but her growth throughout is outstanding. The former is where this book really bursts with life though and where it is at its most horrific. Kyder is a broken individual and is more than happy to break others in the most horrible and graphic ways possible.

Scot has no issue with being sickeningly descriptive and it is testament to the writing that Kyder still comes across as a sympathetic character.

While it is marked as ‘book 1’ it wraps up satisfyingly enough that if there wasn’t another in the series, it wouldn’t really be a problem. This is a complete story but few won’t want more, it’s that damn good.

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