Review: "Beast Saves the Brothers and Sisters of the Cosmic I AM"

Beast Saves the Brothers and Sisters of the Cosmic I AM by G.W. Davies

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Book Info: Genre: Fiction Reading Level: Adult

Disclosure: I won a free eBook copy of this book on LibraryThing, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: This genre-bending tale tells the story of Hartley Finn, aka Beast, as he follows cult leaders Bo and Peep to the Last Stop, a hippie commune in the mountains of Montana where the Brothers and Sisters of the Cosmic I AM await the arrival of their Space Brothers. But no sooner does he arrive than the free-loving façade cracks and a schism occurs, leaving the Brothers and Sisters hopelessly split between Bo and Peep, and Chad Barker, jazz trumpeter extraordinaire and incorrigible junkie. To make matters worse, a psychopath is on the loose among them, methodically stalking and attacking the Brothers and Sisters. When Bo and Peep turn to Beast for help, he uses Magick and just plain old muscle to try and straighten things out before the Arrival. But is it enough to save the Last Stop and the Brothers and Sisters of the Cosmic I AM?

My Thoughts: I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I started reading this thing - I mean, obviously the idea appealed to me or I wouldn’t have signed up for the giveaway, but would it be funny or serious? Realistic or fantastical? Honestly, it was a bit of everything. Bo and Peep were indeed based on those people: Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, who founded Heaven’s Gate. Only this was way back in the 1970s when they first got started. John Lennon and George Harrison are characters, although they are never explicitly named – only hinted at. Beast is not only fascinated with the Cosmic I AM, but also with Aleister Crowley, which is where he came up with his name. There are some really funny moments – dark humor, but funny all the same. Strangely, it made me nostalgic for the days of hippies and free love – although I was only born in 1970, I feel strangely drawn to that lifestyle. Maybe it’s a past-life thing, just like my fascination with Druids and the Wild West. There were some really quite serious moments, too – it was, all-in-all, a sort of comprehensive picture of what being sucked into a cult would be like, as well as the general sort of atmosphere of a commune.

Technically it was fairly well-written; there were some editing issues, but they weren’t overwhelming. There were several instances in which Millie was called Lisa, which really confused me the first time it happened, until I figured out it was a typo. A final editing pass wouldn’t hurt things, but it isn’t too bad and most people should be able to overlook it. I quite liked the book, overall. If it sounds like something you would like, I’d say go for it.



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