Podcast Review #50: Nocturnal
originally published October 11, 2010
Title: Nocturnal
Author: Scott Sigler
Genre: Horror
Released: 15 August 2008 – 19 December 2008
Located: iTunes, Podiobooks, Author’s Site
Formats Available: Podcast
Rating: R for violence, gore and sexual situations
Continuing with our month of October reviews of the strange, the scary, the podcasts that go bump in the night, we bring you Scott Sigler’s Nocturnal.
So, on to the review.
Synopsis: Something lives deep beneath the streets of San Francsico. Something that has been there for centuries, something that comes out at night … to feed on the dregs of society. A sub-culture, with its own myths, its own legends of leader named The King that will lead them out of bondage, and their own demon, a hunting shadow known only as Savior.
But the legends of Savior’s brutality have faded, the fear passed into stories told to frighten the young ones. When The King finally appears, just as foretold, the Nocturnals know their time has come — the time to come out from under the streets and hunt humanity in the open. (stolen from the author’s site)
Production: By the time Mr. Sigler began podcasting Nocturnal, he was far from a noobie in the podcasting field. With Nocturnal, however, Mr. Sigler decided to try something a bit different and began with adding a few sound effect elements into the production. Most of the time, I’m all for spicing up audio. In this case though, the effects seemed somewhat forced (although, a bone breaking snap early on really did make me wince). I’ve a feeling Mr. Sigler felt similarly, because as the production continued, the effects diminished. I haven’t mentioned The Story so Far in quite a while. I still hate them. I am noticing fewer and fewer podcasts using this device though. Although I definitely don’t take credit for this, I wouldn’t be being truthful if I suggested I wasn’t thrilled by the fact. However, the reason I mention TSSF now, is that Mr. Sigler was able to get some really interesting guests to read for TSSF for him. No particular favorites… oh who am I kidding… Tee’s reading was absolutely priceless.
Cast: Calling any of Mr. Sigler’s stories a straight read would be like saying the cast of Ben Hur was limited to one. However, he is the only voice telling the story. If you haven’t heard any of Mr. Sigler’s other stories, you only need give one a listen to know what I mean.
Story: Nocturnal is a bit different from Mr. Sigler’s previous stories in that it is more of a story of a group of people with a unique genetic trait than it is a pure creature feature. The creatures in this story are also sentient, making it possible for Mr. Sigler to give us points of view from both sides of the table.
Verdict: Mr. Sigler knows how to tell a good story. Some of course are better than others. In my hierarchy of Sigler stories, this fits in somewhere between Earthcore and his Contagious series. My favorite of his books continue to be his Rookie series followed by Ancestor. As in all Sigler stories, no character is safe. Nocturnal had a lot of things that going for it, but it failed to deliver in a few others. Disagree? Tell me why.
Disclosure: I have purchased several of Mr. Sigler’s books and I have listened to all his podcasts. I follow him on Twitter though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t follow me (truthfully, I don’t know for sure and I haven’t checked). I’ve never met him, and I wasn’t offered a dang thing in return for this review, not even a ride in a plaid tank. Though, now that I think about it, I probably better be keeping a look out for them, starting……now.
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