Book Reviews
They Don’t Want to Save You
4/5
Your Favorite Band Can’t Save You
by Scotto Moore
“I was obliterated, really. Just sort of crushed into atoms. And then without warning, something gathered me up in a deep, luscious embrace and reassembled me. I could feel it–I could feel her consoling me, sweeping away the emptiness, signaling the absolute fact of something greater than both of us just out of sight.”-
Scotto Moore, Your Favorite Band Can’t Save You
About
Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You is a story of music, obsession, violence, and madness by Scotto Moore
I was home alone on a Saturday night when I experienced the most beautiful piece of music I had ever heard in my life.
Beautiful Remorse is the hot new band on the scene, releasing one track a day for ten days straight. Each track has a mysterious name and a strangely powerful effect on the band’s fans.
A curious music blogger decides to investigate the phenomenon up close by following Beautiful Remorse on tour across Texas and Kansas, realizing along the way that the band’s lead singer, is hiding an incredible, impossible secret.
My Thoughts
Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore is intriguing and quirky. I am a connoisseur of the offbeat comedy/horror book, and this story felt right at home for me. However, putting this novella into a concrete category is difficult. There are aspects of a lot of different genres present. We have horror for obvious reasons, plus a touch of science fiction. Plus, there is drama, and I also found it quite funny. It is a lot to unpack for such a short story but it manages to add bits and pieces of all the various genres affectively.
The story starts with a music blogger, home alone. He finds a “hot new band on the scene, releasing one track a day for ten days straight.” I can empathize with the main character immediately. I feel like this when I discover a new story. I want to talk about it and share it with people. The band’s name is Beautiful Remorse, and the band is creating the most glorious music he has ever heard. It speaks to his soul, probably a little too much. It makes the listener have an obsessive fascination with the band and everything it is putting out. Turns all the obsessive fan qualities up to 11.
The music blogger sets out to find out as much as possible about the band and the mysterious lead singer named Airee MacPherson.
Without much effort, he scores an interview with Airee, an invite to tour with the band, and help release the new tracks for Beautiful Remorse. Obviously, an offer that he couldn’t refuse. However, this all happened to easily. Pretty quick into the tour, he realizes there is something sinister going on, and not all is as it seems.
The lead protagonist in the story is fairly fleshed out. He embodied the geeky nerd voice of anyone talking about their absolute favorite thing; I empathized with him a lot. However, the side characters were no more than cutouts. There wasn’t much to them, which is acceptable in a book this short, 120 pages.
As I mentioned earlier, I love offbeat books. Something that is a little weird is usually up my alley. So this book worked for me and I enjoyed it. However, this book is certainly not for everyone. The sheer ridiculousness of the events that happen in the book can be a little offputting for some readers. It is a lot to take in, you have to suspend a whole lot of disbelief for the plot. But, for me as a reader that is what makes it so much fun. But, if you want to read a story with an old-fashioned grindhouse kind of flavor, Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You is great.
Check Out My Other Reviews
Review – Battle Ground by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files #17)
Review – The Ikessar Falcon by K.S Villoso
Review – We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
Beth Tabler
Elizabeth Tabler runs Beforewegoblog and is constantly immersed in fantasy stories. She was at one time an architect but divides her time now between her family in Portland, Oregon, and as many book worlds as she can get her hands on. She is also a huge fan of Self Published fantasy and is on Team Qwillery as a judge for SPFBO5. You will find her with a coffee in one hand and her iPad in the other. Find her on: Goodreads / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter
