Morium, by S.J. Hermann

My Rating: 4/5 stars (I really liked it!)

I received a free ePub of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In the first volume of Morium, a trilogy for adults or readers in their late teens, we meet Nathan and Lexi, mutual pariahs at the small-town high school they attend. Nathan’s parents are consumed with managing their family-owned restaurant, while Lexi’s unemployed father struggles to make ends meet after her mother’s death. With nowhere else to turn, they become fast friends, sharing the pain of being taunted and bullied.

Stacy, a tomboy who moved to Westview just over a year ago, becomes a natural ally when she, too, is bullied by the popular teens at school. Her tendency to exchange barb for barb with her tormentors is something that Lexi, who turns inward and cuts herself to relieve her frustration, admires and could potentially benefit from. Stacy’s aplomb provides a healthy foil to Nathan’s broodiness, and her presence provides some relief from what is potentially an unwholesome intensity between Nathan and Lexi.

Then the night arrives when Nathan and Lexi find some luminescent stones in the woods. Handling the otherworldly stones changes the two friends, granting them supernatural powers. At first Nathan simply seems to possess a newfound confidence; but when Tyler, his most vicious tormentor, mocks Lexi, Nathan’s anger and hatred are unleashed, and he kills the popular athlete while attempting to protect her. Horrified, Lexi makes him promise to resist the unnatural powers they’ve both acquired. Having devoured one soul, however, Nathan is unable to resist feeding on more…

While the supernatural element will undoubtedly appeal to teens, the complex social issues explored in this compelling novel are what really hit home. The teen years are naturally filled with insecurity and a quest for self-identity and meaning; but for a generation that has experienced the dissolution of families, a depressed economy, school shootings, an increase in teen drug abuse, and a dearth of positive role models from whom to derive a solid moral compass, this novel addresses their weltschmerz. The sense of longing for something better implied by this term is not yet absent in Lexi, but can she fight her own disillusionment and despair to save her friend Nate?

***Watch the trailer!***

About the Author

Author S.J. Hermann — Click photo to go to S.J. Hermann’s blog spot

To read an interview with the author by writer and blogger Eeva Lancaster, click HERE.

S.J. Hermann currently resides in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, IL. When he’s not thinking of stories to write, you can find him in front of a blank canvas or paper. He recently self-published his debut novel, Morium, available on Amazon. He’s always thinking of things to write about as long as they involve supernatural, paranormal (no romance), science fiction, and horror. Currently he is working on book two in the Morium trilogy, with another novel in the plot development stage.

S.J Hermann is an avid fan of The Walking Dead and, more recently, Z Nation. (You guessed it, he enjoys anything to do with zombies!)

He’s also an avid roller coaster fan who has ridden more than 40 different coasters throughout his life. His favorite genres to read are paranormal, supernatural, science fiction, and horror. Max Brooks and Stephen King are his authors of choice.

S.J. Hermann is currently working on the second book in the Morium trilogy. Expected release date is late March, 2015.