Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780812562835
ISBN number: 0812562836
Label: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc
Page Count: 344
Printing Date: 1998-01
Publishing house: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc
Sale Popularity Level: 1958659
Studio: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc
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The First Horseman of the Apocalypse is Death. Soon after a preacher discovers that he has the power to heal, he finds he will need all of this new ability to counter the effects of a strange car that arrives in town. The driver is definitely a murderer and possibly a demon. When the preacher reluctantly takes a stand to try to save a young girl, the battle against evil is joined and the countdown to the millennium begins.
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Rated by buyers 
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The Rev. Casey Chisolm lives in Maple Landing, a small New Jersey town located on the banks of the Delaware River. A complex man who enjoys serving the needs of his small flock, he functions as a sort of moral compass for the people of the village. It is a responsibility he gladly accepts, since it distracts him from his weighty personal problems.
Outwardly a quiet town, Maple Landing has its secrets. Middle aged women lust for teenage boys; drug money is being used to corner the town's small real estate market; a father mercilessly beats his young daughter. Chisolm deals with these problems as best he can, despite his feelings of inadequacy.
Recently recovered from walking pneumonia, Chisolm finds himself at the center of a strange series of events. Miraculously, he seems to command a swarm of angry bees to cease their savage attack on a van full of tourists. Then, he briefly resurrects the corpse of a burn victim. Chisolm and the people of Maple Landing are stunned by his unexplained power. Already unnerved by endless days of sweltering heat, the unexplained sound of hoofbeats on the streets of their town, and by a church bell that tolls by itself, the townspeople look to Casey for answers.
Pondering the significance of these events, Chisolm muses that they may be linked to the end of the Millennium. Some of the town folk scoff; others embrace the notion. Unfortunately for them all, Chisolm's theories prove to be true.
Death, in the form of a white Continental, is approaching Maple Landing. The huge car, a ghost from a bygone era, slowly makes its way across the United States. The driver of the car, known only as Susan, knows her purpose--to meet and do battle with Rev. Chisolm. To that end, she has gathered a group of social outcasts who help her wreak havoc across America.
In preparation for her confrontation with Chisolm, Susan unleashes her death squad in Arkansas and West Virginia. These attacks leave dozens dead, homeless, and shell shocked. But these events are only preludes to the destruction planned for Maple Landing. Susan, the embodiment of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, longs to battle her real foe, the unsuspecting Rev. Chisolm. The two finally clash, nearly leveling Maple Landing in the process.
Symphony is the very first in a planned quartet dealing with the Four Horsemen described in Revelations. Grant mines the rich vein of apocalyptic legend to good advantage, updating and modernizing the legends to suit his purposes. For instance, Susan, who I presume is Death, drives a white Continental. From the opening scene, it is clear the car is lumbering towards a date with destiny. Grant manages to use its slow approach to Maple Landing to increase the tension by degrees--I haven't been this unnerved by an automobile since I encountered the grey sixty-six Chevy featured so prominently in Joe Lansdale's The Nightrunners.
Once again, Grant demonstrates his mastery of understated, subtle horror. In Symphony, he takes the overwhelming concept of the Apocalypse and reduces it to a smaller, more human scale. Instead of dealing with global cataclysm, Symphony focuses on the struggles of a single man whose worst enemy may turn out to be himself. The intimacy of the action involves the reader on a level that a large scale epic could not match. The horror, as seen through the eyes of a few participants, is all the more compelling because of this.
Ultimately, Symphony does not answer all the questions it poses. It does, however, set up several intriguing concepts for the subsequent three volumes to explore.
Rated by buyers 
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Another on my list of Post Apocalyptic tales, Symphony is the very first book of a four part series dealing with the four horsemen of the apocalypse. While the characters are interesting, the story is filled with subplots and tangents that just go nowhere. The writer has a penchant for placing characters in interesting situation, then leaving you to assume you know what happened. Yet, at many times, you guessing, which is not good. Grant takes an interesting course with humanizing the horseman, this time War, but this was done much better in Gaimen and Pratchett's Good Omens. Here, it basically humorless. The book's ending is ambiguous at best, and while this may be OK for some series, here it just makes you want to avoid picking up the subsequent installment.
Rated by buyers 
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This book is great, I have now read it 7 times and it gets better every time. It is my favorite book of the series although chariot is a close second. Everybody in the world can see a themselves in this book. Every character represents us as people and I believe that is why some people may be turned off by the book. Stephen King wish he could write this good, this blows "the stand" out of the water. Thank you Mr. Grant for writing the milennium quartet.
Rated by buyers -
Death, the very first horseman of the Apocalypse, and who is actually a woman tooling around in a car with a hood ornament shaped like a horse, comes riding into a small town to do battle with an apparently paranormally gifted minister. Author Charles Grant, as has been his style for years, pays closer to building an atmosphere of mystery and impending doom than any kind of actual story. Those looking for something that speaks in whispers and enigmas will find something to like here, others wanting something more focused on plot and answering the questions it raises should look elsewhere.
Rated by buyers -
Somebody please explain to me how this is a chronicle of the Apocalypse.
OK, so a small town in the middle of nowhere explodes into a killing frenzy. From that to the world ending is a loooong way, and Horseman Death has just gotten into a fist-fight with a priest! In the preface of "In the mood", Grant hints that it's happening all over the world. HOW CHEAP CAN YOU GET, MAN? THAT was his story, and he dodged it. It kind of sounds like a reporter supposedly in the middle of World War III covering a bar fight.
This book IS like watching the X-Files. In Greece at least, the series was over before any true revelation or breakthrough had taken place. that's what happened in the book too.
Sure, the hero is a very interesting personality and his way of dealing with an apparent ability to work miracles is well-thought-of, but that's probably where all of Grant's thinking went. The rest of the book is tasteless and meaningless. It took me a month to read. I picked up an 800-page fantasy book (I won't tell you whose or which) right after that, and had eaten through it in a week.
If you're smart like I wasn't, YOU will just skip Symphony.
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