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Dechentreiter Thing
$4.99
Description
A Novella by M. Daddy Longlegs
A story that delves into the darkness of the human psyche through a series of murder confession letters. With an unreliable narrator at the helm, the story weaves together multiple threads: a cosmic conflict between brothers, a harrowing baby abduction, an insidious illness with no cure in sight, ghostly apparitions, a chilling exorcism, and the emergence of sinister, otherworldly machinery.
Blending elements of black comedy, fantasy, mystery, horror, and science fiction, The Dechentreiter Thing offers a multifaceted exploration of human nature and life’s most profound struggles. But it doesn’t stop there—brace yourself for a shocking ending that will leave you questioning everything and searching for hidden meanings within the narrative’s cryptic depths.
Genres: Sci-fi, Time Travel, Soft Horror, Epistolary, Transgender, Coarse Language.
Words Count: 30,000 (Approx)
Paolo Baroni –
Elder Prince is a full-time game developer and a good storyteller, and he wrote this novella to fund his upcoming projects. English is not his native language, and although the flow may sometimes be weak, this story still shines.
Project Dechentreiter blends many genres – and that is no easy task to achieve for an amateur writer – meaning it won’t excel in any of them, but will be pretty good overall. The premise is engaging, and I’ve been hooked by the compelling characters I was introduced to. I was so hyped by the climax that I still have mixed feelings about the ending. Hopefully a second read-through will help me make my mind!
I won’t spoil anything, but give it a chance, believe me.
Hope to see many more reviews about this ebook!
NOTE: I’ve read Project Dechentreiter for free as a beta-reader, English is not my native language (but I’m pretty good at it).
P4s –
I am an occasional reader. I read all sorts of books – sci-fi, fantasy, detectives, dramas, comedies, you name it. I like when a story is engaging and gives me food for thought that lasts longer than the original reading.
This book with a hard-to-pronounce title (maybe because I am no Dutch) is one of those books that have a kind of twist that will keep you wondering even when you’re done with the story. It’s hard to name it an exact genre – rather, it’s a combination of sci-fi, thriller, dark drama and things in between.
However, the best thing about it – and it proves the author’s potential in novel writing – is that the story correctly uses some classic ideas of time warping and cause-consequence (which one is the first?). It’s very hard to do, small mishap and the entire construct becomes nonsense. Here it is not the case, it’s done right and was the book’s main attraction for me until the last page. It will rise a bunch of questions when you’re done with the story and you might even find some hidden connections on the second read.
Overall, the story is split in two parts. First is like an introduction – it gets you familiar with the characters and environment. Second is the story itself. For me, when I was done with the first part, I didn’t feel like reading further. However, I went on – and lucky me. The second part changes everything.
First part might be overly dark and pessimistic. It reminds me of one of those tragic slice-of-life novels you wish you have never read because they leave you empty and desperate with no reason or salvation. In Project Dechentreiter, however, it does an important job of giving you context to the whole thing.
Second parts expands onto the idea greatly. Here the author is showing full strength of his imagination. This is when you don’t let go of the book until you finish it – there’s that ticklish feeling of “what’s going to become just now?”. The end is near and you are starting to understand the author idea and what’s going to become… yet the end is not the end, the story continues but you’ll have to think of it yourself because it wraps around and could be retold infinitely. The fact that the author managed to pull this trick is alone enough to justify giving this book a chance.
Bottomline: while not a masterpiece you’d expect from a renowned writer, Project Dechentreiter is definitely worth a read unlike one of those silly books you’d throw into the trash right after reading a few first pages. It’s well-round and has some deep meaning. Given that the author continues writing more stories I see good potential for him to eventually create extremely engaging plots that you’d be happy to buy in bulk.
Liesel Booker –
If you like sci-fi, time travel, alternate realities, or all of the above, this is the book for you. Elder Prince’s impressive debut book offers a unique perspective on the nature of time travel. The two main characters, Jonas and his little brother Thomas, are very real and well-developed, letting you feel sympathy for both of them even though they’re technically antagonists. This book is highly recommended.
Kristopher Latter –
I came into this book on a recommendation, and didn’t really know what to expect. I tend to be very wary of science fiction stories that center around a theme of time travel. Usually you end up with a story that focuses entirely on a very specific plot thread with little character development, and more often still, you tend to end up with a story that is a tangled and frustrating paradox that leaves you feeling wholly unsatisfied. Thankfully, it’s pulled off here. The time travel element of this story is not incredibly complex (it serves to help tell the story, it isn’t solely the story), and therefore it was practical for the author to keep it easily understandable and internally consistent. The story works, and as a short novella it is one of those you really can’t talk about without spoiling it.
As pointed out by the other reviewers, English is clearly not the author’s first language, but this really made the novel for me. It added an incredible amount of charm. The text is professionally edited (as acknowledged in an afterword in the novel), so be assured that at no point will you be left confused or distracted by improper grammar/spelling. In point of fact, it is exactly the phrasing and structure of the prose that give this story all of its depth. You will come across some sentences that seem strange to English ears, but actually make you think about the words being said in a way that one would ordinarily casually glance over. I love these moments in writing, when there are ideas being expressed in a way that only works because of the use of the written word. I really couldn’t help but see my through to the end of this story after just the first couple of pages. I absolutely loved coming across the sometimes fantastic, sometimes unusual, and sometimes awkward sentences, because they made me think of a written story in a way I never really had up to this point.
There is a sequence that talks about how the process of writing a story (you think about the end, then maybe the beginning, then some middle parts, then maybe you work on the end again), is a way that a writer demonstrates a form of simple time travel as he jumps to moments that exist beyond moments he has yet to go back and create. Loved it.
This novel just really struck me in that cult indie movie way. I had the type of feeling I did when coming across something crazy special like a Donnie Darko. It is exactly the kind of thing that I, myself, couldn’t possibly try to create on purpose, because it would come off as seeming shallow and trying too hard. Whether entirely on purpose, or as a matter of circumstance, this novel is something I won’t forget for a long time. Suffice it to say, I’m glad I read it.
Michael (from Goodreads) –
Elder Prince’s novella ‘Project Dechentreiter’ is a story about time travel told mainly in the form of letters/emails from Jonas Barnes to his aunt, as well as transcriptions of YouTube audio clips passed along as links within the email. (I’ve been a sucker for stories that forward the plot through letter/newspaper articles/etc ever since I first ran across Stephen King doing so in the 80’s.)
Jonas tells the story of his estranged brother Thomas – who has gone off the deep-end from jealousy towards his older brother (and favored son), so with a nod to Victor Frankenstein’s method of creating “life”, transforms an old combine harvester into a stargate/wormhole/time-travelling device. Cue cosmic horror à la H.P. Lovecraft & Stephen King’s ‘IT’.
Very recommended.
Diane (didi) –
This is a science fiction novel based on space time travel. Throw in some good humor, a broken family with some serious issues and two crazed brothers (one more than the other; which one that is I’ll leave up to you to decide) and you’ve got yourself the perfect novel. If you like science fiction and you’re up for a short but entertaining read, then I’m pretty sure you’re gonna love this book. I know I really did. Found myself turning page after page eagerly wanting to know what crazy thing would happen next. It’s not just about the time travel though. There is a deeper meaning to this story about life in general when you see what both brothers have to go through, the decisions they decide to make and where those decisions take them. The end I believe, will leave you quite fascinated.
I also love the way in which the novel is written where each brother tells his story through letter correspondences to their aunt. I think it makes the story more engaging this way,and tells what’s really inside of the mind of the person relating the story, rather than long descriptive, and sometimes unnecessary narrations.
This truly is a good read. On the plus side, its a short novel so if you don’t always have the time to read lengthy novels, this makes for a good entertaining evening read.
Kandice (from Goodreads) –
I have to be honest and say I was given this book by the author. I put off reading it longer than I should have because he and I have become “friends” and I was worried about writing a review if I disliked it. Thank goodness I loved it!
The idea is infinitely clever. Time travel is not an original plot, of course, but the way Prince writes about it is very original. I love epistolary novels and that’s what this was. Letters (and emails) can move a story along, and although they necessitate a first person narrative, that’s fine, especially when the letter writer changes, and consequently, so does the POV.
This is the story of a bad father and the jealousy he creates in his sons. I hated the father. Really, really hated him. I disliked the sons as well, but felt they were destined to be a-holes because they grew up in his house. The story is about how these sons try to right their father’s wrongs, get what they deserve and keep the other from getting what they do not deserve. Typical family, right?
I don’t like to summarize plot in reviews because I hate spoiling it for others, but cannot stress enough how much I liked the writing. It reminded me of a young Stephen King. Maybe a bit of Word Processor of the Gods, The End of the Whole Mess, and Other Stories, and even a bit of Revival because there is definitely a mad scientist/Frankenstein vibe going on in these pages.
I’m anxious to read whatever he writes next.
Nicole (from Goodreads) –
This is such a great book and I am glad I had the opportunity to read it. The style and plot were perfect and the story moved at a great pace. Sometimes keeping my interest with other books can be hard to do, but Elder Prince succeeded where others have failed. I am looking forward to reading more of his work and definitely will recommend this book to others!
M. (from Goodreads) –
I was drawn by the cover and intrigued by the blurb. I had to mark it as To Read.
Didn’t exactly know what to expect (like I said: enigmatic blurb) but the expectation was high. And when I finally got to it? It did NOT meet that expectation. Quite frankly, it exceeded it. I loved this story!
And here I’ll say I was fortunate to be given a free copy of this book by the author. Did it influence my review in any way?
I’m sure it didn’t. “No, I’m absolutely positive. I couldn’t be surer about it.”
I found the characters very compelling with all their human, realistic flaws; all the deep, raw emotions. The complex story kept my interest the whole time and I just wanted — no, I needed — to know more, and more, and more. It was very difficult to put it down the few times I had to interrupt my reading. And my curiosity about these people kept me company until I managed to get back to them; which I did as soon as possible.
Now, there were a couple of things one of the characters said that had me raising my brow at the time. But they didn’t make me enjoy him, or the story, any less. And in fact, after recalling the situations again, I think they may even be interpreted another way. Besides, many other small details were there to eclipse the brow raising ones and enrich this story.
I’m talking of Jonas’ insightful thoughts about Thomas. And of their father’s about Jonas. I’m talking of how Jonas always managed to have his priorities figured out, even under extreme stress; and how unexpectedly deep the connection between some of the characters went. And I’m talking about the reference to two series I’ve seen many a time: Back to the Future and Indiana Jones. I couldn’t agree more with Jonas, the actors who played Marty McFly and Indiana Jones owned those characters and no one could’ve done it better. 🙂
Oh, and I’m talking about the second quotation, the one by Thomas Barnes, at the beginning of the book.
Because of all of this — and much more — I raced to the finish line as fast as I could. In the end I had to stand up and pace for a few seconds after reading the last word, I liked the final twist so much. And minutes later I still had a smile on my face.
Char (from Goodreads) –
This was a time travel story combined with sci-fi and horror. It was also a tale of two brothers; one spoiled rotten, the other almost completely ignored,(other than to be worked to death by the family business. )
I enjoyed the first part of the story best. The last portion became confusing, but I was able to follow it, and at times I was even delighted with the creativity and imagination on display. But I think the writing was best when describing the childhood of the two brothers and how their twisted relationship developed.
I did notice a few instances of grammatical errors, but they were of the type that made me believe that English was not the first language of the author. (Later that belief was affirmed when I read in the epilogue that this book was originally written in French.)
Overall, this was a fun, unique, imaginative story and I hope the author continues producing stories like this one.
Recommended for fans of horror and/or weird tales!
Nick Iuppa (Author) –
A wild ride across parallel dimensions on a repurposed German-made Combine Harvester. Specifically, a Lely Dechentreiter.
The story – told in letters to favorite aunts – involves fraternal love and jealousy brought about by a father’s misguided insistence on primogenitor. This turns one of his two sons into a skilled (but self-serving) bureaucratic marshmallow and the other into a deformed, conflicted, kidnapping, murderous (but brilliant) scientist.
Lots of fun.