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Title: Sister of Darkness: The Chronicles of a Modern Exorcist
Year: 2018
Writer: R.H. Stavis with Sarah Durand
Review:
This was a book that I got the chance to check out thanks to Laura McGregor. Now if you know me, I review horror movies as a hobby. I’ve recently started to venture out into books and other forms of media. Getting the chance to read something that is based in the real world and from the point of view of an exorcist by the name of R. H. Stavis intrigued me greatly. This book is Sister of Darkness: The Chronicles of a Modern Exorcist.
Let me get this out of the way, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God or organized religion. I won't tell anyone else how to live their lives, it is just for me it doesn't make sense. Rachel, who is the exorcist who wrote this book, is a spiritualist. What I find interesting here is that she and I follow a similar look at religion. The only difference is that she believes all religions do exist and work in unison with each other. If you truly follow Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or even the ideas of Greek mythology then this concept should also work for you since the stories all seem like variations on each other’s. I do find it interesting the take that she believes that they all exist. This shocked and impressed me.
Now for this book here, she recounts her early life and how she got into being an exorcist. It is following the life events she dealt with. I'll be honest, my heart went out to her as she described her home life growing up and how scary it was for her since she could see evil entities all around. There is uplifting aspects here as she faced her issues and now is successful. She has done writing for video games, television and things to this effect, which again impressed me. I'm also a bit jealous as that's my dream job.
To get into the meat of the book though, she details the different entities that she has seen out there. They fall into different categories that she's made up like Clives, borrowing the first name of one of my favorite writers in Clive Barker for how nightmarish they look. She also describes different ones like Wraiths, Tricksters, the Sandman and Realm Walkers. She recounts her encounters with these and how she's exorcised most of these entities from people. I'll bring up something here that I've said in previous reviews. I've not seen anything to make me believe these things exist. Since I base my life on facts and evidence, I also have nothing to refute her beliefs. I believe that she has seen things that she has here. On my end, I can't corroborate, but I also won't say that she is wrong and couldn't see these things.
What I also like here is that she gives her advice to help feel better. It is things from doing kind acts toward people you'd otherwise not. She prescribes healthy eating, which isn't a shocker that the better things you put in your body, the better you will feel. I'll also say that I love her writing style. It was easy to read and every time I sat down with time to continue, it was hard to stop from continuing. Rachel sounds like a fascinating person and I'm annoyed that my schedule currently doesn't allow me to do an interview. I don't necessarily know if it would be the most professional. I don’t know if I could just focus on her being an exorcist and the crazy things that come from it. It might end up being more of just picking her brain about different as well as the people that she rubs elbows with. There are couple sections here recounting interactions with the Soska twins. I've known of them for years since they're horror movie directors.
This is a book that I would recommend to people who are religious. I'm not saying this to challenge your religion. I think that things that she said fall in line with the beliefs associated with the teachings you follow, but it also gives a different perspective. Rachel says things that got me thinking about things in my own life. This book is fascinating whether you want to look at it as fiction, if you don't agree with her, or if you want to learn more about what she does. This was a fast read for me, especially with the limited time that I dedicated to it. I'd recommend giving it a read, especially if you're struggling with life and need to ground yourself. You might also just need an exorcism.
My Rating: 8 out of 10