Song of Kali (Unabridged‪)‬

Welcome to Hell!
Simmons brings his usual menagerie of artfully arranged terror, misery, and horror, spiced with the sweaty foulness of the slums of the subcontinent. The ending fizzles a bit, but otherwise a rollicking good ride.

But still awesome. Honestly, his story ideas put King to shame with their originality. Here, the horror of Calcutta in the 1970s doesn't need much dressing up. It's gruesome enough all on its own. I found the ending quite interesting. The main character is faced with a choice, and takes the road less traveled. Buy it.

“Song of Kali” was originally published in 1985 and it won the 1986 World Fantasy Award. I think it well deserved the award, but I’ll bet there were a few Kolkata city boosters and Hindus who weren’t too thrilled about it. As a New Yorker though, I can say with confidence that having your city’s squalor flaunted in a story by a great author isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And look at the horror guff the Catholics have taken. ;)
“Song of Kali” is Dan Simmons at his best. It’s literate, adult horror that doesn’t depend on the supernatural for its kick. The setting is fantastically exotic for Western readers at least, and Simmons makes it a powerful stage for this story of the terrible, inexplicable randomness of suffering and pain.
It’s a great story, made even better for me because I have the bad habit of trying to guess the ending of fictional books - and I like it when I’m wrong.