Matt
Armageddon by Craig Alanson is another great installment in the Expeditionary Force series. The story continues as the Merry Band of Pirates begin scouting locations for a beta site, but of course things do not go as planned. Overall this was a really great book. I will say that Alanson has a tendency to repeat information a lot, but other than this redundancy I think Armageddon is a fine installment in the series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bunny by Mona Awad is a creative and compelling story about friendship, love, grad school, being a writer, and ultimately the stories we tell and inhabit. Samantha is an MFA candidate at Warren, but she isn't like the other women in her cohort. No, those women who call each other “Bunny” a clique to which Samantha does not belong. But in her final year of grad school she is invited to join the Bunny cult, and everything changes. My feelings about this book are mixed. On one hand there's a lot of important, compelling, and interesting ideas about friendship, creativity, gender, education, etc. There's also a lot of cool plot elements which seem to blend dark academia, psychological horror, and maybe even bits of other sub genres. On the other hand I found the book to be a bit confusing. Some parts of the logic and mechanics never seemed to be totally explained, probably intentionally, and Part 3 got really weird really fast. I'm not always the biggest fan of unreliable narrators or works that are intentionally unclear, and maybe that's simply my insecurity with the unpredictable and multifaceted complexity of the human experience...or something, but toward the end this book got a little muddy. The twists and turns and layers were thrilling, but at the end of the book I'm not completely sure I understand what actually happened. I guess that space of uncertainty and invitation to participate in writing my own interpretation of the novel is a valid takeaway, but at the same time I was also left with unsettling ambiguity and a longing for clarity. Maybe that was part of Awad's intention for the book? In any event, this is a good one even if somewhat confusing. Great especially for anyone who's gone through a creative graduate school program. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Grip of It by Jac Jemc was an interesting if disappointing haunted house story. Julie and James leave the city to move into a strange house in an oddly empty town. Immediately based on the description of the home I started thinking of the Winchester Mystery House, but unfortunately this aspect of the book was explored less than I desired as the book became a psychologically driven story about uncertainty and a literal haunting held in comparison to the haunting of family and trust. This is a fairly short book, and it just didn't really gel for me. Too many elements felt like they did pay off in a satisfying way. i thought the book lacked both clarity and resolution. I also have to say that I don't love the use of unreliable narrators in general. With that said, what I did enjoy was the protagonists slow descent into uncertainty and increasing levels of being unwell. That's something I haven't read in a lot of stories, which was interesting. Sadly it wasn't enough to make me feel like this book was really great. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a complimentary digital ARC of Slewfoot by Brom from Tor Nightfire via NetGalley. Slewfoot is the first book by Brom I've read, but I certainly don't think it will be the last. Slewfoot is set in seventeenth century America among the Puritans, where the widow Abitha is embroiled in conflict with her crafty brother in law over her land. Everything changes when Abitha meets a strange creature called Samson. Is he a forest god or the very devil, or perhaps both? Slewfoot is a story about oppression, injustice, hypocrisy, revenge, and redemption. It is brimming with magic, faith, and a wildness that I found utterly delightful. Some reviewers have complained that the majority of the book was slow, wishing that more pages had been as fiercely exciting as the novel's conclusion. I appreciate this, as it was a bit of a slow burn, but I think Brom has done a marvelous job of tracking Abitha and Samson's respective journeys. In order to create the fulfilling ending the reader may enjoy at the story's conclusion, we must experience the simmering boil from friction to inferno, perhaps even to the point of sympathizing with the devil...or even seeing that if the devil is present in these characters, it may not only be in the forest beast. I believe Brom's character development does just this. I am not a historian, and I cannot comment on the accuracy of Brom's portrayal of New England life, but it certainly felt grounded and fleshed out. I would highly recommend Slewfoot to fans of Eggers' The Witch, Miller's The Crucible, and of course Brom's previous works. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado is a haunting memoir revealing and reflecting upon the terrifying realities of queer domestic abuse. Machado writes in breathtakingly beautiful prose about surviving an abusive relationship. At once horror and gothic, while literary and sophisticated, experimental and real - this book is non-fiction that may appeal to those who, like me, do not often read memoirs. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard is a great Irish crime novel exploring the past and identity. This book is ultra-contemporary and is set during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some readers will not want to read this book for that reason. If that's you, scroll on. Personally I find value in using art and literature to reflect on and process reality, and I'm glad to see this difficult time recorded in a novel. Apart from the setting during the lockdown, the book was full of twists and surprises and kept me invested in the characters the whole time. I liked the two main characters and wanted to know what was going to happen next. The book's use of moving between different times felt exciting and interesting. That said, there were a couple of reasons why this was not a 5 star read for me. First: the book is told from several different points of view. At one point new information was introduced that changed what we knew about some of the characters and their motivation. For me, this was confusing because we had already read that scene narrated from that character's point of view. Imagine being inside someone's head and then discovering their perception of events wasn't how they experienced it. It just seemed a bit jarring. Second: there were a couple of Garda, and they were great characters, but their plot line just kind of ended. I didn't get a great sense of closure and I almost wondered why these characters played as much of a role in the book as they did. Apart from these criticisms I enjoyed this book. I highly recommend the audiobook, read by Alana Kerr Collins. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots and read by Alex McKenna is a great book about super villainy, what it means to be a hero, and the mix of darkness and light within us all. Anna is a hench, temping for villain after villain, but after a run in with a hero changes the course of her life, will she rise to something more? This book takes the traditional super hero narrative and subverts it, looking at the dark side of super heroics from the prospective of someone actively opposing them. It's an interesting concept, and a well written book. I really liked Anna and enjoyed watching her journey through the novel. At times it was a bit difficult for me to completely follow her logic and understanding, but her development from beginning to end was so great that I was able to get past her worldview and simply root for her as a person. Additionally I longed for more closure in Anna's relationship with a couple other characters who exited the narrative before the end. Maybe we don't always get that closure, but I still found myself longing for it. My only other complaint is that I didn't love the ending. Somehow I wanted more. I also had the sense that Walschots may have been leaving the door open for a sequel. I'd certainly be interested in reading it if a follow-up is released. More than anything this book left me thinking about the complex web in which we're all entangled and connected to one another. Overall it's a great book and the audiobook features wonderful narration. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unwind by Neal Shusterman is the beginning of a dystopian series that explores the question of what the world might be like if abortion debate was resolved by banning the termination of pregnancy, but replacing it with “unwinding” or a retroactive abortion where parents may have a child aged 13-17 surgically taken apart and redistributed to various organ recipients. Let me start out by saying that I think the premise is unrealistic to the point of absurdity. No one, neither Pro-Life nor Pro-Choice, would think this was an acceptable situation. Nor would anyone reasonably consider a person taken apart like this to still be alive. The foundational concept for the book doesn't work for me. Additionally, as I read the book I was reminded that I really don't read a lot of YA and maybe there's a reason for that. The plot and characters developed rapidly, relationships escalating to intimate friendships at a pace that seemed totally unbelievable to me. Also the way the book is written, the prose itself, seemed very simple at times. I'm not this book's primary audience, and maybe when I was a teenager I would have loved it, but I think this book is unrealistic and mostly mediocre. Yet, there were a couple of things Shusterman managed to do well though. I thought the book did a good job of including the importance of life AND choice. I never felt like this book exclusively sided with the Pro-Life or Pro-Choice crowd, even if the scenario presented in the book was unambiguously monstrous. Perhaps the author's main message is that political hatred can drive us all to abandon our principles out of spite, blind us to our own evil, and even reach the point of absurdity. Reading this book in 2021 in Texas, something about that rang a little bit true to me. Overall I didn't love this book, and I don't know if I'll read the next book in the series, but I did get something out of it. For that reason ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan is a strange and compelling novella. The book blends conspiracy theories ranging from UFOs to cryptids and more with Lovecraftian elements, Biblical imagery, and more. Part apocalypse, part X-Files, something unique and different. I liked this book, although I had a challenging time following it as it weaved through different characters, times, places, etc. The text is loaded with references and ideas and it sometimes seemed overwhelming (perhaps as conspiracy theories and cosmic horror often are). Despite sometimes feeling confused, I was still intrigued by the story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a complimentary digital ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones is a triumph. This love letter to the slasher genre is an excellent ode to Michael, Jason, Freddy, and the like, but it's also a powerful story about coming of age, being different, and longing for love in a world too often filled with hooks, machetes, and yes...chainsaws. High school senior Jennifer “Jade” Daniels is an Indian girl living in Proofrock, Idaho. Jade is a hardcore horror nerd, and her obsession with the slasher genre is the lens through which she sees the world. But as strange things begin to occur in Proofrock and the new development across the lake, could it be that she's living in one? Reading this book was a good time. Before I started I wasn't very familiar with the slasher genre. After reading another slasher book earlier in the year I realized that having some familiarity with slasher films would probably enhance my experience reading My Heart is a Chainsaw. So I started with Friday the 13th (the first three), then Nightmare on Elm Street, then Halloween, then Candyman, then Bay of Blood, and finally all four Screams. I watched as I read and it was fantastically thrilling to begin to really understand many of the references Jones via Jade makes to these films throughout the novel. Thank goodness I watched them because a major part of this book is discussing and relating the characters and events of the plot to these films, often dropping both minor and major spoilers along the way (to be fair some of these movies are 40+ years old.) I felt like I was receiving the slasher education Jade was giving other characters in the book, and it was FUN. This novel made me want to learn about this genre, and Jones taught me to love it via Jade's enthusiasm. That's pretty freakin' cool. Apart from being a love letter to the genre, this book is a story about growing up, dealing with life, feeling like an outcast, etc. Jones' prose is strong throughout. I did think that the pacing of the plot was a little slow at times, and it was hard for me to put all the pieces of the plot together in my mind, but it all built up to an AWESOME penultimate chapter! The actual ending was not something I saw coming. I'm still processing what I think about it. Overall, this is an awesome book. A slasher with heart that's both bloody and meta and unpretentious and fantastic and real. It's a book that opened up a genre of film for me. This is a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me.
A House at the Bottom of Lake...unfortunately it's mostly all in the title. At its best, this is a weird, mysterious, and creepy book about young love and coming of age. A less generous interpretation might see only a book about two teenagers who discover a (possibly haunted) house submerged in a lake and...not much else. The plot and premise just seemed a bit thin. I think this could have been an excellent short story, but as a novella I don't think there's enough here to justify the word count. I've read two other books by Josh Malerman and so far this is my least favorite, which is a real shame. Maybe there's more here. Maybe I could give the book another read, perhaps a visual read rather than listening to the audiobook (although the narrators did a great job)...but overall it's just kind of “meh+.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (3.25)
Beneath a Pale Sky by Philip Fracassi is a creepy and weird collection of short stories. The tales range from the bizarre to the more bizarre, encompassing sci-if, demons, special powers, and a whole lot more. This collection of dark fiction has a lot going on. My favorites in the collection were Soda Jerk (small town horror with some Stepford Wives vibes) , Ateuchus (sci-fi first contact horror), and Death My Old Friend (a humorous and darkly optimistic story about growing up as Death's best friend). I also enjoyed The Wheel (from which the volume's title is taken), but this story exemplified one of my chief complaints about the book. Fracassi's prose is well constructed and loaded with expression, but it's also just loaded with details and words. Almost all of the stories felt too long, and at times seemed to include details that didn't really drive the plot forward or connect with the climax or conclusion of the story. Sometimes I struggled to maintain interest as I listened to the audio version, which was a pity because there is so much to be interested in contained within these tales. At times Fracassi is reminiscent of Lovecraft in this volume, and as with Lovecraft sometimes I wished he'd just get to the madness-inducing action instead of getting bogged down in backstory and human elements. Also in The Wheel (and many others) the stories contained a certain element of ambiguity. I can appreciate some mystery, but I also enjoy clarity. More than once I finished a story and wasn't really sure what the ending meant or felt the most important component of the story was left unexplained. Perhaps this is Fracassi's literary point? I don't know, I just know that sometimes I was confused. Despite this, this is a good collection and I plan to read more Fracassi (and maybe reread this one) in the future. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Oh, and P.S. the audiobook version is missing the introduction by Josh Malerman. In the unlikely event Fracassi or Malerman reads this review, it would be awesome if you released an updated version that featured Malerman (or I suppose Ariel Brandt, the book's narrator) reading the introduction at the beginning.
Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman is a chilling tale about identity and the power of stories. Taking the American “Satanic Panic” as it's context, Whisper Down the Lane focuses far more on human evils than supernatural ones. This is by no means to say the book doesn't have eerie and creepy moments, because it definitely does. Overall it was really easy listening. I had a lot of fun listening to this story. Despite liking the book overall it does have a few issues. One problem is that the young characters (age 5) seem very advanced for their age. This may be a necessary device for the storytelling purposes, but several members of the HOWL Society book club (who I read this book with) remarked on this aspect of the book seeming unrealistic. Additionally I thought that the second half, and especially final third, seemed a bit “messy.” The protagonist was somewhat unreliable, but even taking this into consideration there were elements of the book that I thought were never fully developed or paid off, and other aspects of the plot that almost seemed contradictory. Yet, overall this was still a great listen with some scary moments! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Moon Lake by Joe Lansdale is a great East Texas gothic story that is a creepy and thrilling combination of horror, history, mystery, and gothic elements. A journalist returns home to the town of his youth and begins to unravel a shocking mystery. The book kept me on the edge of my seat and was full of surprises. The protagonist is mostly likable and the other characters are mostly dynamic and well-developed too. Overall it's a great book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Goblin by Josh Malerman is an awesome book telling the story of a strange and haunted town through six interrelated novellas. Think Welcome to Nightvale meets The Twilight Zone all told by Josh Malerman. I loved the prologue and felt genuinely scared. I also loved most of the stories in the book. Makerman has succeeded in telling a very atmospheric story. One novella felt too long and another didn't seem to connect with the rest of the book that much. The ending seemed a bit confusing and left me with unanswered questions. Despite these criticisms I loved the book! Very different than Bird Box, but really great. 4.5 stars!
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix is a mixed bag that's at times fun, confusing, and frustrating. In this book Lynette is a member of a support group for final girls, or the sole survivors of a murder event. Someone starts killing/setting up the members of this group. Lynette tries to figure out who and why. I should probably begin by disclaiming that I'm not very well versed in the slasher films and books this novel is based on. I'm also not well versed in therapy. So there's probably a lot that I simply didn't get, and that deficiency is with me, not with Hendrix. With that said, I found the plot confusing. I didn't care for how Hendrix revealed information in the book (waiting until much too late to reveal critical info about the protagonist's backstory). I thought the book was a bit slow to start and found pretty much every character unlikable (although I came to like Lynette more as the book went on). Unlike all of Hendrix's other books (at least the ones readily available) there is no supernatural element in this one, and I definitely missed it. There were some exciting scenes in the book, but overall this one didn't hook me the way some of Hendrix's other books have. If I was ranking Hendrix books I'd rank them 1. Horrorstor/My Best Friend's Exorcism, 3. SBC Guide to Slaying Vampires, 4. We Sold Our Souls, and then finally 5. The Final Girls Support Group. I'm disappointed to have not enjoyed this book more. Maybe if I watch a bunch of slasher films and read it again I'd have a different opinion. But for now ⭐️⭐️⭐️
SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN VOLUME 1 is the beginning of an intriguing horror comic. The lone survivor of a violet attack in the woods meets a mysterious woman who's come to town to discover and stop what's killing the children. I enjoyed the art and concept of this book, but I found the world building and plot a bit sparse. Five issues in and I have a lot of questions and feel like not that much has really happened. Still, it's the beginning of a series and it hooked my interest. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for a complimentary digital ARC of this title. In addition to the ARC, I also purchased an audiobook version of this title. This review reflects my impressions of both the text and audiobook. The Book of Accidents is an epic novel combining gothic, supernatural, and cosmic horror with profoundly human themes. Nate (a fish and game officer), Maddie (an artist), and their highly empathetic son Oliver move into a old house, Nate's childhood home, and signs appear that they may be being haunted by Nate's late abusive father. However, this book quickly transforms itself and begins to unspool itself in anything but a standard haunted house story. Chuck Wendig has written a highly complex plot spanning and combining many different ideas together all around the themes of pain, empathy, generational trauma, suffering, and healing. The early chapters are short (and have amazing titles) and the pacing is a rapid and driven race forward as things get weirder and weirder. Then the pacing slows as more of the complexity and mystery of the book begins to be revealed. I became invested in the characters early on and never stopped caring about them. I was hooked by the premise and commend Wendig on writing something so original and interesting. My only critiques are that I think the book could have been a bit shorter, as the second half seemed to meander a bit, and I wanted to know more about some of the supernatural aspects of the book (especially Maddie and her art). Despite these critiques I loved this book. I really enjoyed the portions (majority) I listened to (read by Xe Sands and George Newbern), and felt the narrators did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life. I've seen other reviews and advertising comparing The Book of Accidents to the work of Stephen King. While The Book of Accidents is definitely written in Chuck Wendig's wonderful and distinctive voice, what this work has in common with King is the ability to use the fantastic, the frightening, and even the weird to point the reader toward reflection upon and empathy toward their own human condition. In that sense The Book of Accidents is truly a triumph. Like Wendig's prior book, Wanderers, I expect The Book of Accidents will be a book read, enjoyed, and discussed for many, many, years to come. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️
Finished up the first story arc of THAT TEXAS BLOOD by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips. This series is set in a fictional West Texas county and follows the story of a brother return home in the wake of a tragedy. I'm really torn on this series. On one hand, I really like the atmosphere. I'm not from West Texas, but as a Texan I nevertheless feel like this series has captured a real sense of place. The art is beautiful. I enjoy being immersed in the world of this comic. On the other hand, I felt like the characters and narrative weren't that great. Particularly beginning with issue 5 I didn't understand why some of the events that were occurring were occurring. Beginning in issue 1 the pacing was very slow, and then as the series continued it seemed to suddenly escalate very quickly. The catalyst seemed pretty stereotypical to me too.I also felt like several characters weren't really fleshed out. With the way issue 6 ended I'm not sure where the series is headed next. I reckon I'll read on, but so far I'd say this series is ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon was a creepy and atmospheric horror story. This is the story of two sisters, a (magic?) spring, and a family plagued by drownings. Not unlike Alma Katsu's The Deep, this book excels at combining horror with aspects of a period drama. I was drawn into the narrative and eager to see what would happen next to the characters. This is my first McMahon book and I'm eager to read another! With that said, I did find myself noticing that despite the characters being compelling, the narrative well plotted, and atmosphere palpable...the overall premise lacked originality. It's not that this book seemed like a copy of anything else, only that so many of the tropes or concepts used in the book seemed reminiscent of other stories. It's a good book, but if you're well read you may find yourself noticing that this book is a representation of themes you've read before. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
First Dangle and Other Stories is a great addition to the Iron Druid universe! This book is a collection of short stories exploring a Holy Grail story, the return of SloMo the sloth, and more. There's also a really great sci-fi story tacked onto the end that isn't part of the Iron Druid universe. I'd highly recommend this collection to those who've read The Iron Druid Chronicles. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Venus in the Blind Spot is a creepy manga collecting chilling horror stories. This collection was hit and miss for me. I really liked some of the stories, such as the title story and The Engima of Amigara Fault, but others felt rushed or even a bit silly. Overall the art was great. Some stories in the ComiXology edition were in color or featured sections in color. I don't read enough manga to know if this is common or not. I did question the decision to only render parts of some stories in color (specifically the first few pages and then switch to black and white). I might have enjoyed the whole book in color or black and white, or else limited use of color in a way that seemed more intentional. Despite my criticism of some of the stories, I rate this collection overall as ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Home Before Dark is a great, if imperfect, haunted house story filled with twists and turns that will leave readers guessing through each moment of this gothic page-turner. I found the first quarter of the book to be kind of slow. In fact, my initial impression was that this book had been way over hyped. The premise of the book is that a family of three - mom, dad, and a little girl - flees a haunted house twenty five years ago. Although the girl remembers very little of her time in the house, her father's book about their experiences has been a defining factor in her life, much to her frustration because she believes it was all a lie. After her father dies she returns to the house. What will she discover? Interesting, but not revolutionary. The whole thing seemed vaguely similar to Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts, and other elements in Home Before Dark reminded me of various other horror books and movies too. I thought that this story was recycling a lot of familiar tropes, which to be fair might not have originated in some of books and movies I had previously seen them in either. But nevertheless my overall opinion was that Home Before Dark was nothing extraordinary. A horror novel written to appeal to “I don't read horror” thriller fans who were familiar with some of Sager's previous books perhaps? Yet, after the first 100 pages things started to pick up and I really got hooked. I'm not going to get into spoilers, but I'll just say that I didn't see the ending coming, and I actually liked how it ended up. The book was very twisty and overall a lot of fun, even if some parts of it were a bit less effective than others and I did ultimately feel that some parts of it felt a bit derivative of other works. I'd recommend this one, just don't go in believing the hype that it's the best horror novel ever. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Later is one to read sooner than...you know ;) In this short novel from Stephen King in the Hard Case Crime series a young protagonist named Jamie can see the dead. Does this sound like other King stories we know? Yes, but in this book King presents a bit of a different take on the concept than in The Shining, etc. Jamie gets caught up in the affairs of the adults around him and uses his powers to help his family and fight crime. It's interesting, amusing, and even thrilling. Despite this being a short book a lot of time is covered in this book and we see Jamie's character really develop over the course of the story. I liked the characters, I liked the premise, and of course the prose was solid. I listened to this book right after finishing Joyland, King's previous Hard Case Crime novel, and I sadly feel that this was a bit of a step down. In my opinion this one lacked some of the charm and nostalgia of Joyland (this isn't to say Later isn't charming or nostalgia inducing, just less so than Joyland in my opinion), and left the reader with unanswered questions/unfulfilled expectations. I don't think it's that controversial of a statement to say that sometimes King's endings aren't satisfying, and Later suffers from the lack of strong resolution. Despite the weakness of the ending, I nevertheless enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of Stephen King. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️