30
Nov
Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com
Escape of the Living Dead by John Russo
Avatar, 2006
ISBN: 1592910343
Available: New & Used
This graphic novel is a sequel to Night of the Living Dead, written by the original co-creator, John Russo. The story picks up right where Night of the Living Dead leaves off. Three years have passed and life is finally returning to normal, although the survivors of the original breakout are still haunted by the events and losses that occurred then. The local sheriffs serve a warrant on a mysterious complex and find that some of the zombies from the first attack weren’t destroyed. Instead, they were preserved after the government’s experiments were supposed to be over. In an effort to escape the law, the scientist in charge has shipped all his zombie patients to a new location, and of course they just happen to get free and start running amok again.
All stereotypical aspects of a zombie tale aside, there are excellent visuals in this book, and even in such a small space the characters take on a life of their own (the near understanding of the lead zombie is particularly creepy). Readers will find all the standard bits in this book, from the unrealistically sexy useless woman in danger to characters related to said woman solely to amp up tension.
Contains: Graphic gore, nudity, language, violence
Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Hyperion Voice, 2009
ISBN: 9781401340902
Available: New and Used
This book is not horror, but rather historical fantasy. The premise of this book is interesting–what if some of the “witches” hanged in the Salem Witch Trials actually were witches? However, the execution fails, first because the first two hundred pages of this book are spent hinting at this concept, of which readers are already aware.
The main character is a supposedly very intelligent woman working on her PhD thesis. While cleaning out a family house in New England she discovers hints at a book of shadows that might prove the Salem witches were really witches. The story is primarily about her search and her mental growth from complete skeptic to, um, not.
Detail, historical flavor and character building are Howe’s strong points. Storytelling, pacing and plot are her downfalls. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is about a historian telling the story of this neat thing they’ve researched, but with a last minute, obvious mystery plot tacked on, and some pretty heinous and unrealistic treatment of antique books. It’s less of a fast-paced mystery and more like a book wherein a mystery plot smacks an uninterested, and dense, main character in the head for 300 plus pages until she finally decides to do something about it. Not without merit altogether, the prose is pretty when not overwritten, the detail is interesting, when not overpowering the story and the historical scenes are inspiring. This book might have a place in the libraries of readers who love rich historical tales, but it doesn’t speak to a horror or even dark fantasy audience despite the subject matter.
Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com
Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson
Bad Moon Books, 2007 (Limited)
Medallion, 2008 (Trade Paperback)
ISBN: (Trade) 978-1934755457
Available: New, Used or Limited
Johnny Gruesome is what you might get if you took all the emo out of J. O. Barr’s The Crow and replaced it with hardcore, attitude-filled metal. Johnny Grissom is not a good person. He’s your familiar wayward angry youth with an alcoholic father, a dead mother and a serious problem with the way life is treating him. When he ends up dead, Johnny’s determined not to take it lying down and instead decides to make a mark on the world by kicking the ass of the little town of Red Hill where he lived and died.
Overall the book has a familiar feel, but it’s too well written and enjoyable to be cliché. It is, in many ways, a classic slasher flick in book form. Science and logic are fudged at times for effect, but it’s a fun romp through rage and blood and zombies, and would be a solid addition to private and public horror collections.
Contains: Violence, drug use, sex, language
House of Night book 2
ISBN: 9780312360283
I purchased this book.
Betrayed, the second book starring Zoey Redbird, recently marked by the goddess of the night, Nyx, and destined for great things, starts off with a thick, back story heavy first chapter that’s an example of the worst the Cast writing gets. Things appear shallow and skewed, with the misunderstood female-goddess-powered vampires facing off against the domineering, bone-headed male “People of Faith” (a cult of Christians) types. And with Zoey’s super special, empowered friends railing against meanies, while themselves being judgmental and snobbish.
But don’t stop there, because once the series and situation so far has been summed up the Casts move on to tell a completely different story.
Fresh off a victory over meanie, vampyre elitist Aphrodite, Zoey finds herself the leader of the elite House of Night school prep club/sorority the Dark Daughters and Sons. She immediately puts the people who helped her take the position from Aphrodite at her side as prefects as she struggles to make the club something more than the nasty, abusive thing it had become.
But Zoey doesn’t know it all, and isn’t exactly prepared to handle what Nyx starts to reveal to her. After much preparation Zoe’s first Full Moon ceremony as Priestess in training begins to go well, with her friends all showing an affinity for an element that makes them solid choices for the role Zoey has put them in (and it makes Zoey’s choice seem less like nepotism and more like foreshadowing, or even prophecy.)
But Fate—or something worse—takes Zoey’s best friend and roommate from her when Stevie Rae collapses after the ceremony and appears to fall prey to a failed Change (when a Marked teen’s body rejects the Change to a vampyre and instead, dies.) When Zoey’s semi-stalker ex-boyfriend Heath vanishes soon after Zoey is shocked to be given a vision which shows her Stevie Rae is responsible. To save Heath Zoey must tear away another layer of the mystery surrounding the House of Night, which leads her to the only person who seems to believe her and maybe even knows what is going on—Aphrodite.
What could very well be taken as a cliché tale of super special (underestimated) teens proving to the world how much better than ordinary they are instead becomes something else. Again Zoey represents a girl struggling to find her own place in the world, and in herself, when the people around her seem determined to ruin her or rule her. When everyone else says her instincts are wrong Zoey is forced to follow them, or lose people she loves.
Furthermore this book introduces additional complexity by showing that Dark doesn’t always mean evil and Light doesn’t always mean good. Actions speak louder than compliments, familiar roles and even religious affinity.
After the initial chapter, religious and female power overtones are relaxed and worked better into the tale, even to the point of glancing off the idea that only women getting “favored” by one god is as unfair as only men being “favored” by another. Even Zoey’s more annoying friends, Shaunee and Erin, are toned down while the plot is proceeding and take a stronger supporting, instead of agitating, role.
The plot as well is a nice mix elements that is similar to those seen in other well liked long running series, like the Harry Potter books. While there is, one can assume, one primary evil, it’s minions are many, and unexpected (by Zoey anyway). And the solution is never as easy as pointing and declaring “There’s the bad guy.” Instead the characters must weave their way through their destined conflicts, which even include their differences with each other.
Zoey’s voice keeps the darkness in check with wit, snark, a special kind of confidence, and determination. A good read for teens, and even adults still fighting with teen issues, Betrayed is a good, easy read that manages to keep some meat on its bones with out becoming either too heavy or too fluffy.
16
Nov
ISBN: 9780441017805
I purchased this book.
In the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series by husband and wife writing team “Ilona Andrews” sarcasm, action and things that go bump in the night rule, so I was eager to pick up another Andrews world to delve into.
In this world there is The Weird, where magic rules and beasts run rampant, The Broken, our world where magic is dead and guns run rampant, and The Edge, which sits between and has a little of both. Rose is a single mom, by courtesy of being the adult left to raise her two younger brothers after her mother died and her father abandoned them. She has just enough power to hold her own, but too much for the other residents of The Edge to feel comfortable with her (or ignore her). Like has happened many times before since her powers surfaced, one day a handsome, arrogant man shows up on her lawn demanding to have her as his bride<~~Cross out broodmare and unwilling to give her a choice in the matter.
The gorgeous blueblood from the Weird, Declan, triggers every bad male instinct Rose has and threatens her family and her sanity. But no matter what the pretense, Declan is not just in The Edge for Rose. He’s come for a monster stalking the woods as well. Declan, Rose, and the distrusting community of The Edge must find a way to come together before the monster picks them all off to feed.
On the Edge has a very urban fantasy feel, and Andrews retains a balance of action, humor and darkness that I truly enjoy. In many ways this is an urban fantasy book, but the differences are enough to push the still new genre into a wider interpretation.
Translated into the horror genre, On the Edge would be set in a mysterious backwoods community that’s hiding a strange power, but represents a real danger to any outsider who doesn’t leave them be. Washed with urban fantasy influences instead, readers will still find the mysterious and potentially dangerous community that lives in a rural area (that particularly speaks to me with the experiences I’ve had in rural central Kentucky communities) which has formed a unique kind of magic, some would see as a bastardized form of high or formal magic.
The community here has a good reason for their wariness of outsiders. The Broken sees them as freaks, and in some cases illegal aliens. The Weird sees them as weak mongrels. Rose herself can’t even trust the neighbors since a few of them tried to sell her into “marriage” to bluebloods who expect her power to breed true.
On the Edge is a deliciously complex debut world, with full, unique characters and enough plot and intrigue to keep it out of the paranormal romance genre. It has elements of fantasy, romance, mystery, thriller and awesome. I eagerly await the second book in this series and can’t wait to see how this family evolves in the world that challenges them.
GUD (Greatest Uncommon Denominator) is having a pay what you want for ebooks sale. I really enjoy this magazine and I wanted to point out this sale because it’s a great opportunity to get copies for consideration before submitting, to try out GUD in case you haven’t before, or just to support the industry. Here’s where to buy.
House of the Night book one
ISBN: 9780312360269
I bought this book.
Everything changes for Zoe Redbird when she walks to her locker one day only to be marked, given a magical tattoo that sets her apart from the rest of the world as one of the chosen of Nyx, goddess of the night. Instantly Zoe goes from a normal girl with a less than spectacular home life and disloyal friends to someone destined to be powerful and special—if she survives the Change.
If switching to the vampyre school, House of the Night, her parents not talking to her and facing the real possibility that she’ll just fade and die rather that graduate wasn’t enough there’s something seriously wrong going on in the vampyre world. Zoe must start by standing up for herself against a school bully, made more dangerous with vampire powers and premonitions.
Marked is a paranormal YA novel, complete with to-be-expected subplot lines about peer relationships and boys. There’s also moments of morality intrusion, that can read like the teen voice trying to reassure readers of their intelligence or like thinly disgusted adult lecturing. There is a lot of cliché here, from super sexy and powerful vampires to the mean-popular-school-queen girl. There’s also a matter of the authors clearly and definitely drawing lines between a male-dominated religion that seeks to enforce control on people, and a female/magic led religion that is beautiful and wonderful, etc. These aspects are heavy handed at times, though the pacing and rush to explain everything needed for the story might be a contributing factor.
Underneath is a strong tale of a girl looking for acceptance, for a connection to the things and people around her. In this story being special, favored and working her way toward a power-laden immortality doesn’t make things any easier.
I found Marked to be a dynamic, hard to put down book. Zoe was a driving force comparable to the adult urban fantasy heroines I enjoy. Equal parts humor, personality and intelligence makes Zoe a lead character easy to connect to, which sets the series up to be interesting and fun. After encountering so many books featuring characters I just couldn’t connect with it’s Zoe and her friends who will carry me on, as a reader, to the next book despite other aspects that provided momentary flashes of irritation.
Review by Jason Lush
This book was received through the LibraryThing Early Reader’s Program.
ISBN: 9781932603774
First off, the subject matter narrows the reader pool down to those living with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and the people who care for them. But that is where the problems end. The Mayo Clinic Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury is written by leaders in medical research and successfully avoids, or explains where needed, medical jargon. But the writing also isn’t dumbed down to the point of being patronizing either.
At first, I was skeptical about how useful this 200 page tome would be, but with the clear, helpful illustrations and truly useful tips about life style changes that will be beneficial no matter the degree of damage sustained by the patient, my mind has been changed. The unique thing about this title is that the authors did not focus solely on the effects SCI has on the patient’s spine, the book also thoroughly explores the effects SCI has on the patient’s other systems, such as cardiac, nervous and digestive. It also sheds light on the psychological effects on patients and caretakers. The Mayo Clinic Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury is a pleasant, easy read, suitable for anyone affected by an SCI.
This book was donated to the Primal Faith Foundation by author Michele Lee.