Category Archives: Book Review

Ripper Familias by Terry Davis and Patrick Jones

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for the mammoth book of jack the ripper stories book cover

Title: Ripper Familias
Author: Terry Davis & Patrick Jones
In: The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories (Maxim Jakubowski)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Crime, Family, Historical fiction
Dates read: 26th April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2015
5th sentence, 74th page: Grandfather is quite right about the real police, I believe.

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Synopsis

What happens when you realise that the man you wanted to admire is actually evil personified? How would you react?

Thoughts

We all like to think that family means everything. That there is some kind of tie created by blood that can be impossible to escape. Speaking from my own experiences, that’s not necessarily true. And this story definitely echoes that theory.

Not only does this short story question the ties of family and how important these relationships can be, but it also brings in the Titanic. I love the intersection in history between these two moments, the way that a tragedy turns out to be a saviour for the young man whose family is a little… unwell.

This story is kind of heeby jeeby. Because even though you think that the young boy has made the “right” decision, there is still a sense of unrest. The idea that maybe he is a bit like his grandfather after all…

 <- Catch Me When You Can… ReviewKosher Review ->
Image source: Amazon

Breadcrumbs and Stones by Lisa Goldstein

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for snow white, blood red book cover

Title: Breadcrumbs and Stones
Author: Lisa Goldstein
In: Snow White, Blood Red (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Fairy tales, Retellings, War
Dates read: 12th April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1993
5th sentence, 74th page: There was no reason for us to stay.

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Synopsis

A Holocaust retelling of Hansel and Gretel. A story filled with sadness and tragedy.

Thoughts

It’s kind of obvious from the title of this short story that this is a retelling and tale of Hansel and Gretel. But it wasn’t the kind of retelling that I was expecting. From beginning to end this was a bit of a surprise. Immediately I thought that this tale would be one in which the parent would betray her child (like in the original fairy tale).

The parallels drawn between Hansel and Gretel and the Holocaust are intense. Especially the use of ovens, betrayal and the sacrifice of children. It is a kind of heartbreaking story. Just like the original tale. Hansel and Gretel is kind of one of the most horrible fairy tales that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. And the Holocaust is one of the most tragic tales of modern history. Mix them together… and wow, what a powerful, potent and very uncomfortable short story. But one that I can’t wait to read again and again and again.

 <- The Snow Queen ReviewSupernatural Noir Review ->
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Heathcliffs I Have Known by Louisa Young

Book Review, , ,
Overview

Title: Heathcliffs I Have Known
Author: Louisa Young
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Horror, Twisted romance
Dates read: 17th April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: “Get off.”

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Synopsis

Who are the Heathcliffs have you known? Are your relationships about love? Or is it something far more sinister?

Thoughts

This made me so damn uncomfortable that I just wanted to put the whole book down. Multiple times. Possibly set it on fire. And the reason that it made me so uncomfortable? It wasn’t fantasy. It wasn’t some far off time. It wasn’t something that I couldn’t quite conceive of. It was about men who take a twisted view on romance and attack us. It is something that happens to everyone. At any time. And it is so damn uncomfortable that I honestly don’t have the words for it. Disgustingly uncomfortable is the closest I can come.

What I hated most about Wuthering Heights was the fact that it is often considered a romance. And some of Heathcliffs actions (if not all) are excused because he was “in love”. Which is bullshit. Complete, total and utter bullshit. And apparently Young agrees with this. After making you squirm more and more and more as you read about the different “Heathcliffs” that have been known, you come to her take on Wuthering Heights. And it is exactly how I felt, making this a not so uncomfortable ending to a story that I don’t think I necessarily want to read again.

 <- The Cord ReviewAmulet and Feathers Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

Lost and Found by Maureen McGowan

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for the mammoth book of time travel romance book cover

Title: Lost and Found
Author: Maureen McGowan
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance, Romance, Time travel
Dates read: 26th April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Well, here it is.

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Synopsis

Jake has woken up on the same day in a different year since he turned 32. But, when he suddenly wakes up and finds a familiar face from the past, he begins to hope that his curse is over.

Thoughts

I kind of liked this version of time travel. Rather than being two people from entirely different periods in history, it’s two that are born just far enough apart to make their relationship impossible. And it features the damage that time travel could do to a person. The ways in which being thrust from your time and place, everyone you know and love can destroy some of the hope and happiness in a person.

Age gaps in relationships generally bother me. Even when it’s vampires. (What twenty-year-old wants to date an 800-year-old? It just seems wrong.) Yet this age gap wasn’t too bad, alright they did meet for the first time when she was fourteen and he was thirty-two. But the fact that his time jumping doesn’t slow down until they are actually at the same age and it’s less… icky was kind of nice.

Most of the time travel stories I’ve read focus on jumping through a large gap in time. Something a little more permanent. Yet, this is the repetition of a day again and again. Just in a different year each and every time. There is no really forwards and backwards movement, but a stagnation of time for the poor sap.

 <- MacDuff’s Secret ReviewStepping Back Review ->
Image source: Goodreads

How Raven Made His Bride by Theodora Goss

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for coyote road book cover

Title: How Raven Made His Bride
Author: Theodora Goss
In: The Coyote Road (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Native American mythology, Poetry, Tricksters
Dates read: 22nd April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Poem
Publisher: Firebird Fantasy
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: While she lay sleeping, he stole

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Synopsis

Raven needs to win a bet and create the perfect bride. So how is he going to go about it?

Thoughts

This is a nice, quick and fun poem. It’s an easy read, but one that has many hidden layers. I read it twice before I started trying to write this review. After all, the hidden layers were happy to tell me something new each and every re-read.

I really enjoy stories about Coyote and the Native American tricksters. There is something that is a lot more fun and entertaining than some of the other tricksters in mythology. It is a little less dark than many other trickster stories. But there is still that great, fun sense of vengeance and selfishness. A sense of equality in their very presence.

This poem had a very origins feel to it. Kind of like “how the porcupine got its spines” or “how the camel got its hump” sort of story. Which worked in brilliantly well with the trickster theme that runs throughout not only this poem, but also the collection that I found it in.

 <- The Fortune-Teller ReviewCrow Roads Review ->
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Evolve edited by Nancy Kilpatrick

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Overview
Evolve

Title: Evolve
Author: Nancy Kilpatrick, Sandra Kasturi, Kelley Armstrong, Ronald Hore, Jennifer Greylyn, Mary E. Choo, Rebecca Bradley, Michael Skeet, Victoria Fisher, Kevin Cockle, Heather Clitheroe, Colleen Anderson, Sandra Wickham, Claude Bolduc, Claude Lalumiere, Rhea Rose, Gemma Files, Bev Vincent, Steve Vernon, Rio Youers, Bradley Somer, Natasha Beaulieu, Jerome Stueart, Kevin Nunn & Tanya Huff
In: Evolve (Nancy Kilpatrick)
Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Short story collections, Vampires
Dates read: 6th November 2018 – 1st April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Anthology
Publisher: Edge
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: You are never in a hurry.

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Synopsis

New Vampires have evolved, and they are coming for you! Kelly Armstrong, Tanya Huff and twenty-two other dark fantasy and horror writers come together to re-imagine the future of vampires in this new collection of all-original short fiction – one of the most unusual and original vampire anthologies ever assembled.

Thoughts

This wasn’t my favourite collection of short stories. Maybe I’m not all that much into vampire stories, maybe because these are just the type of vampire stories that I really love. The only two tales I really loved in this were by Kelley Armstrong and Tanya Huff. They weren’t necessarily bad tales, just not ones that I was completely enthralled by.

If you like the more traditional and darker aspect of vampires, I think that this is for you. Some of the stories were a little contemporary, but they weren’t that romanticised, humanised version that we all know and love in modern literature. Maybe if I had have read some of the vampire classics such as Dracula before this, I would have been a little more intently interested. But as things stand, I found this collection quite… meh. Not bad, not great. Definitely worth reading, but not one I’ll be rushing to reread anytime soon.

 <- The Slowing of the World ReviewLet the Night In Review ->
Image source: Goodreads

Into the Mist For Ever by Rosemary Laurey

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for the mammoth book of vampire romance 2 book cover

Title: Into the Mist For Ever
Author: Rosemary Laurey
In: The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Historical fiction, Vampires
Dates read: 17th April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Seemed she was prepared to stare him down and fight over the kill.

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Synopsis

He’s a Roman, and she’s a Brit. Both are fighting on different sides, but unable to pull away from each other. When he’s struck down, will her secret be able to save them both for all eternity?

Thoughts

Although this short story is in a collection of vampire romance stories, I didn’t really find it all that romantic. Alright, the man and woman get together, she saves him, and then they run off into the mist together to live happily ever after. But it really just didn’t feel that… romancey. In that aspect it was quite bland. But, overall, I liked the take on historical fiction and the storyline.

I seem to be reading a lot of stories that involve a great deal of Roman, Greek and Celtic inspired mythologies. Or at least the local histories of this time. So reading a short story that features the Romans and the Britons as they fight to control their land fit perfectly into what seems to be my theme of reading lately. The added flavour of a bit of romance and the knowledge that at least one of these characters is immortal worked incredibly well. And thoroughly enjoyably.

This isn’t one of those tales that I think I’ll be remembering for years to come. But it is one that was an enjoyable, relaxing break from my daily life for a short time. One that I definitely recommend others sink their teeth into.

<- Blood and Thyme ReviewBlood Feud Review ->
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The Witch’s Bicycle by Tim Pratt

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for the mammoth book of dark magic book cover

Title: The Witch’s Bicycle
Author: Tim Pratt
In: The Mammoth Book of Dark Magic (Mike Ashley) & Little Gods (Tim Pratt)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Magic
Dates read: 26th April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2002
5th sentence, 74th page: So play with me and you’ll get better, right?

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Synopsis

It’s an age old tale, two boys, one girl, a rivalry that ends in tears. But, what happens when they decide to change the script? Will the dark magic continue?

Thoughts

I was really dreading a horrible ending to this story. One that would involve a tragedy and the dark magic practitioner riding off into the sunset with her own version of happily ever after. But it didn’t quite end like that. In fact, it had a very happy ending with a bit of violence and darkness thrown in. Something that I thoroughly enjoy in a good story – some violence, some hope and a happily-ever-after.

The idea of a girl with two boys interested is kind of age old. Something that has been around since time and time again. And a story that serves its purpose in most of the books that I read. But there’s not normally an evil, meddling witch trying to extend the conflict and end a life. There’s also not normally a girl running around with a hockey stick, protecting the boy (rather than the other way around). It’s these quirky, happy little differences that made me that much happier.

This story was a great, dark twist on the fairy tales and stories of witches that I’ve been reading lately. It was darker and far more twisted than usual. But it also had a happy ending, and didn’t leave me feeling uncomfortable and filled with a kind of horror at the end of the story.

<- The InfestationThe Sage of Theare ->

Image source: Hachette Australia

The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Image result for book cover the lightning thief graphic novel

Title: The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel
Author: Rick Riordan & Robert Venditti
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The Graphic Novels #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Graphic novels, Greek mythology, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 9th Arpil 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Graphic novel
Publisher: Puffin
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: Thank you, Father.

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Synopsis

Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God.

I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. Now I spend my time battling monsters and generally trying to stay alive. This is the one where Zeus, God of the Sky, thinks I’ve stolen his lightning bolt – and making Zeus angry is a very bad idea.

Thoughts

There is something about the Percy Jackson stories that I just can’t seem to get enough of. Actually, almost anything created by Rick Riordan seems to draw me in pretty fully and quickly. So I’m not really sure why it took me so long to realise that there was a series of graphic novel rewrites of the original series… and then why it still took me a little while to get my hands on the first one of these… and now that I have… I’m super, super glad. And looking forward to getting the other four and spending my afternoons in the beautiful illustrations.

It’s always hard to adapt a full length novel into anything shorter. I mean, there’s a reason that I very rarely like movie adaptations of well-loved books, there is ALWAYS something that needs to be left out. I might only just be sinking my teeth into graphic novels, but it’s definitely the same for these adaptations too. What do you leave out? What do you leave in? Luckily for me (and unluckily for my bank account), this adaptation was kind of perfect. Yes, there were many small details and moments left out, but the storyline was still able to move on quite happily. Within two pages I had ordered The Sea of Monsters, because this adaptation was able to meet all my expectations.

 <- The Last Olympian: The Graphic Novel ReviewThe Sea of Monsters: The Graphic Novel Review ->
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A Little Bird Told Me by Pat Cadigan

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for black feathers ellen datlow book cover

Title: A Little Bird Told Me
Author: Pat Cadigan
In: Black Feathers (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Death, Horror
Dates read: 22nd April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Pegasus Books Ltd.
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: “There’s no actual paper-“

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Synopsis

She’s a pen-pusher for the Reapers and Death. But when the birds decide to get involved, things start to get a little confusing.

Thoughts

I have a bit of an obsession with stories about death. Especially ones which personify the collectors of souls which are ready to pass on. There is just something about them that sits so… right with me. Which meant that from the beginning of this story, I was finding it thoroughly enjoyable. If not a little bit odd – after all, I normally tend towards the urban and paranormal fantasy retellings of death, not the horror ones…

Birds have never seemed especially creepy. After all, they’re kind of intriguing, have an intelligence all of their own and can do the cutest, most engaging things. That is until I read this story. Which kind of has a bird uprising against the current system of death. And one that I think could be of both benefit and horror to the masses. It certainly left me feeling a little confused and not at all comfortable with the birds that like to hang out in my front yard…

 <- Isobel Avens Returns to Stepney in the Spring ReviewThe Acid Test Review ->
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