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The mystique of death has been entertaining to mere mortals for centuries, partly because of our miniscule understanding of passing on. Death has numerously been portrayed as a being, yet one thing is clear about George Pendle's witty novel: it's also fun to give Death a little exposition. The title of Death: A Life is pretty straightforward in terms of summing up the book. Death travels from Hell to Earth, where God places him in charge of gathering souls to send on to the afterlife. Death finds a satisfying eternity with this never-ending job, constantly conversing with the souls he collects. But after a while, Death begins to mull over what it would be like to have a Life, especially after an enigmatic woman named Maud keeps being reincarnated on Earth and wooing Death into killing her. The journey that Death takes is a long one, and he soon finds himself faced with an ironic dilemma which threatens his existence. Pendle's novel is filled with creative appeal to those tired of reading about death. The biography that Pendle writes is full of historical and biblical references, even "explaining" religious events in humorous or intentionally sarcastic ways. It's interesting to see your favorite Bible passage skewed out of context, and Pendle does it with panache. Another concept that Pendle implements into the scheme of things is his upbeat take on dying and passing over. Rather than create a brooding, melancholy atmosphere, Pendle keeps it light and fluffy, skipping over cause of death and choosing to focus on the lighthearted motif of how souls pass over into the better life. When a person dies, Death takes their soul and flings it into the Darkness for God to judge, and the souls have no problem with their, well, death. Even towards the end of the novel, the creatures of Earth rebel against God's decision to get rid of Death, stating how he is one of the only reliable things about Life. It's a change of pace to see death as a stability in our lives, and Pendle treats passing on with a sense of happiness that is refreshing and uplifting. It's a good thing, or the novel wouldn't be much of a comedy. Pendle's humor can be very funny, but it can also waver into almost non-existence. The satire of religion and society is riveting and theatrical, always in the background but rarely rearing outwardly with a desperation to get the message out. The comedy is also very subtle, and it is this slight hint at jokes that the reader will laugh the most at. The first half of the book is rife with witty wordplay and Biblical gags, but once the reader gets into the more serious side of the book's plot, the humor starts to slip. It's a minor disappointment, since the beginning of the novel was so quick to jump into the comedy. Yet the book never really suffers from corny jokes or ruthless sarcasm; everything has its place in the novel without coming off as over-reaching boundaries. I found the love story between Maud and Death a refreshing look at the relationships between Life and Death, two beings that can never be matched together. There's a sense of unrequited love that carries the reader to the inevitable conclusion of Death wanting a soul of his own. It's unique, it's entertaining, and rewarding to find that everyone becomes unhappy with their place in life - or eternity. One of my favorite parts of the book was its take on historical data. As we travel through Earth time, we get to see many battles and civilizations, emphasizing how long Death has been with us. We spend so much time with Death without many human interactions that we begin to understand the predicament that Death is in as an entity that struggles to find his inner self. He shows similar inward emotions as humans do, and the reader can definitely relate to Death's personality. It again represents a relationship between Life and Death, an interesting idea that Pendle explores pertinently. Death: A Life may waver in the comedic portion of its experiment, but it surely makes up for that in sheer creativity by expressing Death's own thoughts. This is Final Destination from the Grim Reaper's point of view, and less gruesome at that, succeeding more at great storytelling than humor. Without becoming misanthropic, Pendle creates a realistic fictional world that utilizes historical and biblical backgrounds to bring his characters to life, human or fantastical. The novel becomes a sort of handbook for thinking about the afterlife, and while fictional, it does give a different perspective on what it means to die, and what happens to our souls. New age thinking, or just adaptations on a theme? Either way, Pendle shows us there is a point to our lives, and that they are worth living. So go out and live them, and while you're at it, read this book.
The Dead Parade is a book I received a couple of months ago from publisher Permuted Press, and I have finally just finished reading it. I had been swamped with work and it was just on a list of things that I had to get to, so sorry to Permuted Press for the long wait. However, as I promised, the review has arrived. The Dead Parade is author James Roy Daley's first book, which is always interesting to me because I like to see beginning writers and where they go from their first novel. Anyway, Daley's novel deals with both the supernatural and human psychosis. The novel's protagonist, James, has just been informed of his brother and sister-in-law's death in a terrible car crash, and that his nephew is in a coma, when we join him in the story. After meeting with his troubled friend Johnny, who admits to doing some pretty serious crimes and then committing suicide, James' life gets even more hectic when he learns that a demon is now following him and killing everything in sight. To make things more complicated, James is slowly turning into a madman, taking hostages and killing a few innocent people himself. In the end, James takes the wrong man hostage. This man is Elmer, who turns out to be a murderer as well, and with a demon and two unwell men running around killing people, you can bet there's a gigantic conflict at hand in this plot. First thing's first - Daley put a lot on his plate here. Some really gigantic portions. There are many, many plot lines running through the book, some more important than others. However, when a conflict is introduced in a plot, most of the time it needs to be resolved somewhat. This is one of the problems with Daley's book. I really liked how intricate he made his story. Subplots abound, and it is great to see so many ideas implemented. With that being said, though, I felt like most of these conflicts were either not resolved (to my liking) or were put on the backburner for too long. Plot points like James' nephew being in a coma seem to be important towards the beginning of the novel but fade out as we move further into the muddle. That's not to say that Daley has done a bad thing by filling his novel with themes and plot - it's just that at some points they feel a little overwhelming and that it might do to cut a few of them. Daley is very good at writing voices for different characters. One can tell he has thought out what type of personality each of his characters is suited for. But he also has a tendency to switch between characters' thoughts on the fly, and this can get a little confusing during the more action-oriented scenes. Another dilemma I had with Daley's characters was that he had so many characters that it felt like the audience was only presented to them in bits and pieces. I felt like Daley did a great job fleshing out his main characters, and for the most part, their actions were believable. Main protagonist James was even likeable for most of the novel, until he started turning into a lunatic, which made me lose interest in him a little. Yet the less important characters seemed like filler that didn't need to be there. Sometimes, characters seemed to be put in the novel in order to be killed off. We even get a little background of them right before they're killed, which I thought was a little humorous but also unneeded. It is misleading and surprising for the reader, though, that a character we just met is immediately eviscerated. This takes me to another aspect of The Dead Parade - lack of remorse. When Daley says that "all hell breaks loose," he really means it. Daley has the ability to think up tons of very horrible deaths for his characters, and with the supernatural abilities of the demon, pretty much anything goes. What I really liked even more than the demon was the fact that through almost all of the novel, humans are the scarier monsters. It's a good critique on society, especially when James starts to turn paranoid - Daley does a great job of bringing James' psychosis out and showing how he is starting to snap. The visceral feel to The Dead Parade, coupled with short cliffhanger-like chapters, creates an intense read. While some of the plot is a little confusing and left unresolved, and most of the tension can be foreseen, I felt that Daley has crafted an amusing first story here. Surely it's not a breakout piece, but it is an entertaining, fast read that can be picked up and put down easily enough. The action is engaging, the violence immense (even if a little difficult to believe), and the plot filled to the brim. What Daley brings to the table is a strong start; his writing needs some work, but if Daley continues down this road in horror fiction, I think he'll start to craft some interesting and original prose. The Dead Parade isn't exactly a fresh concept, but strewn throughout the story are some interesting plot lines that I think could be expanded on. I, for one, liked Daley's description of James' descent into madness far more than the demonic evil. Sometimes, human terrorism can be worse than anything a fictional monster can wreak, and I think Daley realized this to a degree in The Dead Parade.
With my fascination with horror, and my love of books and writing, it's no wonder that one of my idols would be Stephen King. His writing is witty, creative, acerbic, and all sorts of other adjectives that can be categorized under the heading of GOOD. Those who follow his novels will tend to find he writes forewords and afterwords talking of his experiences with writing the novel in question, or what led to the idea - a very attractive attempt at getting in the head of the writer. Danse Macabre is Stephen King's chance at discussing his own experiences in the horror genre, be it movies, television, or books. Some of what he writes about are influences on his own writing; others are aimed at picking out some of the greats of the period between 1950 through 1980. Of course, all of the opinions expressed by King are tinged with his own unique sense of sarcasm and comedy, along with side-notes of autobiographical accounts from his own life. Despite the fact that this tome of King's favorites (or least favorites, depending on the subject matter) is outdated, it's still a great look at the genre for the years depicted. King has some fantastic picks for novels and films, many of which are more obscure than you might imagine. But what stands out more than King's list of top horror is what he has to say about them and how they've influenced his own writing. In fact, I found King's essays about his own life much more fascinating than his analyses of horror novels, which became quite fatiguing to read and seemed hypocritical to King's dislike of over-analyzing stories. Although King can venture off on tangents, he mostly sticks to the topic at hand. The majority of the time, he manages to wrap back around to what he was talking about before, but it's easy for the reader to get lost in King's allusions and topic shifts. The end of the novel gets a bit bogged down with all of King's critiques on horror, and at times, King can come off as a bit of a critic himself, name-dropping those who aren't up to par with what he considers good writing. Yet that seems to be mostly what Danse Macabre tries to accomplish: pick out the good stuff and let the rest fall away. Pick up Danse Macabre as a jam-packed roadmap to all the horror you may have missed. Great for those who never lived the '50s through the '80s, and even better for those wanting to get into the genre. The best part, though, are King's essays on his past and how it intermingles with horror; call me a junkie, but I sure love to hear about what influences some of my favorite horror, just as King tries to do here in his dance. What kind of dance do you think he does? An Irish jig? Maybe twostep? What's the scariest dance? Probably this one, actually:
My mom loves mystery books, and she's gotten me into some of her favorite authors. Here, we had a new Carol Higgins Clark book lying around and I thought I'd pick it up and have a nice read. I had read her Christmas novel with Mary Higgins Clark, so I wanted to give her solo stuff a go. Abigail feels she's cursed - born on a Friday the 13th, she's had a string of bad luck from her birth, and now she's gone and lent $100,000 dollars to her boyfriend who ran off with it to make a movie. She calls up her friend Regan Reilly, Clark's recurring privite investigator, to find the scumbag who took it before Abigail's grandmother shows up to use the money to buy her granddaughter a new house in California. Reilly's got to track down the guy, plus maneuver around a recent murder in the area who Abigail had been an aquaintance of. The storyline sounds complex written out in summary like that, but it's really not. In fact, the book's plot seems a little thin as a mystery novel because Reilly is not on a giant, earth-shattering case. She's only trying to find some missing money, forcing Clark to bring in extra characters to lengthen the drama unfolding. The side story about a death in California really shouldn't be too big of a deal; it's only there to halt the progress of Reilly and Abigail in finding the money and to create some much-needed action to the story. The pacing is fairly even though, even if not much actually happens between Reilly and her investigation. Instead of seeming like a prestigious private eye, Reilly actually resembles Encyclopedia Brown trying to track down a missing wallet, mainly because her skills aren't put to good use in Cursed. She barely tracks down the money, owing most of the work to the police force rather than her own detective work. It's not that big of a deal, though, that the story is rather shallow. Clark uses short chapters to her advantage, which allow her to explore other characters at each break. On the other hand, some characters seem unimportant to the novel and their narratives are more filler to add complexity to the plot. One may think that Cursed could have succeeded better as a Regan Reilly short story instead of a novel. But I'm focusing too much on my dislike of the plot. Cursed is well-written, engaging, and fast-paced because of the short chapters and likable characters. However, the characters seem a bit too likable and perfect. Reilly has a magnificent life, it seems, with a wonderful husband. The latter she talks about like he's some sort of superhero hubby, because she comes off as a bit too enthralled with him. Even the characters with flaws seem like they are perfectly flawed. For a mystery, everyone is a bit overly nice, and it may be a positive outlook on the population but it sure as hell ain't a realistic one. I'm not writing the book off, though - it's an entertaining read, and I can't think of anyone who wouldn't like it, unless one is sick of bestseller-list mysteries. Take it for what it is, and you can't go wrong with the book in one hand, an iced tea in the other, and the sun slowly frying your skin like a chicken breast.
This is the first time I've read any Buffy offshoots, but I was a huge fan of the series, and Oz was a favorite of mine. Seth Green, you so dreamyyyyy. Christopher Golden wrote this installment of Buffy fan-fiction, centering around Oz's struggle with his werewolf nature and the inability to control it during three days of the full moon. He leaves Sunnydale, California for the colder regions of Tibet, seeking out a monk named Shantou who has taught other werewolves how to control their inner beast. Along the way, he meets Jinan, a Kaohsiung demon who travels with Oz in hopes of finding some action, both in the way of fighting and her attraction with Oz. Although he only sets out to conquer the wolf, Oz gets wrapped up in both a struggle between Gib Cain, a werewolf hunter who sells pelts, and an ancient five-eyed demon named Muztag who attempts to overthrow Shantou's defense against demonism. Buffy fans may be a tad disappointment with this novel, as Oz is the only main recurring character. Sure, the Slayer and Scooby Gang are mentioned, but only in passing, and only Willow legitamitely makes a guest appearance. This a little dismaying, because for being a spin-off of the Buffyverse, it sure doesn't feel like the TV show we all know and love. Some of this is understandable, since the story revolves around Oz and the setting is Tibet, but the tongue-in-cheek humor and subtle dialogue that made the series so involving is seriously lacking from the book. When Golden tries to incorporate humor, it generally falls flat - it seems Golden just does not have a knack for hitting the funny bone, and that would be okay if it didn't become a problem throughout the novel, but there are just some one-liners that are cringe-inducing. It seems as though target audience for Into the Wild was meant to be somewhere in the late teen stages, which makes sense considering the accessibility of the television series to the young adult. The overemphasis of blood and guts suggests the wish to attract a younger audience with violence, and the easy, quick prose style caters towards short attention spans. In a way, it works for what it is though - a light romp through a side-character's life. Golden makes Oz a likable character, although there is less fascination with the other characters central to the plot. Jinan, frankly, seems like an annoying companion, a few other characters are systematically killed off or left behind, and Shantou's exposition is about as thorough as a kindergartener playing hide-and-seek. It is only Oz that one really cares about, and for good measure - it is his book, after all. Part road trip, part werewolf hunt, part Lord of the Rings-esque monster-battles-on-a-mountain, Into the Wild seems to lack a sense of direction. The plot jumps all over the place, but then again, I guess a straightforward story about Oz traveling to Tibet and then finding his inner beast control ala The Beastmaster would be a bit boring and trivial. As a whole, the book is just entertaining enough to keep the reader interested, but once finished, there isn't too much value in re-reading the thing. Oz: Into the Wild is a pulpy TV tie-in, but it's great for an easy read when one just wants to sit back and relax. Golden did his share at working Oz back into the Buffyverse with a look at his life outside of Sunnydale, but one must wonder why Oz's backstory was left out of the series in the first place. With Into the Wild, it seems to show one thing - maybe Oz's story was just never meant to be heard; it definitely wasn't meant to be written.
I'd never heard of John Saul before I read his book The Blackstone Chronicles, but the book came as a recommendation from my mother, who reads just about as much or maybe more than I do. Though she only reads pulp bestseller books and not thick dramatic affairs that are deemed the best novels, she knows what's entertaining or just a bunch of dribble, so I normally take her opinions seriously. So I picked up The Blackstone Chronicles, John Saul's attempt at the serial novel after Stephen King had had much success with his Green Mile series. John Saul started writing around the 1970s, his early works including Suffer the Children and Punish the Sinners. His novel looked interesting, and I am definitely one to judge a book by its cover to get a first impression, hoping that the actual story will blow me away. The book that I read was an omnibus edition containing the six parts of the story that Saul had previously released. Since the book I had collected all six parts, this review will encompass the whole story rather than just each separate part. The story takes place in Blackstone, a town known for its dependence on the shadowy Blackstone Asylum, which looms ominously on a hill over the town. The Asylum was owned by our main protagonist's, Oliver Metcalf, family, although it has since been abandoned and is about to be renovated to accommodate a new mall. Oliver is part of this committee, fully agreeing to the change of the asylum as he harbors strange memories of the place. Throughout each part in the novel, strange items from the Asylum's past turn up in the houses of the Blackstone residences, with horrific results. Oliver is driven to find out what is going on, especially after his love interest, Rebecca, disappears. In the end, he finds the terrible secret of both the town and the Asylum, and the evil that is harbored inside of himself. Saul's premise is not very original - tons of stories have been centered on the secrets of a town and how the past can reappear in the future. Stephen King's Needful Things immediately comes to mind, its plot closely resembling that of The Blackstone Chronicles. In both, deadly items become the basis of the plot and character studies are what drive the narrative. Yet even with the familiar territory that Saul traverses, the items are interesting and varied enough to keep the reader moving forward. The ways in which the haunting secrets come to life, with quick flashbacks and exposition that shows the strange coincidences between past and present incidences, are engaging and abstract to keep the reader's attention. Short chapters also play a part in this, because each acts as a mini-cliffhanger. Saul also uses the partitioning of the story to his advantage, because it allows him to create short stories that eventually meld together in the conclusion. It's a fascinating idea that, for the most part, succeeds. The structure of the novel can become a little tired, however; each part begins and ends similarly, and so there's a tendency for the story to become predictable. After the second part, it's easy to piece together what will happen in the next part - someone will receive an item, go a little cuckoo-cuckoo, and then something will end up dead. This can be overlooked, though, because of the creativity that Saul brings to each mini-conclusion. Although not completely surprising, there are small twists that mix it up a bit. Saul does a great job of providing backstory on each character. With just around a hundred pages to toy around with plot and characterization, Saul devotes enough time to each to have the audience care about the character while creating a lot of tension. I liked how both character and plot tied in to each other so much that you couldn't have one without the other, because the characters are the most important element to the story. But though the characters are likable, they seem a little too unrealistic for my tastes. One thing that stuck out was how each man felt the same. We get the perspectives of three men, and even though they differ in tiny ways, I felt like all of their personalities were the same. The women, however, were quite varied. Saul has a bad habit of crafting convoluted, long sentences, especially towards the beginning of the novel, and it bogged the reading down a bit. Later on, when the plot thickens, the sentences begin to shorten, which mimics the fast pace of the story and helps the reader forget about his complicated and wordy sentences that occurred before. Saul is more effective with his shorter, precise sentences, and would do well to stick with these. The ending seems to fall off a bit, and this reviewer would have liked to have seen more of an intense climax and falling action, but you can't have everything. Enjoyable and fast-paced, Saul offers up a series of parts that seem stronger as short stories than they do as one novel. Their strength is in their ability to stand alone, which is a considerable feat when the parts are supposed to add up to a whole. Saul does a good job of tying each part together, but there's always a feeling that the knots the stories are connected by are very close to breaking.
I didn’t just mark this book the way it is and there’s no mistake. All the marks are high except for character development because there isn’t much here, there shouldn’t be and it’s not a disadvantage since it’s not a novel.
This book is a collection of tales written by H.P Lovecraft and other horror writers about Cthulhu and the Old Ones. Scary and out of this world creatures and beasts with powers way beyond any of our imagination. Things the human race cannot fight or understand. This book my friend is the scariest book I have ever read and I have my respects to horror master Stephen King, but if you truly want to experience horror, look for Lovecraft and this book.
As you read the book, you’ll find you’re reading of dark places, a weird and strange mystery in the air, of changing time and ripples in the universe. What characterizes this book and Lovecraft’s works is that madness is just over the corner and death is next. People go insane of what they see, hear, learn or discover. The Old Ones are something we as a race cannot comprehend but what we can do and will do…is go mad and stay there until we die…searching for them, experiencing them everywhere.
Take a short story in this book called “Notebook Found In a Deserted House”. It’s a tale of records found written in a notebook found in a deserted house somewhere in the forest. It’s enough to read the notebook to understand what our character went through and how he survived it, or didn’t and it chills and gripping to the bone.
This collection of stories is something you could ever read more than once. The horror you experience from theses stories are better than any horror film you know of no matter how much special effects it contain. This is truly the road to madness and far far beyond hell as we know it. Read it, it’s a must!
This is one of my favourite books by Stephen King. I remember the day I bought it. It was non-planned at all, I entered a book store as I usually do and went to see books by King, just to see what’s out. I saw this thick book and grabbed it. So far nothing special. When I open the book, I started reading the first lines, they were the lines that hooked me and convinced me to buy the book. As a spell coming out and hypnotized me to get it. It said: “You’ve been here before. Sure you have, I never forget a face. Come on over, let me shake your hand!”
Well, this book actually shook my mind. The plot is terrific. A new store has been opened in town and it has a really charming and hypnotizing character, Mr. Gaunt. He has everything you desire, and it won’t cost you much. You know what? You can buy now and pay later…and you will pay!
What I truly loved about this book is the writing style of King. This is one of his greatest works and I don’t just say it. As you start reading and getting to know the peaceful town and its people, you see all is quiet and everyone are friends, hell…almost family. But once you progress, you actually see in front of your eyes and see how this fine and peaceful city turns into a living hell…slowly without suspecting anything, everyone are enemies and that’s just the beginning. Paranoia starts to rule people’s mind, Gaunt plays some tricks on them and before you know it, he rules the town like a master of some puppets. Little by little, horror takes over the town and all hell brakes lose…I told you, you will pay…the whole town did…every single one of them.
This is a fine and gripping story you won’t be able to close. Just remember if there’s a new store opening near you, think twice before buying there…you never know the price you may pay for your desire.
I remember buying Bag of Bones by Stephen King thinking it’s another horror book by the master of horror. I was wrong, and it’s a good thing I was.
King writes here a different story, it has a different pace to it and it’s more easy-going to his horror novels. That is because this is not a typical horror novel by King, this is no horror novel, this is a drama-mystery novel, and easy-going is the best way delivering such a story, leaving the reader in suspence, guessing what’s going on, why and what’s in store next...this is a good written novel and it does keep the reader guessing.
The mystery begins right at the first page when Michael Noonan’s wife collapses and dies with no apparent reason. From there on, Noonan who is a writer suffers a writers block, unable to write anything and dealing with the death of his wife, he decides to go to their cabin by the lake. Noonan will make strange discoveries surrounding his wife’s death and the community surrounding him in his lake cabin. Not forgetting this is a King novel, there is a touch of the paranormal here but this is a mystery novel well-written and really delivers the chilling effect that King wanted to. If you’re a hardcore King fans, I don’t know if this book is for you. There aren’t any scary monsters or killing fog here but it does have the touch of Arthur Conan Doyle here, at least when we talk about the plot and the surrounding of the community. By the end of the book, things get solved but I won’t say all is well and the good guys won. Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t, but you know whatever the final result is, it comes with a price. This is a good mystery novel, King really did something else here. Way to go...
It’s the ultimate battle between good and evil..it really is!
The world as we know it is about to change. A virus spreads across America and causes death and destruction. But this is no ordinary virus, this is something evil, this is something not from this world.
The entire world’s population is dead, only a few left in the world and those few will be divided into two factions. The ones who follow the voice of the good mother and ones who follow the cunning Randall Flagg also known as The Walking Dude, The Ageless Stranger and more.
The world has now changed. Everyone are dead, nothing is as before and as you read the book, as you progress in the plot, you can actually feel yourself in that devastated America. You can feel the bodies all over, the stench, the fear surrounding you as you have no idea what comes next or what is left to do, how to fight the evil that lurks there.
King’s book is a book that will not let you go. It’s grip is so strong and tight that you’ll be ready to jump and fight for the good characters or maybe be a part of Flagg’s army as this magician can grand all your wishes...but with a price.
Wonderful character writing in this book, like the crazy pyromaniac Trashcanman who will do anything for his master Flagg and more. Vegas has turned to the dome of evil and Elvis is no longer the king...but Stephen King does deliver, he delivers a great story, a book like no other, a battle between good and evil and a world that is not like it used to be. This is the true end of the world and only one faction can dominate the new world...who shall it be? And in what cost? Get into this book, I promise you that the answers are inside and the world is about to change once again.
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