Matt

Things We Lost in the Fire is a haunting literary short story collection by Mariana Enriquez and translated by Megan McDowell. These stories range from dark social critiques to others that feature overt horror elements. Each is populated by dynamic complex characters who are both totally believable and fascinating. Ranging from haunted houses to body horror to cosmic, this is diverse collection of tales set in the author's country of Argentina. Themes of poverty, mental health, queerness, and patriarchy were prevalent in this volume, making it highly relevant for readers of all backgrounds. I loved how these stories explored multiple sub-genres and also all seemed to have something to say. This is definitely a more complex and literary collection than what I typically read, and I'm not ashamed to say that there are several stories here that I think I need to reread before I'll have a chance of really understanding them. I did notice that some of the stories seemed to just end, or otherwise lack a conclusion or overall story arc that I found completely satisfying, but this may be an issue more with my understanding than with the writing. Although the audiobook narrator, Tanya Eby, did a great job...I think I might have gotten more out of this by reading visually. My favorite stories in this collection were The Inn, Adela's House, Under the Black Water, and Things We Lost in the Fire. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Cipher has an interesting premise, but is marred by an unlikable cast of characters and thousands of words of meandering in search of the plot. I found the book boring. I must confess that although I am generally an audiobook enthusiast I do wonder if I might have enjoyed this book more in in a print or ebook edition. Sadly at the time of writing this review the Kindle edition is noted for containing typos and the book is out of print (although a new printing is scheduled for release soon). I found the conversational prose to be difficult to follow in the audio format. I don't want to give the impression that it was the narrator's fault since I usually have no trouble following Bishop and Skippy (Expeditionary Force as read by the incredible RC Bray) or Atticus and Oberon (Iron Druid Chronicles as read by the marvelous Luke Daniels), but rather because I simply found myself alienated from the book by the complete lack of fcks I had to give about these characters. They're nineties grunge losers who drink and fck and blah blah blah GET ON WITH THE SUPERNATURAL HOLE IN YOUR EFFING BASEMENT ALREADY! New characters were introduced, and I didn't care. Overall this book could have been a novella and I might have found it more enjoyable. The only reason I didn't DNF it was because it seems to have such a following in the horror community and I wanted to understand why. I wish I had DNF'd it though, as I think the mystery and allure of The Cipher might have been greater than that of the fun hole itself, once revealed. Snooze fest. Do not recommend. Personally wondering if it went out of print for a reason.

Once a print edition is out, I might, against my better judgement, pick up a copy to try this book again in a different format. Maybe I'll follow it better and understand all the hullabaloo.

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. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️

A really excellent dystopian novel exploring AI, disease, faith, the politics of hate, and love. The book is interesting and suspenseful, and kept me intrigued. I never got lost trying to follow all the characters. Thought provoking and thrilling.

This is a collection of stories set in the world of the Iron Druid Chronicles. It's a fun book. Some of the stories are better than others, and are set at different points in relation to the other books and novellas in the series. Great for fans!

I really like this acting book. It's very short, simple, and useful. While it might not equip the actor to deal with every challenge they will encounter, I believe the basic technique of scene analysis they outline will serve actors well in approaching any text-based performance. I trained with a teacher who believed in many of these ideas, and after spending some time with this action and reality of the moment oriented technique, I have come to believe this is an effective approach to acting. I would recommend this book to any actor and am assigning it to my acting students.

With that said, I do have a few issues with it:

-The introduction by David Mamet is ridiculous. I don't appreciate how he trashes a bunch of other acting training exercises and refers to these teachers as fraudulent. It is especially egregious that he describes holding other methods of acting in contempt as a symptom of the approaches to acting training he criticizes, when he is doing exactly that in this introduction! I also disliked his style of writing wherein he attempted to describe his experiences as if they were mine (“You have...”) this stylistic approach rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps more importantly though, I have a fundamental disagree with the core idea - that some methods of acting are superior to others. No. There is no one way (or “right” way) to act or train actors. Some methods and tools will be more effective for specific actors than others, but just because the mirror exercise or “hearing the music with your toes” didn't do anything for Mamet, doesn't mean it might not do something for others.

-Similarly, the authors like to use words like “must” a lot. This implies there is only one right way of doing things. I'm not a huge fan of this.

-The book uses terminology that may differ from the terminology many actors will be familiar with. To a certain extent, this is unavoidable. But using a term like “action” to mean “objective” (and “through-action” or “through-line” instead of “super objective”) seems like a bit of an odd choice and runs the risk of creating confusion in the minds of inexperienced actor or students who may be used to different terminology.

-This book frequently makes use of the outdated and patriarchal convention of making use of masculine pronouns in a universal way (as if “he” meant “all humans”). It's not a super contemporary book, but some readers may be confused and believe the ideas contained in this book only apply to men. Additionally the subtle implication of using masculine pronouns as the default pronoun is that men are the default people. I doubt this what the authors meant, especially the women authors, but it is nevertheless a dated and problematic element.

-Finally, the book makes reference to a number of plays without necessarily giving a lot of context about those plays. They're all old (duh, it's an old book), and there isn't a lot of diversity reflected.

Despite these shortcomings, I nevertheless believe this book is meritorious and offers a lot to the actor in a short page count. Read it, and then try applying these ideas to a scene, monologue, or role.

Harvest Home is compelling folk horror exploring what happens when a city family moves into a small country town. This work was written in the 70s and depictions of women and “traditional values” are not well aligned with contemporary views of gender, sexuality, and social values. The protagonist can be fairly described as sexist, and this may alienate readers. The book also contains depictions of sexual violence which are disturbing and perhaps never really fully dealt with in the narrative. Despite this, I found the world building in Harvest Home to be fascinating and many sections of the book to be creepy. Although there were some issues with the book, the prose and plot kept me engaged and invested in what was coming next. I also found the ending to be fairly satisfying. Overall I would recommend Harvest Home, simply with the caveat that one may find aspects of the story disturbing and distasteful.

I had the opportunity to reread this classic YA dystopian novel for a book club, and I was struck by how good it is and how well it's held up over time. Without getting into too many spoilers, The Giver asks what society might be like if everyone was the same, and peace and order were prioritized over everything else. In our increasingly divided world, it is difficult not to see The Giver as a chilling warning of how the world might be if we ever lost our diversity, our freedom, and our feelings.

The narrative itself is very solid. I did feel that time began to accelerate in the mid-teen chapters and at times the author seemed to gloss over elements of Jonas' training and life for the sake over moving on with the story. This isn't a fault exactly, it just felt a little too easy and somewhat diminished the mystery and the tension for me. I also thought the rules of the world were a bit unclear and too convenient. Lois Lowry didn't exactly explain how transmitting memories was possible, or why memories would return to the community as a whole if the Receiver was lost. Since this differs significantly from how memory works in the real world, I think it would have merited more explanation. Perhaps since this is a YA novel the author felt she could play fast and loose with reality, or perhaps she will reveal more in one of the other books in The Giver Quartet? I don't remember being bothered by the mechanics of memory when I read the book for the first time as a child, but still, this is arguably a problem with the book. There is a sci-fi or fantasy element present in a world that otherwise seems to be our future, and the failure to account for this device challenged my suspension of disbelief just a bit.

The Giver is the first book of a four book series, which is something I didn't know until recently. I've eagerly ordered the next three books. I hope to learn more about Jonas and Gabe, as well as the Giver and the community. I would rate this book 4.5, rounded up to 5. Well worth a read, or a reread.

I enjoyed an unusual take on a serial killer story, but overall found the book lacking in tension and fear. Still, a good short read. 4 stars.

The October Country by Ray Bradbury is an excellent collection of short stories ranging from weird to creepy to even a bit beautiful. I haven't read Bradbury since high school and I'm so glad I decided to pick this book up this October. It's a wonderful volume for spooky season, especially for readers who might want stories that seem to fit Halloween but aren't all hardcore horror. Bradbury's introduction is one of the best I've read and the stories were pretty much all 3 stars and up, with lots of fours and some fives. Some of my favorite tales from this collection included The Dwarf, The Crowd, The Scythe, The Man Upstairs, and Homecoming. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

HOW TO BECOME THE DARK LORD AND DIE TRYING is the first half of Django Wexler's Dark Lord Davi duology. That's probably the most important thing to know from the outset, this is the first half of the story and there will be major questions left unanswered after turning the final page. In the acknowledgments Wexler describes the “isekai trend in anime—the ‘ordinary person transported to / reincarnated in a fantasy world'” as a major source of inspiration for this book. For readers such as myself who are not well acquainted with anime, manga, or light novels exploring this theme, I might compare it to Sanderson's The Frugal Wizard's Guide, Scott Meyer's Off to be the Wizard, or even Drew Magary's The Hike - only funnier...and hornier. Basically Davi finds herself transported into a fantasy world and tasked with the quest of saving the Kingdom from the Dark Lord's horde, but in a Groundhog's Day style twist each time she dies she finds herself right back at the beginning of her adventure. After hundreds of lifetimes the unwilling “Happy Death Day”-esque heroine says screw it and resolves to try to become the Dark Lord herself. Will she succeed? Why is this happening? Can she break the cycle? Read the book and maybe you'll find out. Or maybe you won't, as I said, it's a duology. Where Wexler really shines is in character development and the frequent use of comedic footnotes throughout the book (think John Green's An Abundance of Katherines). I'd give the book a B in world building but an A+ in characters. The prose is very easy to read and this was a fantastic book to enjoy over the summer by the pool. 

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher is the second book in the Dresden Files. Wizard Harry Dresden returns investigating strange murders and finds himself in a truly hairy situation. Overall I liked this book better than the previous one. I found the plot more compelling and some of the characters have begun to grow on me. I still find Dresden himself to be somewhat unlikable. While the popularity of this series still surprises me, I am enjoying it enough that I plan to continue. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Scourged is the final novel in The Iron Druid Chronicles series (at least so far), and I found it to be a “meh” conclusion to an amazing series. As should be a surprise to no one who has read the other books leading up this this one, the book largely concerns Ragnarok. There are some other interesting subplots, but overall Hearne finishes up the story he's been telling. In some ways the battle against Loki felt too easy and the book was a bit meandering. The real gut punch comes in the events following the battle, which were kind of sad and somewhat out of tone for this humorous urban fantasy series. Even if most of what happened was Atticus' fault, he's such a likable character that it seems tragic to see bad things happen to him without seeing some resolution. Frankly I didn't like that he and the hounds ended up alone, much as they were at the beginning of the series. The ending was somewhat open ended. Perhaps this won't truly be the final adventure for the Iron Druid after all? But if it is, even if this book wasn't as great as some of the others, the series as a whole merits 5/5 stars from me. Excellent, read this book if you've read the others, and read them all if you haven't yet. This book might only be 4/5 for me, but the whole adventure is well worth the time, especially when listened to as read by the amazing Luke Daniels.

Another great book in the Iron Druid Chronicles. I will freely admit that the plot and construction of the novel did not seem up to the very high standards Kevin Hearne has set with his previous installments, but the characters are so strong and interesting that it was easy to get swept into the story all the same.

Warm Up is a short story prequel to Vicious (followed by Vengeful) by V.E. Schwab. This was the first story by Schwab I've listened to. I enjoyed it, though I found myself wondering if I might have gotten more out of it if I had read Vicious first.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a funny cozy mystery following the title character's amateur investigation of a murder in her tea shop. Vera is funny, charming, and such a strong protagonist. The other characters in the book are wonderful too. I enjoyed the plot, although I did guess who the culprit was. Ultimately this mystery is very enjoyable! 

Valkyrie by Craig Alanson is another great installment in the Expeditionary Force series. In some ways the plot was less satisfying than in some of the previous books, but there are also some fantastic sections and major revelations in this book. I have no idea what's going to happen in the next book, but I really...REALLY...want to find out! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received an eARC of Upgrade by Blake Crouch from the publisher, although I also purchased the audiobook and a BOTM edition. All opinions are my own.

Upgrade is another great sci-fi thriller from Blake Crouch. The author has a great talent for blending what reads like authentic science into his narratives while still creating a suspenseful and engaging story. This one features a dystopian near future in which the study of genetics is highly regulated and gene engineering is outlawed. The protagonist Logan is an agent of the Gene Protection Agency, and embarks on a series of events that will change his life and possibly the world. Compared to Dark Matter, which I read and loved, this one felt a little more technical and the stakes of the plot didn't have the same urgency in my opinion. With that said, I still really enjoyed it and would recommend it to readers of Crouch, Weir, etc. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Travel by Bullet is another excellent installment in John Scalzi's Dispatcher series. This one is set during the pandemic and features a plot entangled with cryptocurrency. I found it an interesting sci-fi thriller and enjoyed listening to Quinto's wonderful performance. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Technically it is very, very good. It is a profoundly disturbing story that at times filled me with revulsion and disgust. It is also extremely atmospheric, as the inner darkness of the protagonist seems to permeate every page.

Three Slices is an anthology of novellas by Kevin Hearne, Delilah S. Dawson, and Chuck Wendig. I was familiar with each author, and I enjoyed reading these shorter works. Hearne's contribution is an Iron Druid novella, Dawson's a Blud novella, and Wendig a Mariam Black novella. I have read (and loved) the Iron Druid books, but I have not read Blud or Mariam Black. I felt I was able to easily follow the Blud story, but Wendig's story was a bit more confusing for me because I lacked background from his other books on the series. I really enjoyed how all three novellas tied together with common themes, such as using cheese as a form of divination and the phrase “not my circus, not my monkeys.” Overall I enjoyed the novellas. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is How You Lose the Time War is a beautiful sci-fi dystopian sapphic love story. Epistles blooming between bits of narrative; Red and Blue, somewhat reminiscent of the time travelers in Umbrella Academy, travel up and down the threads of time to bring the future of their allegiance to fruition. Yet what they truly find is something totally unexpected. It's really a delightful story composed in majestic prose. If I have a critique, it is that the way information was revealed made some elements of the world building feel a bit vague or undefined, but this does not significantly detract from the book. 

Overall THE WORM AND HIS KINGS is a great concept marred by disorienting prose and vagueness. I found the text somewhat hard to follow, both with regard to sentence construction and plot. I was left with questions and a desire to discuss the book, which I count as a huge positive, but I cannot say reading this book was a consistently pleasurable experience. I might read another book by Hailey Piper, but probably not for awhile.